“I Have Sought for a Joy without pain,/ For a Solid Without

The Urizenic ideology of immutability is what Blake seeks to subvert and destroy throughout his poetry. Urizen’s longings epitomizes the tyranny of religion; “one God, one Law” (The Book of Urizen, Plate 4, line 40). Urizen is the mythological representation of the Orthodox Christian God. Blake condemns this ‘merciful’ God, which praises the ‘good’ (or the passive) and denounces the ‘evil’ (or the energetic). He felt that these distinctions were crippling to the human condition. They crushed positive energy and celebrated enforced conformity. Blake demonstrates that this hypocritical religious oppression was alive in his society, the established church nurtured this Urizenic despotism. Blake re-writes the theological myths of the creation of Christianity. By doing so he demonstrates the pitfalls of a religion which denies the intrinsic contrariety of the passionate human soul.

Blake’s belief in contraries is so deeply rooted in his poetic vision that it is evident in some of his earliest work. The Songs of Innocence and Experience written in 17

Annihilate himself for others good, as I for thee.

Milton is a complex expression of Blake’s on-going fight against orthodoxy. Blake employs biblical language and many references to John Milton’s Paradise Lost. John Milton was an important figure to Blake, thus he dedicated an epic work to his name. However, Blake’s main prerogative in Milton is the releasing of Milton’s potential revolutionary energy; the energy he never used in his earthly existance. Milton was a Puritan, very much part of the Orthodox and patriarchal society he lived in, he was not a rebel. Blake had an ambivalent attitude towards Milton, simultaneously scorning and praising his creative genius. In Milton Blake tries to remedy the mitakes of the Seventeenth Century poet by making him abandon his Orthodox self and defy Urizen’s laws of compliance. Blake takes the character of Milton on a journey of self discovery. Milton comes to realise that “I in my selfhood am that Satan” ( Milton, Plate 14, line 30). In his repressive patriarchy he is the “Evil One!” and he jumps to “eternal death” to loose this overpowering Urizenic selfhood.

Some topics in this essay:
Immensity” Ch, Book Exodus, Book Urizen, God Blake, Urizenic Puritan, Existence” Plate, God Law”, Similarly Urizen’s, God” Pl, Milton Satan, book urizen, urizen’s longings, blake demonstrates, 14 line, christian morality, orthodox christian, 4 line, paradise lost, orthodox christian god, character milton, moskal 1994, bloom 1963 80, blake ambivalent attitude, ambivalent attitude towards, plate 14 line,