UNDERSTANDING THE POETRY OF WILLIAM BLAKE THROUGH DIALECTIC OF CONTRARIES

“In [the author’s] brilliant discussion of The Book of Urizeny Los, rather than allegorised as the struggle of the Blakean creative artist with form and order, becomes Urizen s intellectual collaborator. Both figures are part of this "prophetic structure of deferred fulfilment" - prophecy and geometry together…”-Prof. David Fairer, University of Leeds

“This is a volume that will be useful to students and to scholars alike. For students, Blake's poems come alive here in all their complexity and [the author] writes in such a way that even the uninitiated can become engaged.”-Prof. George Haggerty, University of California, Riverside

Foreword. David Fairer

Preface

A note on sources

i Introduction: the contrary William Blake?

1 Contrary metaphysics

2 Contraries: the eager uptake of neo-Platonic philosophy

3 Neo-Platonism rejected

4 They reptilise upon the Earth: the limits of the political

5 Blake's contrary religion: from Vala to The Four Zoas - an overview

6 Two early versions of Night the First of The Four Zoas

7 The "final" version of Night the First of The Four Zoas

8 The "fair copy" of The Four Zoas

9 The two Nights the Seventh of The Four Zoas

10 Nights the Eighth and Ninth of The Four Zoas: an unholy apocalypse

11 Milton, Milton and making poetry

12 Jerusalem

Select bibliography

Indexes