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The Prophetic Poetry of William Blake - Proverbs of Hell (Lecture One) (Patreon)

Published:
2021-06-02 08:32:40
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

William Blake (1757 - 1827) sought to rewrite the Proverbs of the Bible in his 'Proverbs of Hell' from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

For the visionary Blake, the Bible was poetry and poetry was prophecy. 

Blake's difficulty lies in his extensive personal myth-making and ability to see deep inside the abyss of the human condition.

Reading his works is like reading a powerful, poetic mix of Freud, Nietzsche, Dostoyevsky, Milton, Jung, Shakespeare, and the Bible. 

Today we're starting our series of William Blake lectures by meditating on the pithy maxims from his 'Proverbs of Hell'.

Let me know which proverbs speak to you, and what they mean to you. 

Lecture Timestamps:

  • 0:00 introduction to Blake and the mythical tradition
  • 2:00 William Blake's engraved canon
  • 3:00 the Orc/fallen man
  • 5:00 Songs of Innocence and of Experience
  • 6:00 'Without Contraries is no Progression'
  • 7:00 Milton's Satan and Paradise Lost
  • 10:00 love and hate being two sides of the same coin
  • 15:00 restraining desire and will (pre-Freud and Nietzsche)
  • 18:00 'In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy'
  • 21:00 'The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom'
  • 23:00 'He who desires but acts not breeds pestilence'
  • 25:00 'A fool sees not the same tree as a wise man sees'
  • 26:00 Aristotelian virtue and habit ('No bird soars too high')
  • 28:00 'Where there is no vision, the people perish'
  • 30:00 'The Tygers of Wrath are wiser than the Horses of Instruction'

What do you make of Blake?

Are his Proverbs of Hell instructive, valuable, true?

Happy reading!

Files

Previews only

The Prophetic Poetry of William Blake - Proverbs of Hell (Lecture One)

0:00 introduction to Blake and the mythical tradition 2:00 William Blake's engraved canon 3:00 the Orc/fallen man 5:00 Songs of Innocence and of Experience 6:00 'Without Contraries is no Progression' 7:00 Milton's Satan and Paradise Lost 10:00 love and hate being two sides of the same coin 15:00 restraining desire and will (pre-Freud and Nietzsche) 18:00 'In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy' 21:00 'The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom' 23:00 'He who desires but acts not breeds pestilence' 25:00 'A fool sees not the same tree as a wise man sees' 26:00 Aristotelian virtue and habit ('No bird soars too high') 28:00 'Where there is no vision, the people perish' 30:00 'The Tygers of Wrath are wiser than the Horses of Instruction'

Comments

Florian Pesantes

What do I make of Blake, I ask me, now that you asked. One thing I read previously and shocked me was the information that two men had destroyed parts of his work after Blake’s death. Tatham written work for being heretic, and Linell altered his paintings for being too sexual. I’m sure these qualities were utterly important, maybe even essential for mankind. I’m no expert, this is just an intuition that Blake may have seen behind the curtains of prejudice, and blasted the limits of narrow-mindedness like Nietzsche, but might have gone even further and achieved some positive knowledge. Who knows? Who will ever know? I hope someone can channel Blake’s spirit one day and retrieve this buried knowledge. So far I’d not read much of his work. Listened to readings of the songs of innocence, seen some of his illustrations. With delight, but left the proper study for some time later. As regretfully with so many things. Grateful hence I listened to your lecture. The proverbs are really worth time and effort. So here’s my most favoured: ‘The hours of folly are measur’d by the clock, but of wisdom: no clock can measure.’ Here’s the most funny: (my subjective taste, of course) ‘Prudence is a rich ugly old maid courted by Incapacity.’ Here’s the one that frightened me: ‘The cut worm forgives the plow.’ All of them are brilliant: wise, condensed, beautifully written, well worth a meditation or twelve on each.

hardcoreliterature
>>61113650

Thank you for sharing your favourites :) Fascinating stuff about the destruction of his works. I've noticed a patten of these great writers having their oeuvre destroyed. Thank God we have what we believe to be most of Shakespeare.. And Austen's sister destroyed practically all of her correspondence...Craziness! I do love these proverbs - the second one makes me chuckle, the final one begs the question... is one the worm or the plough? Thank you, Florian! :)