Shadowing Practice: The Art World Couldn't Understand William Blake - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
128 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
This is a coin sorter and it's a useful tool to help me explain why certain works of art become classics,
2
get taught in schools, live on in the culture, while so many others just disappear into oblivion.
3
In order to achieve that level of prestige, it's not always enough for creative work to be beautiful or thought -provoking.
4
It also has to fit into one of a handful of accepted categories.
5
Categories like painting, poetry, the novel, or the film.
6
When a work of art drops into one of these channels it enters a whole ecosystem of commercial, critical, and scholarly attention.
7
Institutions that can promote it, consecrate it, and preserve it.
8
You can think of this whole coin sorter as that ecosystem.
9
All the institutions that comprise it have for a very long time been organized to classify work in this way.
10
And when something comes along that can't be classified, well, the ecosystem has a hard time assimilating or even seeing it.
11
And left on the outside, its chances of long -term survival are slim.
12
This is a predicament that unclassifiable artists have faced for centuries.
13
And for centuries, so many of them have found solace and inspiration in the radical visionary work of William Blake,
14
the patron saint of unclassifiable artists.
15
Here, take a look at this.
16
How would you categorize this from Blake's book
17
Songs of Innocence?
18
Is it poetry?
19
Is it illustration?
20
Well, there's a poem here, a short one, you can see, but it's embedded in this gorgeous design,
21
in the curving spiky stem of this evocative red flower.
22
Despite what you might expect, this imagery is not a depiction of the subject of the poem.
23
Not really.
24
The poem makes no mention of a flower.
25
Each of the two art forms have their own aesthetic and symbolic integrity, neither one subordinate to the other.
26
And yet, when you put them together like this, their interaction, their dialogue, creates something new.
27
What you're seeing here, these are not paintings.
28
They're prints of engravings from Blake's illuminated books, which he designed, wrote, etched,
29
colored, and printed himself using a technique that he invented.
30
These extraordinary books are works of art that mix and synthesize categories.
31
And as a result, the art world of the late 17 and early 1800s didn't really know what to make of them.
32
And Blake never sold more than a handful.
33
At that time, the ecosystem that we've been talking about was in the process of forming and hardening.
34
The key event in England was the founding of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768 when Blake was 11 years old.
35
The Royal Academy was one of several similar institutions springing up across Europe in this period, institutions that elevated the status of the fine arts
36
while also wielding their power to help define the standards by which art was judged.
37
The Academy in England trained students to be obedient to its values and rewarded
38
that obedience at their annual exhibitions where a good placement on the wall could make an artist's reputation
39
and create a demand from private clients.
40
In turn, these exhibitions, which were popular events, shaped the taste of collectors, patrons, and the public, dramatically expanding the commercial market for artworks.
41
After apprenticing as an engraver, a 21 -year -old
42
Blake entered the Royal Academy as a student in 1779, but quickly found himself at odds with its teaching,
43
especially the aesthetic philosophy of its first president, Sir Joshua Reynolds.
44
Blake despised Reynolds' emphasis on generalizing and idealizing nature
45
and hated his reverence for Venetian and Flemish -style oil painting with its soft tonal variations and blurred contours.
46
Blake believed that art should come from within,
47
from imaginative vision, and he preferred the strong lines and distinct forms of artists like Raphael and Durr.
48
Blake just didn't fit at the Academy.
49
By refusing to work in oils, his paintings were classed as watercolors, considered a minor medium.
50
He was primarily regarded as an engraver anyway, which the Academy treated as an even lesser art, but he didn't fit there either.
51
As Eileen Ward points out, engravers were valued to the extent that they approximated the effects of the works they copied.
52
Blake could do that, he earned a living doing that, but his creative focus was on his own original designs, and that was very uncommon.
53
What's more, many of those designs incorporated the entirely different art form of poetry.
54
There was simply no category that could contain him.
55
His choice, Morris Eaves writes, to work as a maker of words, maker of images, and crossbreeder of both,
56
amounted to a decision to live in incommensurable neighborhoods of meaning.
57
He swam against the current of modern human understanding, whose bedrock is the principle of specialization.
58
Why was Blake like this?
59
Why did he resist, at the cost of money and recognition, that trend towards specialization?
60
Well, I think the answer could be found in possibly his greatest work ever, his engravings of the Book of Job.
61
Here, check this out.
