‘Naked Beauty display’d’. Bodies, Souls and Sexuality in William Blake’s Composite Art. Part I

Milena Romero Allué (Università di Udine)

Abstract

Il sistema filosofico ed estetico di William Blake è una rielaborazione sincretica e originale del pensiero classico, neoplatonico, gnostico, cristiano ed ermetico. Ispirandosi altresì al mito del paradiso delle origini, a John Milton e alle Rivoluzioni francese e americana, Blake crea un linguaggio del corpo altamente simbolico con cui esprime la consustanzialità di opposti quali spirito e materia, divino e umano, macrocosmo e microcosmo. I corpi blakiani, rappresentati principalmente nelle due posture contrapposte di espansione e contrazione, sono spesso caratterizzati da torsioni ‘serpentinate’ e da tratti androgini che evocano l’arte di Michelangelo: considerando che il fine ultimo di Blake è la coincidentia oppositorum alchemica, l’androginia è un tema ricorrente nelle sue opere.

DOI: 10.17456/SIMPLE-244

Parole chiave: Panism, Word and image, Socio-political radicalism, The human and the divine, Body language.

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