The French Revolution (poem) according to Blake, were stuck in a problematic feudal system that was represented by the Bastille, a prison that kept enemies of the state. As the work continues, he demands that the Bastille be removed and he explains how the American Revolution provoked the French Revolution. The dates spanned in the first book is from May 1789 until July 1789. Although Blake relies on history, he includes characters that are his own, but none of them are characters that he used in his mythological works. The work deals with the symbolism of the Bastille, which the seven towers of the
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution remarks: "He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird". Slavin finds it "regrettable that such a capable historian as Schama [...] should be so prejudiced against the Revolution". Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution is a book by the historian Simon Schama, published in 1989, the bicentenary of the French Revolution. <br>"The terror," declared Schama in the book, "was merely 1789 with a higher body count; violence ... was not just an unfortunate side effect ... it was the Revolution's source of collective energy. It was what made the Revolution revolutionary."