Once regarded as a brilliant eccentric whose works skirted the outer fringes of English art and literature, William Blake (1757-1827) is today recognized as a major poet, a profound thinker, and one of the most original and exciting English artists. Nowhere is his glorious poetic and pictorial legacy more evident than in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, which many consider his most inspired and original work. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is both a humorous satire on religion and morality and a work that concisely expresses Blake's essential wisdom and philosophy, much of it revealed in the 70 aphorisms of his "Proverbs of Hell." This beautiful edition, reproduced from a rare facsimile, invites readers to enjoy the rich character of Blake's own hand-printed text along with his deeply stirring illustrations, reproduced on 27 full-color plates. A typeset transcription of the text is included.
The illuminations accompanying Blake's poetry should be considered necessary to the reading of his poems. The illuminations are beautiful, descriptive, obviously terribly time consuming and should not be counted as something separate from the words. That said, sometimes it is difficult to read the poems on the illuminations, as they were meant to be read. This book provides the complete illuminations followed by the poems sans illumination, for ease of reading. Also, the price is of course outstanding, as illuminated versions of Blake's poetry can get quite pricey.
Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
The transaction was great. Everything was as it was supposed to be.
It's not about the bible
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 22 years ago
The other reviewers are missing the point. Blake did not believe in the Christian ideology enought to want to contradict the bible. He believed that god is a construction of the human imagination, the Poetic Genius (read "All Relgions are One" and "There is no Natural Religion"). To speak in terms of religiosity, he had to use Christian terminology (Ezekial, Isiah, Satan...) because the language of religion was created this way, and Blake was forced to speak in those terms before developing his own language system. The bible contradicts itself; Blake's writing and thinking transcend that superficial level.
The Bible is not the definitive authority on quality.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
I fail to see how whether or not this book is contradictory to the bible is any indictation of whether it is good or not.
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