Print made by William Blake, 1757–1827, BritishHand colored by William Blake, 1757–1827, BritishText by Edward Young, 1683–1765, BritishPublished by Richard Edwards, active 1796–1797, British
Title:
'Teaching, we learn; and giving, we retain' (Page 35)
Date:
ca. 1797
Materials & Techniques:
Etching, line engraving, and letterpress, with hand coloring in watercolor on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Spine: 16 3/4 inches (42.5 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Lettered inside image: "35 | Had thought been all, sweet speech had been denied; | Speech, thought's canal! speech, thought's citerion too! | Thought in the mine may come forth gold or dross; | When coin'd in words, we know its real worth: | If sterling, store it for thy future use; | 'Twill buy thee benefit, perhaps renown: | Thought too, deliver'd, is the more possess'd; | *Teaching, we learn; and giving, we retain | The births of intellect; when dumb, forgot. | Speech ventilates our intellectual fire; | Speech burnishes our mental magazine; | Brightens for ornament, and whets for use. | What numbers, sheath'd in erudition, lie | Plunged to the hilts in venerable tomes, | And rusted; who might have borne an edge, | And play'd a sprightly beam, if born to speech! | If born blest heirs to half their mother's tongue! | 'Tis thought's exchange, which, like th' alternate push | Of waves conflicting, breaks the learned scum, | And defecates the student's standing pool. | In contemplation is his proud resource? | 'Tis poor as proud: by converse unsustain'd | Rude thought runs wild in contemplation's field: | Converse, the menage, breaks it to the bit | Of due restraint; and emulation's spur | Gives graceful energy, by rivals awed: | 'Tis converse qualifies for solitude, | As exercise for salutary rest: | By that untutor'd, contemplation raves; | And nature's fool, by wisdom's is outdone."; lower left: "inv. s | WB"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1978.43.1395
Classification:
Prints
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
men | women | children | text | vines | lyres | chairs | thrones | angels | sitting | seated | leaf | clouds | literary theme
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
The Romantic Print in the Age of Revolutions: Hero, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (Yale Center for British Art, 2003-01-23 - 2003-06-01)