Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William BlakeThis brilliant outline of Blake's thought and commentary on his poetry comes on the crest of the current interest in Blake, and carries us further towards an understanding of his work than any previous study. Here is a dear and complete solution to the riddles of the longer poems, the so-called "Prophecies," and a demonstration of Blake's insight that will amaze the modern reader. The first section of the book shows how Blake arrived at a theory of knowledge that was also, for him, a theory of religion, of human life and of art, and how this rigorously defined system of ideas found expression in the complicated but consistent symbolism of his poetry. The second and third parts, after indicating the relation of Blake to English literature and the intellectual atmosphere of his own time, explain the meaning of Blake's poems and the significance of their characters. |
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... FIRST PRINCETON PAPERBACK EDITION, FOURTH PRINTING, 1974 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS AT PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be ...
... first, and not only because of its subject. Every major poet demands from his critic a combination of direction and perspective, of intensive and extensive reading. The critic must know his poet's text to the point of possession, of ...
... first, that all of Blake's poetry, from the shortest lyric to the longest prophecy, must be taken as a unit and, mutatis mutandis, judged by the same standards. This means that the longer and more difficult prophecies will have to bear ...
... first place. And if the literal sense of poetry is intelligible, the possibility that it may also be explained allegorically might better be left alone. The corporeal understanding, then, cannot do more than elucidate the genuine ...
... first examine. His engraving process was perfected about 1788, and the first products of it were three series of aphorisms, two called There Is No Natural Religion and the third All Religions Are One. These aphorisms are evidently ...