The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Blake
Description:
Once regarded as a brilliant eccentric whose works skirted the outer fringes of English art and
literature, William Blake (17571827) is today recognized as a major poet, a profound thinker, and
one of the most original and exciting English artists. Nowhere is his glorious poetic and pictorial
legacy more evident than in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, which many consider his most
inspired and original work.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is both a humorous satire on religion and morality and a work
that concisely expresses Blake's essential wisdom and philosophy, much of it revealed in the 70
aphorisms of his "Proverbs of Hell." This beautiful edition, reproduced from a rare facsimile, invites
readers to enjoy the rich character of Blake's own hand-printed text along with his deeply stirring
illustrations, reproduced on 27 full-color plates. A typeset transcription of the text is included.
About Author:
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his
lifetime, Blake's work is today considered seminal and significant in the history of both poetry and
the visual arts.
Blake's prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read
body of poetry in the language". His visual artistry has led one modern critic to proclaim him "far
and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced." Although he only once travelled any
further than a day's walk outside London over the course of his life, his creative vision engendered
a diverse and symbolically rich corpus, which embraced 'imagination' as "the body of God", or
"Human existence itself".
Once considered mad for his idiosyncratic views, Blake is highly regarded today for his
expressiveness and creativity, and the philosophical and mystical currents that underlie his work.
His work has been characterized as part of the Romantic movement, or even "Pre-Romantic", for
its largely having appeared in the 18th century. Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the established
Church, Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions,
as well as by such thinkers as Emanuel Swedenborg.
Despite these known influences, the originality and singularity of Blake's work make it difficult to
classify. One 19th century scholar characterised Blake as a "glorious luminary", "a man not
forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known
or readily surmisable successors."
Other Editions:
Books By Author:
- Songs of Innocence and of Experience
- Prometheus Unbound
- The Prelude
- Blake
- Poems of Akhmatova
- Illuminations
- Kubla Khan
Rewiews: