BLAKE’S SYSTEM AND THE CRITICS

Abstract

THE dramatic re-evaluation this century of Blakes poetry rests on a set of assumptions and procedures which have never been subjected to detailed criticism. These first found definitive expression in S. Foster Damon's pioneering study William Blake: His Philosophy and Symbols, which attempted to refute Blake's reputation as a madman and obscurantist by demonstrating his work's intelligibility. To do this Damon assumed that Blake 'himself had systematized his thought so carefully that one clue led to another, until at last the general structure of each book was clear.'l Supporting evidence for this notion of ~ Blakean system, or consistent body of symbols and ideas informing the poetry, was provided by analogous images and concepts in the poet's works and, where necessary, further elucidation was sought in putative sources which reflected Blake's interests in philosophy, politics and the arts. Thus in a single work Damon not only did much to advance Blake's critical rehabilitation, but he also established what became the accepted methodology of Blake scholarship, and opened up areas which subsequent studies have systematically examined. These findings have from time to time been challenged; but the indisputable illumination afforded by systematic approaches to Blake's work, together with a defensive legacy from the critical past, has meant that Blake specialists tend simply to close ranks against