The prophetic books of the 18th-century English poet and artist William Blake are a series of lengthy, interrelated poetic works drawing upon Blake's own personal mythology. They have been described as forming "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". While Blake worked as a commercial illustrator, these books were ones that he produced, with his own engravings, as an extended and largely private project.

Overview

In these works, concluding with the epic '' Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion'', he elaborated a personal invented mythology ( mythopoeia). The mythopoeia is largely Biblical in inspiration; apart from that, it has been extensively debated for both its political and religious content. While ''The French Revolution'' from 1791 is not illustrated and is usually excluded from the list of prophetic books,

David V. Erdman David V. Erdman (November 4, 1911 in Omaha, NE – October 14, 2001) was an American literary critic, editor, and Professor Emeritus of English at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Professor Erdman established his reputation as ...

contends that the separation of this work from the corpus removes a key to the symbolism used by Blake. Another work, '' Vala, or The Four Zoas'' (1797), begun while Blake was residing in Felpham, was abandoned in draft form; of this abandoning by Blake, Northrop Frye has commented that " yone who cares about poetry or painting must see in 'Vala''sunfinished state a major cultural disaster".Frye, Northrop, ''Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake'', 1969, p. 269.

Critical reception

The prophetic books have on occasion been dismissed as lacking in good sense. This position is now rarely held by scholars of

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

, Blake having been one of the major beneficiaries of critical fashion during the twentieth century. Northrop Frye and, following him, Harold Bloom have suggested that the difficulty of reading Blake's prophetic works can be overcome, and that the dismissive "mystical" tag applied to them is largely an obfuscation. " Mystical" as to the poetic language has been indeed the equivalent of " visionary" applied to the engravings. Blake's prophetic books, having often been dismissed until recent times, have had a tortuous publication history, unlike his lyric poems, which have been regarded as more direct and relatively unproblematic.

The continental prophecies

The cycle of

continental prophecies The continental prophecies is a group of illuminated books by William Blake that have been subject of numerous studies due to their recurrent and unorthodox use of political, literary and sexual metaphors. They consist of ''America'', ''Europe'' ...

comprises ''America a Prophecy'' (1793), ''Europe a Prophecy'' (1794) and ''The Song of Los'' (1795), which is made up of sections ''Africa'' and ''Asia''. ''America a Prophecy'' is divided into a ''Preludium'' (which is part of the Orc myth) and ''A Prophecy'', which has obvious political content devolving from the American Revolution. The first line of ''A Prophecy'' is repeated as the final line of ''Africa''. On the other hand, ''Europe a Prophecy'' has an unnamed introductory section, a ''Preludium'' with Orc and Enitharmon, and ''A Prophecy'' with connections to the contemporary situation of wartime Europe. The ''Asia'' section of ''The Song of Los'' links onto the end of ''Europe a Prophecy'' (via the word "howl").

The books

*''

Tiriel ''Tiriel'' is a narrative poem by William Blake, written ''c.''1789. Considered the first of his prophetic books, it is also the first poem in which Blake used free septenaries, which he would go on to use in much of his later verse. ''Tirie ...

'' (c. 1789) *'' The Book of Thel'' (c. 1789) *''

America a Prophecy ''America a Prophecy'' is a 1793 prophetic book by the English poet and illustrator William Blake. It is engraved on eighteen plates, and survives in fourteen known copies. It is the first of Blake's ''Continental prophecies''. Background Dur ...

'' (1793) *'' Europe a Prophecy'' (1794) *''

Visions of the Daughters of Albion ''Visions of the Daughters of Albion'' is a 1793 poem by William Blake, produced as a book with his own illustrations. It is a short and early example of his prophetic books, and a sequel of sorts to '' The Book of Thel''. Plot The central na ...

'' (1793) *'' The Book of Urizen'' (1794) *'' The Book of Ahania'' (1795) *'' The Book of Los'' (1795) *''

The Song of Los ''The Song of Los'' (written 1795) is one of William Blake's epic poems, known as prophetic books. The poem consists of two sections, "Africa" and "Asia". In the first section Blake catalogues the decline of morality in Europe, which he blames ...

'' (1795) *'' Vala, or The Four Zoas'' (begun 1797, unfinished; abandoned ) *'' Milton: A Poem in Two Books'' (1804–1810) *'' Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion'' (1804–1820)

Notes

External links

* {{William Blake, lit *Prophetic books Series of books Art by William Blake