62
So this series includes 22 engraved illustrations like this, based on earlier watercolors that
63
Blake made for a patron.
64
In the engravings, however, you can see
65
that he added these ornate borders full of symbolic imagery and handwritten quotes from the Bible.
66
His blending of text and image, his mixing of media, it's more than a stylistic choice.
67
It's a thematic one.
68
You see, Blake believed that the fall of man, the source of human suffering, was a fall into division.
69
A division of body from spirit, man from woman, person from nature, humanity from God.
70
All around him, he saw one faculty of the human mind, reason, claiming dominance over all others,
71
measuring, explaining, dividing everything in its path, even the arts and religion.
72
It's this situation that led to the rigid classifications and hierarchies that he saw at the Royal Academy,
73
and to a dry, legalistic interpretation of the Bible.
74
For Blake, the Book of Job isn't the story of a righteous man being tested by an inscrutable God.
75
It's the story of a man who believes mistakenly that salvation requires a slavish obedience to words written in a book.
76
That's what Job's doing in this first page.
77
Surrounded by his wife and children, Bible on his lap, he's performing what he believes is piety.
78
But the moment is cheerless, empty.
79
Above him, musical instruments hang like fruit on the tree, unused.
80
There's no music, no vitality in the scene where the sun retreats behind the horizon and the sheep doze.
81
As the caption says, thus did Job continually.
82
This is what
83
Job does out of habit, unthinkingly, day after day after day.
84
The text recontextualizes the image and vice versa.
85
The very existence of the surrounding border suggests that there's a wider perspective that
86
Job can't see.
87
He can't see that submission to the letter killeth, that only spirit giveth life.
88
For Blake, God doesn't exist in some separate heaven above man.
89
Job looks up where he believes the deity resides, but there's no God there, only more words.
90
All throughout the series, as Job goes through his trials, as his worldview begins to change, there is this interplay between border and image,
91
image and text, inviting our creative participation to interpret Blake's meaning.
92
Gradually, Job learns the folly of a religion based on law, tradition, received wisdom.
93
By page 14, his experience of divinity is no longer mediated by a book.
94
He and his wife and his friends apprehend creation directly, and the glory of creation, with God not at the top but at the center,
95
expands past the border of the image and fills the whole sheet.
96
On page 17, the book has been moved from the image proper into the lower margin.
97
As the caption says, I have heard thee with the hearing of the ear, but now my eye seeth thee.
98
And who does he see?
99
It's Christ, the divine inhuman, entreating Job to see the divine in himself.
100
Books are not discarded entirely here.
101
They're just restored to their proper place in the balance.
102
For Blake, words aren't evil in themselves, just as reason isn't evil.
103
The danger comes when we try to understand reality through words alone, or reason alone, or any one fragment of the human soul.
104
The danger is when we divide and sort ourselves.
105
Blake's antidote to classification and division is imaginative art, an art that seeks to reunify what's been split apart.
106
His plea for that unity is expressed in his work, but as with the engravings of Job, it's also enacted by it.
107
Words and images coalesce in an art object made without a division of labor.
108
The writing, designing, engraving, coloring, printing, they're all the product of a single set of hands, a single visionary mind.
109
In 1827, at age 69, William Blake died in poverty and relative obscurity.
110
And when he was rediscovered some decades after his death, his resurrectors did so by isolating the component parts of his work,
111
ripping his poetry from the surrounding designs and printing it in nice, respectable font, formatted and categorized for scholarly attention.
112
Next year, 2027, will mark two centuries since Blake's death,
113
and in that time we've become much better at recognizing and celebrating art that crosses boundaries, that can't be contained by any one category.
114
But the ecosystem will always need categories, and there will always be unclassifiable artists whose work.. is overlooked.
115
If you, you, happen to be one of those artists, you already know what there is to lose by being so radical.
116
Let the visionary work of William Blake remind you of all there is to gain.
117
Hey everybody, thank you so much for watching.
118
This episode was brought to you by Squarespace, the all -in -one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online.
119
To get started, you can use Blueprint AI, Squarespace's AI -enhanced website builder, to get a fully customized site in just a few steps,
120
or choose from their library of professionally designed templates that are sleek and engaging.
121
Every website you make will be optimized for SEO, so you'll show up more often in search results.
122
And you can do so much within Squarespace, like creating members -only content,
123
videos, blogs, courses, creative work that you can monetize via one -time payments or subscriptions.
