And to conclude: A fool sees not the same tree a wise man sees

Abstract

In this study of the early work of William Blake, I have tried to show how the comic formed an integral part of Blake’s concept of Vision. It was, for him, a poetics of reading that was both an artistic and social practice. By participating in the contemporary use of satiric imagery and style, Blake was able to demystify political, religious and social authority. By using puns, wordplay and absurd humour he tried to disrupt the sense that language conveys a material reality (in the sense of a set of rules and laws external to the self) and to reinforce the importance of the reader in creating meaning. He saw the comic as a way of distinguishing between the wise Foolishness of faith and the hypocrisy of the Knave who sought to usurp the Fool’s attributes to his own ends. Thus it was a way for him to challenge the dominant culture’s attempt to absorb the traditional carni- valesque into the language of orthodox morality, the ‘allowed’ rebellion that restricted freedom of expression. His humorous world also reflected and challenged contemporary debate on the nature of comedy and the production of a sublime aesthetic, replacing the fear / beauty / obscurity paradigm with a ridiculous and essentially human alternative. Perhaps most importantly of all he adopted contemporary, Shakespearean and antiquarian carnivalesque imagery and practice into his work as a way of presenting an imaginative, empathetic and playful reading of texts, a sensual enjoyment that could lead to spiritual understanding.