William Blake, poet, artist, was probably the most extraordinary visionary Britain has produced since
Shakespeare. Though not in the same league as a writer Blake, writing in the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries, foresaw many of the problems that would face society two hundred years later.
Most people know this writer for the hymn Jerusalem and so think of him as a religious poet. It is true
there are many references to God and Jesus in the poems and essays but an unholy row has been
simmering in he Anglican church for many years as to whether Jerusalem is actually a Christian hymn
or poem. The answer to that (its pagan) does not matter, what is interesting and is a theme running
through Blake's work is that his religious views represent heresy to standard Christian beliefs. Blake
sees God as a symbol of the oppressive authoritarianism of state and church and Jesus as the unifying
spirit of humanity. An authoritarian God and a liberal, humanist Jesus.|
All our lives we are required to choose between God; conformity, unquestioning obedience,
commitment to work and money and unthinking acceptance of the status quo, and Jesus; freedom of
thought and speech, questioning of injustice and a love of art and expression all of which Blake
believed would lead to the overthrow of tyranny and the creation of a Utopian world, Jerusalem:
I will not cease from mental strife
nor will my sword rest in my hand
'til we have built Jerusalem
in England's green and pleasant land.
So no promises that it will be easy then, but plenty of references to The Da Vinci code, well, to the
enduring myth that Jesus actually visited Britain a few years after his alleged crucifixion. A full book would be needed to explore the possible truths of that so we will skip it for now.
Most people have probably been told the lines in the poem Jerusalem that go:
And was Jerusalem builded here
among these dark, satanic mills?
are actually using the "dark, satanic mills" as a metaphor for the protestant churches that were
preaching a very hardline version of Christianity. This is true but not entirely true, Blake is using a
double meaning. Remember he was writing at a time when the Industrial Revolution was at its height in
Britain and also there was a second wave of the protestant reformation going on.
The mills and factories of the manufacturers were certainly dark, satanic places, the workers endured
long hours in vile, dehumanising conditions, working for a pittance; they could be laid off or sacked
without notice, punishments were regularly handed out for misdemeanours as trivial as talking to the
person at the next machine, wages could be reduced on a whim and, under the law of the day, nobody
could leave to obtain better employment without the permission of their master. Yes master, not
employer. The relationship was of master and servant, and despite all the pious words of abolitionists
who campaigned to stop the slave trade, the condition of workers in the industrial cities of Britain were no better than a kind of slavery. The workers could submit to the will of their bosses or they were free
The protestant chapels were just as dark and Satanic in a different way. It was in such places and
through their warped teachings the idea of the "undeserving poor" took root, the notion that poverty
was a judgement imposed by God and those who did not endure it with stoicism and grace were
deserving of further punishment at the hands of pious human tormentors who considered themselves to
have been granted wealth because God recognised they were better people.
What did it take to be part of the "undeserving poor"? Well, complaining about injustices, poor wages,
squalid living conditions and the exorbitant prices charged in the "truck" shops. Oh yes, truck shops,
nearly forgot those. So concerned were the pious and godly rich people for the souls of their workers,
they did not pay wages in legal coin but in tokens only redeemable in shops owned by the employer.
This was ostensibly to prevent the "undeserving poor" from spending their earnings on sinful frivolities such as drinking, singing and dancing in the alehouse. Obviously such practices did not sit well
alongside Blake's notion that all human beings must be free to make their own choices.
It was not only religion and the cause of the workers that aroused the poet's passion. He was quite
prepared to embrace radical political causes and supported both the American and French revolutions,
writing in support of Washington and Lafayette and denouncing the Kings of England and France.
By profession Blake was an engraver and illustrator and his fine draughtsmanship brought him to the
attention of radical publisher Joseph Johnson who
championed the work of writers such as Thomas Paine, sometimes known as "The Godfather of the American Revolution" and Mary Wollstonecraft, proto-feminist
and mother of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley. Through Johnson, Blake also met people such as
scientific pioneer and religious rebel Joseph Priestly, Radical theologian
Gilbert Wakefield who popularised the
Unitarian faith in Britain and poet William Cowper, a stylistic influence.
As Blake developed as a writer, ideas formed from contact with these influential thinkers were given
shape by his own individual vision. The form of Christianity expressed in his poems, though heretic in
the view of the Biblical fundamentalism of the day, was in reality derived from the much older tradition of Celtic Christianity and owing a lot to the fashionable revival of interest in paganism, mysticism and
In the Everlasting Gospel, his last and unfortunately unfinished poem he goes right out on a limb and proposes that the true God could only possibly be a female, while in The Song of Los his
implication is that the endless cycle of nature, of death and renewal, is the reality while the idea of
"resurrection into a better life" common the Abrahamic religions is a fanciful notion that appeals to the weak minded. To the mainstrean Christian all virtue comes from God, to Blake all virtue is human and
all evil from over-zealous and hypocritical love of the patriarchal and materialistic God of the
In summary then, Blake was as much a political as a religious poet, and as such he now speaks to us
from beyond the grave, showing us how we must fight to retain our rights and freedoms including the
freedom to believe or not believe in some sort of God.
He also shows us in the words to Jerusalem that we must slow the insane rush for technology, not
turning back the clock to a medieval lifestyle as Blake's critics claimed he was suggesting and as my
critics, the immature and irrational boy - scientists (who think they are really really original) will try to claim I am suggesting. There is no need to turn back the clock, only to make sure we control technology rather than letting it, and those who profit from it, control us.
A young couple who climbed up a suspension bridge near Frankfurt to watch the sun rise prompted a major rescue operation when passers by reported
Reasons Why This Pagan Will Not Vote Labour, Conservative Or Liberal Democrat.
As we prepare to vote in a General Election that we are told will change British Politucs forever, Ian looks at a choice of three main parties that basically offer the same set of globalist, multiculturalist policies and consideres which way a pagan should vote.
The Island Of Hy Brasil: Another Atlantis Or Insula Mirabilis
Blake's poetry on the web
The myth of Altantis, the lost island continent that was the birthplace of civilization has fascinated human curiosity since the earliest times. Though the first written mention of +Atlantis occurs in Plato's dialogue Critias in which the Greek +Philosopher to refers to his ancestor Solon, one of the Seven Sages of Athens recounting the story of a lost +civilization.
Adventurous publisher of many radical thinkers and writers whose work challenged the political establishment and questioned the power of the Christian Churches.
Poliical radical and human rights campaigner, his philosophical writings influenced both the American and French revolutionary movements.
Campaigner for women's rights and the advancement of female status in society, mother of Frankenstein author Mary Shelly.
Pioneering scientific researcher and religious /political radical. Discovered Oxygen and was responsible for many other groundbreaking developments in chemistry and physics.
Religious reformer and Unitarian minister
Indian Mosque Controversy
Religion is absurd - or is it?
My Problem With God
Come back Jaques Cousteau
Mr. Wilde's Final Appearance
Memoirs Of A Performance Poet
Looking At The Stars
The Bullshit Factor
Literature Is Pants
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