The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

45315

Title

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

William Blake's revolutionary manifesto challenges conventional morality and religious dogma, arguing that energy and desire are divine rather than evil. Through fiery proverbs and visionary fancies, the text redefines good and evil as necessary contraries, celebrating genius, liberty, and the infinite nature of existence against the restrictive chains of institutional religion and reason.

Summary up to 500 words

In *The Marriage of Heaven and Hell*, William Blake dismantles the traditional religious dualisms that separate body from soul and label natural desire as evil. Central to his argument is the maxim, 'Without contraries is no progression.' Blake asserts that Energy is eternal delight and the very source of life, while Reason acts merely as its bound or circumference. He critiques sacred codes and Bibles for fostering the error that man possesses two distinct principles: a passive soul and an active body. Instead, Blake posits that the so-called 'Body' is simply a portion of the Soul discerned by the five senses, and that Energy is the only true life. The text features the 'Proverbs of Hell,' a collection of aphorisms that invert conventional wisdom to reveal the nature of the active spirit over the passive mind. Blake argues that deities reside in the human breast rather than in abstract systems, accusing priests of enslaving the vulgar by attempting to abstract mental deities from their objects. He attacks figures like Swedenborg and Milton for their confinement within 'Analytics' and systematic reasoning, contrasting them with the 'Poetic Genius' which Blake champions as the first principle of human perception. Through memorable fancies, Blake depicts the printing of knowledge in Hell as a corrosive yet salutary process that melts apparent surfaces to display the infinite. He envisions a world where the 'doors of perception' are cleansed, allowing everything to appear as it truly is: infinite. The work culminates in a call for liberty, envisioning a future where the lion and wolf cease their oppression and where everything that lives is holy. Blake urges readers to honor the gifts of genius in others rather than envying them, declaring that those who envy or calumniate great men hate God. Ultimately, the text champions exuberance as beauty and the active pursuit of desire as the path to true existence, rejecting the 'standing water' of unaltering opinions that breeds the reptiles of the mind.

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Categories

• Religion
• Philosophy