Radical Blake Influence and Afterlife from 1827 Shirley Dent and Jason Whittaker Radical Blake 8 1 3- 0 1- 1 0 2 ct - e n n o C e v a gr al P o - s m o Tr et i k e ot bli bi s et sit er v ni U o d t e s n e c m - li o c ct. e n n o c e v a gr al p w. w w m o al fr eri at m ht g yri p o C 10.1057/9780230287402 - Radical Blake, Shirley Dent and Jason Whittaker Also by Jason Whittaker WILLIAM BLAKE AND THE MYTHS OF BRITAIN 8 1 3- 0 1- 1 0 2 ct - e n n o C e v a gr al P o - s m o Tr et i k e ot bli bi s et sit er v ni U o d t e s n e c m - li o c ct. e n n o c e v a gr al p w. w w m o al fr eri at m ht g yri p o C 10.1057/9780230287402 - Radical Blake, Shirley Dent and Jason Whittaker Radical Blake Influence and Afterlife from 1827 8 1 Shirley Dent 3- 0 1- 1 0 and ct - 2 e n Jason Whittaker n o C e v a gr al P o - s m o Tr et i k e ot bli bi s et sit er v ni U o d t e s n e c m - li o c ct. e n n o c e v a gr al p w. w w m o al fr eri at m ht g yri p o C 10.1057/9780230287402 - Radical Blake, Shirley Dent and Jason Whittaker © Shirley Dent and Jason Whittaker 2002 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under 8 the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the 3-1 Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. 1-0 1 Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication 20 may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. ct - e n The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this n o work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. eC v a First published 2002 by gr PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Pal Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and o - s 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 m o Companies and representatives throughout the world Tr PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave ket i e Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan ot Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United bli bi Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the ets European Union and other countries. sit er ISBN 0–333–98645–8 niv U This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and o made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. ed t s n A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. e c Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data m - li o Dent, Shirley, 1970– ct.c Radical Blake: afterlife and influence from 1827 / Shirley Dent and ne Jason Whittaker. on c p. cm. ve a Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. gr ISBN 0-333-98645-8 pal 1. Blake, William, 1757–1827--Influence. 2. Blake, William, ww. 1757–1827--Political and social views. 3. Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.) w m 4. Radicalism in literature. 5. Radicalism in mass media. 6. Radicalism in o art. I. Whittaker, Jason, 1969– II. Title. al fr eri PR4148.I52 D46 2002 mat 821’.7—dc21 2002072348 ht g yri 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p o 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 C Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne 10.1057/9780230287402 - Radical Blake, Shirley Dent and Jason Whittaker For Nathan, Sam and our parents 8 1 3- 0 1- 1 0 2 ct - e n n o C e v a gr al P o - s m o Tr et i k e ot bli bi s et sit er v ni U o d t e s n e c m - li o c ct. e n n o c e v a gr al p w. w w m o al fr eri at m ht g yri p o C 10.1057/9780230287402 - Radical Blake, Shirley Dent and Jason Whittaker 8 1 3- 0 1- 1 0 2 ct - e This page intentionally left blank n n o C e v a gr al P o - s m o Tr et i k e ot bli bi s et sit er v ni U o d t e s n e c m - li o c ct. e n n o c e v a gr al p w. w w m o al fr eri at m ht g yri p o C 10.1057/9780230287402 - Radical Blake, Shirley Dent and Jason Whittaker Contents Acknowledgements viii 18 3- Key to Abbreviations ix 1-0 1 List of Plates xi 20 ct - e n Introduction: Radical Blake 1 on C e v 1 Visionary Blake 11 gra al P 2 Metropolitan Blake 44 o - s m 3 Blake and Nationalism 67 Tro et i 4 