Blake: Prophet Against Empire

In this volume, a leading Blake scholar shows how the political and social events and movements of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries influenced or inspired many of Blake's finest poems: "America, Europe, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The French Revolution, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, the Four Zoas" and numerous others. While Blake's poems can be read on many levels, this in-depth criticial study demonstrates that much of the strange symbolism of his poetry represents a literary campaign against the political tyranny of the day.