Blake (Marriage of Heaven and Hell)
Case 6 Figure 2a (31b)
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Figure 2a. Blake, William. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake reproduced in facsimile from an original copy of the work printed and illuminated by the author between the years 1825-1827, and now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. [London, Toronto, J.M. Dent and Sons, Limited, New York, and E.P. Dutton and Company, 1927].
This is the chief prose work written by William Blake, and sets forth his doctrine of Contraries. In this philosophy, Blake emphasizes the negative side of his dualistic thinking. He writes: "Without contraries is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence." He denies matter as reality, eternal damnation, and the right of authority. He especially attacks eighteenth century rationalism and Protestanism for "reducing moral complexities to oversimplified formulas."