The Mental Traveller (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: William Blake
- First Published: 1863
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Suffering, Traveling or travelers, Love or romance, Nature, Violence, Women, Men, Earth, Life, philosophy of, Life and death, Life, biological, Wealth, Senses or sensation
The Poem
“The Mental Traveller,” written in 1803 but not published until 1863, consists of twenty-six long-measure quatrains, a stanza form commonly used in ballads. Since each line has four beats, the measure is considered longer than that found in more traditional ballad stanzas, in which every other line has only three beats. The poem’s title refers to its narrator, a traveler from another mental realm who observes and describes the cycle of suffering in the “Land of Men & Women.”
Perspective is an important element in William Blake’s poetry, and it is...
[The entire page is 1529 words long]
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