Marriage of Heaven and Hell

William Blake

Zemlja Sjedinjene Države

Žanrovi Arts, Books, Science, Astronomy

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Epizode 1

Najnovija 29.05.2026

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is a poetic work by William Blake, composed between 1790 and 1793 during the period of radical political conflict following the French Revolution. The title ironically references Emanuel Swedenborg's theological work Heaven and Hell, and Blake critiques Swedenborg's conventional moral structures. The book presents a unified vision of the cosmos where the material world and physical desire are part of the divine order, hence a marriage of heaven and hell. Written in prose except for the opening 'Argument' and the 'Song of Liberty', it describes the poet's visit to Hell, drawing from Dante's Inferno and Milton's Paradise Lost.

Epizode

Marriage of Heaven and Hell - William Blake 29.05.2026 41min

The work was composed between 1790 and 1793, in the period of radical foment and political conflict immediately after the French Revolution. The title is an ironic reference to Emanuel Swedenborg's theological work Heaven and Hell published in Latin 33 years earlier. Swedenborg is directly cited and criticized by Blake several places in the Marriage. Though Blake was influenced by his grand and mystical cosmic conception, Swedenborg's conventional moral structures and his Manichean view of good and evil led Blake to express a deliberately depolarized and unified vision of the cosmos in which the material world and physical desire are equally part of the divine order, hence, a marriage of heaven and hell. The book is written in prose, except for the opening "Argument" and the "Song of Liberty". The book describes the poet's visit to Hell, a device adopted by Blake from Dante's Inferno and Milton's Paradise Lost. (Summary by Wikipedia)