William Blake: Before His Time

The greatest thing about William Blake, for me, is how remarkably accessible his work is to a modern audience. He had a creative disdain for the concept of organized religion, and yet he fanatically absorbed both the Bible and Greek Mythology. Blake supported human sexuality (and female rights to their own sexuality, an even rarer occurrence), racial equality, and equality between the sexes; all the evils of which were steadfastly rooted within his 1800's society. He only traveled more than a day's walk out of London once in his life, but his works traverse many planes. Though his work is considered Romantic, he preceded even that literary movement, and his ideas, nearly unrecognized in his own time, mesh perfectly with our own, nearly 200 years after his death.

Blake was highly reverent of the teaching of the Bible, though he felt free to make personal interpretations, and ascribe errors as he saw fit. Ultimately, Blake created his own religion of sorts, re-naming several gods and creating his own mythology. The diversion from Christianity which I find most intriguing, personally, is in reference to his ideas regarding the soul. He believed that the soul and the body were not two separate entities, but rather that the body was a portion of the soul, detected by the senses. This root philosophy directed most of the others, for since he did not believe the body to be innately sinful, he did not see any point in orthodox self-denial. He lived life to the fullest, reveled in pleasure, and felt safe in his feeling that the concept of sin as defined by the church was merely a trap for mens desires, and to abstain or repress those desires was to deny life. (I know you think he's a cheating jackass right about now, but shockingly, all accounts indicate that he lived a long, happily monogamous life with his one wife, Catherine. I guess his philosophy still doesn't involve pleasure at the expense of others.)

I am consistently making an independent study of his body of poetry and amazing engravings; Blake was one of the rare people that my professors always seemed to assume had already been covered and thus, ironically, he remained rather ignored throughout my education.

With this in mind, I bring you a collection of my personal favorite individual lines from his "Proverbs of Hell."

Prudence is a rich ugly old maid courted by Incapacity.

He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.

He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.

Shame is Pride's cloke.

Prisons are built with the stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion.

Every thing possible to be believ'd is an image of truth.

The eagle never lost so much time, as when he submitted to learn of the crow.

You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.

Expect poison from the standing water.

Listen to the fools reproach! it is a kingly title!

Exuberance is Beauty.

Improve[me]nt makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are the roads of Genius.


I will not insult my audience's intelligence with interpretations of the above lines.