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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 62
... objects of perception in this one have become transfigured and charged with a new intensity of symbolism. This is quite consistent with art, because it never relinquishes the visualization which no artist can do without. It is a ...
... 8c God will be compell'd to be Eccentric if he Creates, 0 happy Philosopher.” The acceptance of the esse~est-percipi principle unites the subject and the object. By introducing the idea of “reflection” we 16 THE flRGUJlIEJV'T.
... object-world. “An atom,” Blake said, is “a thing which does not exist”28~—as of course it does not, in the sense in which he meant the word. Democritus had expounded this theory in Classical times: it had been developed by Epicurean ...
... object took the point of view of the subject: He who Doubts from what he sees Will ne'er Believe, do what you Please. If the Sun 8: Moon should doubt, They'd immediately Go out.34 This last remark has a double edge. The attempt to ...
... Object. Every thing possible to be believed is an image of truth. The Sun's Light when he unfolds it Depends on the Organ that beholds it.38 Blake does not deny the unity of the material world: THE CflSE flGflIJV'ST LOCKE 19.