#williams blake

i immediately started giggling. i was the only person who laughed ... i was incredibly flustered by my apparent immaturity, but also confused because my class is definitely not comprised of anyone too mature to laugh at a dick joke.

i was right. as soon as my teacher explained that "phallic" was basically synonymous with penis, the entire room burst out with laughter. so then i realized that i wasn't immature, i was just the only person who knew what "phallic" meant ...

is the meaning of "phallic" not common knowledge?

i've always loved studying greek and roman mythology, especially art depicting or related to the myths. whenever i read up on the histories of various sculptures, stories and architecture, terms like "phallus" had always shown up quite commonly to describe symbolic themes.

London William Blake (1794)

I wander thro’ each charter’d street,

Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.

And mark in every face I meet

Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,

In every Infants cry of fear,

In every voice: in every ban,

The mind-forg’d manacles I hear

How the Chimney-sweepers cry

Every blackning Church appalls,

And the hapless Soldiers sigh

Runs in blood down Palace walls

But most thro’ midnight streets I hear

How the youthful Harlots curse

Blasts the new-born Infants tear

And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse