When Klopstock England Defied
When Klopstock England Defied - meaning Summary
Satire of Poetic Pride
This short satirical piece imagines William Blake responding with comic, grandiose fury when the German poet Klopstock challenges England. Blake rises from leisure, performs exaggerated ritual turns, and provokes cosmic disturbances—blushing moon, fleeing stars, devils yelling—while a mock-divine figure called Nobodaddy comments in amazed tones. The poem caricatures prophetic self-importance and spiritual absurdity, using parody and hyperbole to mock poetic and theological pretension.
Read Complete AnalysesWhen Klopstock England defied, Uprose William Blake in his pride; For old Nobodaddy aloft . . . and belch'd and cough'd; Then swore a great oath that made Heaven quake, And call'd aloud to English Blake. Blake was giving his body ease, At Lambeth beneath the poplar trees. From his seat then started he And turn'd him round three times three. The moon at that sight blush'd scarlet red, The stars threw down their cups and fled, And all the devils that were in hell, Answerèd with a ninefold yell. Klopstock felt the intripled turn, And all his bowels began to churn, And his bowels turn'd round three times three, And lock'd in his soul with a ninefold key; . . . Then again old Nobodaddy swore He ne'er had seen such a thing before, Since Noah was shut in the ark, Since Eve first chose her hellfire spark, Since 'twas the fashion to go naked, Since the old Anything was created . . .
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