Blake, Emancipation and America 96 ek ot 5 Blake and Women 120 bibli s et 6 Blake and Blasphemy 143 sit er v ni 7 Hacking Blake 169 U o d t Conclusion 195 se n e c Notes 198 m - li o Select Bibliography 217 ct.c e Index 229 n n o c e v a gr al p w. w w m o al fr eri at m ht g yri p o C vii 10.1057/9780230287402 - Radical Blake, Shirley Dent and Jason Whittaker Acknowledgements We would particularly like to thank David Worrall and Steve Clark for 18 3- the help and advice that they have given at various stages in the life of 1-0 1 this book. Thanks are also due to Rebecca Mashayekh at Palgrave for 20 her guidance during the production of Radical Blake, as well as to ct - e n Eleanor Birne and Lucy Qureshi who responded to our original on C proposal with enthusiasm. ve a Parts of this book have developed out of research undertaken at the algr P University of Warwick: colleagues we would like to thank there o - s include Anne Janowitz, Malcolm Hardman and Michael Bell. Support m o was also provided by the Falmouth College of Arts Research Fund. We et i Tr have both given papers at the Blake Society, and would like to thank k e ot members for their insight and knowledge, particularly Keri Davies bli bi who, as a testimony to his work on Blake, has greatly influenced the s et ways in which we look at Blake’s books. Papers given at the ‘Blake and sit er the Book’ conference at Strawberry Hill in 1998 and ‘Friendly Enemies: niv U Blake and the Enlightenment’ at the University of Essex in 2000 o d t resulted in helpful comments from G. E. Bentley and Joseph Viscomi, se n which have proved extremely useful. ce Other colleagues and friends have kindly lent books, made sugges- m - li o tions, read drafts and suffered our zeal with patience, including Mark ct.c e Douglas, Maria Magro, Clarissa Smith, Alex Goody, Catherine n n o Spooner, Jim Hall, Jayne Armstrong, Wiesiek ‘Prof’ Powaga, Jim ec v a Herrick, John Metcalf, Emma Mason, Grainne Walsh, Chloe Peacock, gr al Ruth Saxton, Janine Wignarajah, Chris Clark, James Hopkin, Duncan w.p w Yeates, Andrew Marshall, Katie Bailey and Justine Brian. w m Finally, thanks are due to both sets of parents who have given time o and time again in too many ways to mention. We would also like to al fr eri thank the visual experts in our lives whose ‘altering eyes have altered at m all’: Sam and Nathan. ht g yri p o C viii 10.1057/9780230287402 - Radical Blake, Shirley Dent and Jason Whittaker Key to Abbreviations All quotations from Blake’s writings follow The Complete Poetry and 18 3- Prose of William Blake, revised edition, edited by David V. Erdman 1-0 1 (New York: Anchor Books, 1988). These are identified in the text as ‘E’, 20 followed by page number. ct - e n n o Abbreviations to Blake’s works eC v a A America algr P DC Descriptive Catalogue o - s E Europe m o FZ Four Zoas et i Tr J Jerusalem ek ot M Milton bli bi MHH The Marriage of Heaven and Hell s et PA A Public Address sit er Songs Songs of Innocence and of Experience niv U Urizen The [First] Book of Urizen o d t VDA Visions of the Daughters of Albion se n e c Abbreviations to other works m - li o Anathemata David Jones, The Anathemata ct.c e Anne Gilchrist Anne Gilchrist, Anne Gilchrist: Her Life and n n o Writings ec v a AS Algernon Charles Swinburne, William Blake: gr al A Critical Essay w.p w Autobiographies Kathleen Raine, Autobiographies w m BAV Special issue of Blake Newsletter on Blake and o the Victorians (BAV), 8: 1–2 (1974) al fr eri BB G. E. Bentley, Jnr., Blake Books at m BIQ Blake: An Illustrated Quarterly ht g Blake/Shelley James Thomson, Shelley, a poem: with other yri p o writings relating to Shelley, by the late James C Thomson (B.V.) to which is added an essay on the poems of William Blake, by the same author BR G. E. Bentley, Jnr., Blake Records Broadway Ballads William James Linton, Broadway Ballads Collected Poems Allen Ginsberg, Collected Poems 1947–1985 ix 10.1057/9780230287402 - Radical Blake, Shirley Dent and Jason Whittaker