The Marriage of Heaven and
Hell
Originally written between 1789 – 1790
Blake’s work was not published in mass produced paper books.
His books were individually decorated documents printed from copper plates that
were etched into shape using acids. The plates could be re-used and throughout
his life, when Blake wanted to produce a new version of the Marriage of Heaven
and Hell, he would re-print it and then colour it by hand. This was a laborious
and time-consuming process. As such it is likely that the 9 copies of ‘The
Marriage of Heaven and Hell’ currently on existent are the only copies ever
produced.
The first real description of his philosophy – broke with
Bacon,
Angel – passive reason
Devil – active, energetic, imaginative
Imagination
is the way God manifests himself in man
An extreme
form of humanism – men can be gods
Blake inverts good & bad, heaven & hell
The devil
is good because passive acceptance is stagnating, but opposition drives things
forwards
‘Without
contrariness there is no progression’
The Voice of the Devil:
1.
Body
and soul aren’t distinct – the body is the expression of the soul detectable by
the 5 senses
2.
Energy
is the only life … Reason is the bound or circumference of energy.
3.
Energy
is eternal delight
‘Those who restrain desires do so because theirs are weak
enough to be restrained’
‘
Proverbs of Hell:
·
‘A
fool sees not the same tree as the wise man’
·
‘The
road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom’
·
‘Prisons
are built with stones of law, brothels with the bricks of religion’
·
‘The
roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea and the
destructive sword are portions of eternity too great for the eye of man.’
·
‘The
tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.’
·
‘As
the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs upon, so the priest
lays his curse on the fairest joys.’
·
‘Sooner
murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted
desires.’
·
‘Exuberance
is beauty.’
·
‘If
the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is,
Infinite. For man has closed himself up till he sees all things through narrow
chinks of a cavern.’
·
‘Opposition
is true friendship’
‘The worship of God is … loving the
greatest men best’
The final lines are:
‘Let the priests of the raven of dawn no longer in deadly
black with hoarse note curse the sons of joy. Hor his
accepted brethren, whom, Tyrant, he calls free: lay the bound or build the
roof. Nor pale religious lechery call that virginity that wishes by acts not.
Everything that lives is Holy’