William Blake and Religion

Over the last ten years the field of Blake studies has profited from new discoveries about Blake’s life and work. This book examines the effect that Blake’s mother’s recently discovered Moravianism has had on our understanding of his poetry, and gives special attention to Moravianism and Swedenborgianism and their relation to his sexual politics. This is accomplished by a close reading of Blake’s poetry, which examines in detail the subjects of religion, sex, and the attempted colonization of Africa by a Swedenborgian utopian group.

Magnus Ankarsjö is a visiting university lecturer and Research Fellow at the University of Buckingham in southeast England.

Magnus Ankarsjö
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 171
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4559-2
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5548-5
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii

Introduction      1

1. Unitarians, Swedenborgians, Moravians      11

2. Blake’s Religion      46

3. Blake’s Sexuality      70

4. Blake’s Utopian “Colony”      118

Conclusion: “Moravian” Blake      136

Chapter Notes      141

Bibliography      153

Index      159

“an interesting read”—Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly; “Ankarsjo with his knowledge of Blake’s complete writings, and a wealth of new scholarship, makes this body of fascinating new material about Blake available”—BARS Bulletin & Review.