Poems and Prophecies (Everyman's Library) [Hardcover]

William Blake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 26, 1991

(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed)

Introduction by Kathleen Raine

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Introduction by Kathleen Raine

Product Details

• Hardcover: 439 pages
• Publisher: Everyman's Library (November 26, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679405526
• ISBN-13: 978-0679405528
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1.5 x 8.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #951,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Poet Prophet of England, July 4, 2003

By 

OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Poems and Prophecies (Everyman's Library) (Hardcover)

When it finally came time to add a volume of Blake to my permanent library I choose this excellent selection from the Everyman's Library. Like the entire collection it is printed in a classic typeface on acid-free, cream wove paper with a sewn full cloth binding. It also comes with a crystal cover over the half-jacket. This is a book that will last several lifetimes.

I am not scholar enough to know if this is a complete compilation of the poet's work. However, I have not found it wanting. All the major works such as the Songs of Innocence and Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, America, Europe, The book of Urizen, Milton, Jerusalem, etc., are here; along with a large collection of manuscript fragments and poetical sketches. Moreover there is an informed biographical introduction and a detailed chronology of the author's life compared to the literary context of the time and to historical events. There are also about twenty plates of the artist's own illustrations of his works.

One brief note on interpreting the work of this visionary mystic: the four Zoas correspond to Jung's four functions. Urison equals reason and law, Orc equals feeling, Tharmas equals sensing, while Los equals intuition and the visionary.

I've heard Blake dismissed as a semi-literate eccentric by some. They have obviously never actually read the man. There are elements of Plato, Plotinus, the Hermetica, the Bhagavad Ghita, the Cabbala, as well as many other mythologies and theologies, imbedded in these works- and in the true spirit of their respective times and cultures.

It is no wonder that Bucke lists him as one of the indisputable cases of Cosmic Consciousness.