Blakean manipulations: a linear progression from the creation to last judgement in the marriage of heaven and hell.

Abstract

In his The Marriage of Heaven & Hell, William Blake manipulates certain forms from the Bible, Corpus Christi Cycle plays, and Pseudepigrapha to create his own image of the linear progression from Creation to Last Judgment. The content and form of Blake's Marriage have puzzled critics for over two-hundred years. Even though critics of Blake acknowledge that his works were radically religious, they have failed to recognize the Marriage as primarily a religious poem. Some critique it as an argument against the French and American Revolutions; others contend that it is strictly an argument against the Swedish mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg. Blake believed that the Bible was the "great code of art." The influences of the ancient biblical tradition's influences are implicit in Blake's works, especially the Marriage. This paper investigates the manner and detail of Blake's manipulations of the traditional forms to formulate his own vision of mankind's holy wedding with God.