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Matthew J. A. Green's Visionary Materialism in the Early Works of William Blake

Matthew J. A. Green's Visionary Materialism in the Early Works of William Blake Romanticism Heaven and Hell, Green makes several leaps into the intellectual circles that may or may not have influenced Blake’s early work. Green’s ‘alternative inheritance’ begins rather conservatively with Locke, drawing heavily from Steve Clark and David Worral’s historical situating of Blake within enlightenment thinking. Green notes that Blake did not altogether reject Locke’s empirical disengagement from the world; instead, ‘Blake’s criticisms of enlightenment empiricism take issue with the narrow boundaries within which experience itself is denied’ (14). While Locke prescribed a ‘radical objectivity’, this could only be achieved paradoxically through self-examination, reflexivity (28). For this and other reasons, Green notes, ‘Blake’s reactions to Locke were neither straightforward nor entirely antithetical’ (26). As it turns out, this ambivalence characterizes Blake’s reactions to all other members of the inheritance outlined by Green. This should come as no surprise to scholars who are familiar with Blake’s radical dialectics. From Locke, Green moves on to Priestley, a professed materialist whose supposed influence on Blake has been examined at length by John Mee, Morton Paley, and others. Paley claimed that Priestley’s denial of the soul / body dichotomy may have inspired the voice of the Devil in Marriage, as evidenced in the http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Romanticism Edinburgh University Press

Matthew J. A. Green's Visionary Materialism in the Early Works of William Blake

O'Gorman, Marcel
Romanticism , Volume 12 (2): 160 – Jul 1, 2006
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Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
© Edinburgh University Press
ISSN
1354-991X
eISSN
1750-0192
DOI
10.3366/rom.2006.12.2.160
Publisher site
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Abstract

Romanticism Heaven and Hell, Green makes several leaps into the intellectual circles that may or may not have influenced Blake’s early work. Green’s ‘alternative inheritance’ begins rather conservatively with Locke, drawing heavily from Steve Clark and David Worral’s historical situating of Blake within enlightenment thinking. Green notes that Blake did not altogether reject Locke’s empirical disengagement from the world; instead, ‘Blake’s criticisms of enlightenment empiricism take issue with the narrow boundaries within which experience itself is denied’ (14). While Locke prescribed a ‘radical objectivity’, this could only be achieved paradoxically through self-examination, reflexivity (28). For this and other reasons, Green notes, ‘Blake’s reactions to Locke were neither straightforward nor entirely antithetical’ (26). As it turns out, this ambivalence characterizes Blake’s reactions to all other members of the inheritance outlined by Green. This should come as no surprise to scholars who are familiar with Blake’s radical dialectics. From Locke, Green moves on to Priestley, a professed materialist whose supposed influence on Blake has been examined at length by John Mee, Morton Paley, and others. Paley claimed that Priestley’s denial of the soul / body dichotomy may have inspired the voice of the Devil in Marriage, as evidenced in the

Journal

Romanticism – Edinburgh University Press

Published: Jul 1, 2006

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