124
The bottom line is that Squarespace is going to make a home for your products
125
or your work that looks and feels professional, something that will impress your customers and fans.
126
Head over to squarespace .com for a free trial, and when you're ready to launch,
127
go to squarespace .com slash nerdwriter for 10 % off your first purchase.
128
Thanks, guys, and I'll see you next time.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
C11
43 sentences
An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
191 sentences
Romanticizing The Classical Life Isn’t Foolish.. It’s Necessary To Survive Today
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
65 sentences
Snowclones and Clichés and Memes, Oh My! | Otherwords
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C13
62 sentences
A mind-blowing explanation of symmetry | Frank Wilczek for Big Think
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
654 sentences
Stuart & Cliffe Knechtle | Do Agnostics Just Want To Have Control? | Give Me an Answer
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
148 sentences
The SYMBOLISM, MEANING, and BEAUTY of La La Land | EXPLAINED
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
68 sentences
Monet's Water Lilies: Great Art Explained
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
128 sentences
The Terrible Paradox of Self-Awareness | Fernando Pessoa
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B22
23 sentences
Why Study Art? | TateShots
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
286 sentences
Becoming Yourself Is More Important Than Preserving Yourself
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
326 sentences
The Art of Sfumato: An In-Depth Oil Painting Masterclass
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C13
311 sentences
Shakespeare's Sonnet 18: Explanation and Analysis
Daily ConversationUniversity Students
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “The Art World Couldn't Understand William Blake”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Blake, image, Academy. This video has 128 sentences and 1786 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:19. The speaker talks at a natural 158 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 77% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ecosystem noun | /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/ | A system formed by an ecological community and its environment that functions as a unit. |
| poetry noun | /ˈpoʊ.ə.tɹi/ | Literature composed in verse or language exhibiting conscious attention to patterns and rhythm. |
| poem noun | /ˈpoʊ.əm/ | A literary piece written in verse. |
| surround verb | /səˈɹaʊnd/ | To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions. |
| patron noun | /ˈpeɪ.tɹən/ | One who protects or supports; a defender or advocate. |
| flower noun | /ˈfloʊɚ/ | A reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens… |
| exhibition noun | /ɛksɪˈbɪʃən/ | An instance of exhibiting, or something exhibited. |
| expand verb | /ɪkˈspænd/ | To change (something) from a smaller form or size to a larger one; to spread out or lay open. |
| radical noun | /ˈɹædɪkəl/ | A root (of a number or quantity). |
| divine adjective | /dɪˈvaɪn/ | Of or pertaining to a god. |
| maker noun | /ˈmeɪk.ɚ/ | Someone who makes; a person or thing that makes or produces something. |
| coin noun | /ˈkoɪ̯n/ | A piece of currency, usually metallic and in the shape of a disc, but sometimes polygonal, or with a hole in the middle. |
| classification noun | /ˌklæsɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/ | The act of forming into a class or classes; a distribution into groups, as classes, orders, families, etc., according to some common relations or attributes. |
| divide verb | /dɪˈvaɪd/ | To split or separate (something) into two or more parts. |
| handful noun | /ˈhæn(d)fʊl/ | The amount that a hand will grasp or contain. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come along verb | To accompany. | |
| do out of verb | To use unfair means to deprive (someone) of (something). | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| look up verb | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | To have better prospects. |
| point out verb | To identify among a group of similar subjects, or in a scene where the subject might not be readily seen or noticed, with a gesture of the body. | |
| show up verb | To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically. | |
| stand out verb | To jut out, protrude (from a surface etc.). |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | been organized · can't be classified · was judged |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have faced · have found · has been moved |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | exhibitions, which were · man who believes |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 20 contractions and reduced forms, such as can't, didn't, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: exhibition /ɛksɪˈbɪʃən/, classification /ˌklæsɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, illustration /ˌɪləsˈtɹeɪ̯ʃən/, caption /ˈkæp.ʃən/, recognition /ˌɹɛkəɡˈnɪʃ(ə)n/
- Long words — get the stress right: ecosystem /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/, exhibition /ɛksɪˈbɪʃən/, classification /ˌklæsɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, illustration /ˌɪləsˈtɹeɪ̯ʃən/, primarily /ˈpɹaɪ.mə.ɹə.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like ecosystem, poetry, poem.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.