William Blake

[WICKES]

I have just begun to read Blake, but am finding him a puzzle. Can anyone explain to me how he relates or connects vision/ imagination and what he calls 'The Energies'? Is vision or imagination a product of the free flow of (presumably Freudian/ libidinal) energy or is imagination the source of these energies?

[Charles Darnay]

Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence.
From these contraries spring what the religious call Good & Evil. Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy.
Good is Heaven. Evil is Hell.
-Blake, "Marriage of Heaven and Hell"

Energy is that opposing force to Reason, and it is what the Church considers evil. It is a human spirit that cannot be controlled by Biblical law. You could call it "animal spirit" although there is a bit more to it. Emotion is another world people use, but this again is lacking.

It is from this Energy that imagination or vision comes from, that Art comes from.

Blake, while not anti-Christian as some make him out to be, was critical of men like Swedenborg, who wrote sermons and children's poems about how to be good, dutiful Christians. Such instruction, according to Blake, destroys energy.

In other poems too, Blake is concerned with the transfer from Innocence to Experience - or the effects of growing up and losing Energy, or Imagination (See "Book of Thell", or of course "Songs of Innocence and Experience")

If you are interested in Blake and his idea of Energy and Vision and want a bit of a clearer picture, I recommend Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, which is really inspired by Blake.

[Brielle92]

From what I know, Blake was a devout Christian but hated the Church. Songs of Innocence is brilliant, by the way.

[JCamilo]

What Darnay points, is that he is a critical christian. Not that Swedenborg was traditional, but Blake thinks about the individual. Things are not free of evil, it is our freedom of choice that counts but the evil actions are also natural part of the world.

[WICKES]

Energy is that opposing force to Reason, and it is what the Church considers evil. It is a human spirit that cannot be controlled by Biblical law. You could call it "animal spirit" although there is a bit more to it. Emotion is another world people use, but this again is lacking.

It is from this Energy that imagination or vision comes from, that Art comes from.

Blake, while not anti-Christian as some make him out to be, was critical of men like Swedenborg, who wrote sermons and children's poems about how to be good, dutiful Christians. Such instruction, according to Blake, destroys energy.

In other poems too, Blake is concerned with the transfer from Innocence to Experience - or the effects of growing up and losing Energy, or Imagination (See "Book of Thell", or of course "Songs of Innocence and Experience")

If you are interested in Blake and his idea of Energy and Vision and want a bit of a clearer picture, I recommend Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, which is really inspired by Blake.

That's great. Thankyou Darnay. Wow, I never knew Pullman' Dark Materials was inspired by Blake! That has been on my to read list for too long now.

[Charles Darnay]

That's great. Thankyou Darnay. Wow, I never knew Pullman' Dark Materials was inspired by Blake! That has been on my to read list for too long now.

A big part of the trilogy - or the first half - is the mystery substance known as Dust. (spoilers maybe?) Dust is basically what Blake calls Energy, with slight variations. There is also a bit of Blake in the main character of the trilogy.

[Charles Darnay]

What Darnay points, is that he is a critical christian. Not that Swedenborg was traditional, but Blake thinks about the individual. Things are not free of evil, it is our freedom of choice that counts but the evil actions are also natural part of the world.

True. But I think he does launch a bit of an attack on the institution itself (the Church, not Christianity) through the point of view of Satan in MOHAH. Of course, knowing how much we are supposed to side with the character of Satan is all part o the fun.

[JBI]

Read the marriage between heaven and hell like 50 times before reading later works or even the minor profecies. Also reading Frye's fearful symmetry will get you more into Blake's mythological structuring and cosmos.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Is that enough to get you going on your homework assignment?

[JBI]

Just as a guide, Blake's works usually propose a conflict between two forces, heaven hell or more usefully ork and urizen. Orc is uncontrollable energy, symbolized by youth, whereas urizen is an old man, symbolized by the compas, measuring and in slaving, making rules. Fire is the image of the orcic as seen in the tyger, yet it is violent and dangerous and uncontrollable.

Hope that helps

[Charles Darnay]

Is that enough to get you going on your homework assignment?

don't believe that's the case this time.

[JCamilo]

True. But I think he does launch a bit of an attack on the institution itself (the Church, not Christianity) through the point of view of Satan in MOHAH. Of course, knowing how much we are supposed to side with the character of Satan is all part o the fun.

Yes, all for Individuals, nothing for institutions. It also goes for his politicals views, Blake is, wanting or not, a true anarchist in the sense all potential for change-control is with the individual wanting or not to pratice a code or moral.

[WICKES]

What exactly does Blake have in mind when he writes of 'the Energies' in the Marriage of Heaven and Hell? Is he referring purely to a kind of Freudian 'libidinal' energy? Are we talking about sexual energy alone, or sexual energy plus the energy of violence, desire for power etc?

[Charles Darnay]

Anything that stands as contrary to Reason. So if you want to think of it in Freudian terms - it would b the eros and thanatos principles of the id. But even this is a bit simplified.

[WICKES]

Anything that stands as contrary to Reason. So if you want to think of it in Freudian terms - it would b the eros and thanatos principles of the id. But even this is a bit simplified.

I see. I guess people must have connected Blake with Freud. He is clearly, like Freud, opposed to the repression of sex/ the sex drive. And didn't Freud connect the sex drive with creativity and imagination?

[Charles Darnay]

A quick Google search confirms that people have connected them. They worked in two separate streams though, and their influence and ideas came from separate ideas. There is no indication that Freud was entirely familiar with the works of Blake - and clearly Blake did not read Freud.

Freud's id is concerned more with our animal instinct, derived from experiments and a bit of influence from Darwin.

Blake's Energy is far more spiritual than natural.