Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell; Milton

Blake is the most idiosyncratic of the idiosyncratic writers of the Romantic period. Like the great Irish poet W.B. Yeats, he constructed his own private mythology, in both cases probably limiting his appreciation to his time and age. Writing before the other major Romantic poets, he also largely operates in isolation from them. Wordsworth thought him mad. He was not regarded as a poet in his time, but more as an engraver.

Yet Blake similarly exalts the imagination, seeing it as the ennobling faculty of mankind, one enslaved by 'reason', a term he associates with conventional, lazy, and oppressive thinking. This form of thinking has been codified in both religion and in the laws of nations that oppress mankind rather than liberate them.

There is no easy way of understanding Blake. Herein we look at his work 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell' and the Preface to his poem 'Milton', which for all of the author's obscurantism contains perhaps the most celebrated poem in the English language, the hymn/anthem 'Jerusalem'.

❤️ If you find my channel helpful, become a channel member:    / drscottmasson  

To support my channel and assist me in providing better content, please go here:
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?token=...