From Misery To Salvation: A Study On The Themes Of William Blake’s Main Works

William Blake(1757-1827) is a genius with multiple personalities, the strong religious awareness, artistic talent and experiences in his life constitute infinite resources for him to write poems and prose. He is also a serious social critic. Blake was always concerned about the time he lived in and conducted serious, painful and independent thinking on individual lives, social groups and human beings. Blake’s poems exposed the cruel reign of the Church after the Industrial Revolution and so on, exploring the salvation road sincerely by getting rid of the miseries.This thesis discusses the misery and salvation theme of Blake’s representative works according to Marxist ethical thoughts. This thesis thinks that the economic base decides a superstructure. The economic base has main effect on religions thought and artistic creation, and religions thought and literary and artistic creation will generate reaction on the economic base to some extent, but basically speaking, it is a hollow fantasy by using religions thought to improve the society.The first chapter introduces the life of Blake and his works, the research status, and summarizes the basic principle of Marxist ethical thought. The second chapter centers upon the misery of Blake’s survival background and the misery in his works. The third chapter mainly discusses what Blake’s salvation theme is. Focusing on the images in his works, analyzes the causes of Blake’s salvation theme from five aspects. The fourth chapter discusses the methods of salvation behind Blake’s survival background. The fifth chapter mainly analyzes the practical significance of salvation thought in the current era. This thesis thinks that belief provides people with the opportunity to think of survival, and brings them back to the sensory world, making human beings feel their own desire and emotion, and getting rid of their numbness and anxiety. Human beings need kind of belief for spiritual comfort. There would be harm if one holds a kind of belief blindly. Blake’s salvation thought has certain enlightenment significance.