Heaven in a Wild Flower: William Blake's Spirituality of Imagination, Mysticism, and Apocalypse (thesis)

Abstract

The following paper is interested in the spirituality and religious beliefs of the 18th-19th c. poet and artist William Blake. It is composed of three chapters: an introduction to Blake and the historical and thematic context he worked in, an overview of three relevant themes in Blake's work, and finally, an overview of Blake's spirituality, followed by the paper's conclusions. Through a study of primary texts as well as important criticism, this paper arrives at an understanding of Blake's spirituality as a form of mysticism grounded in the imagination as a mode of perception, and a belief in the apocalyptic union of contraries that occurred through the life and death of Christ. Seeing the world through the lens of the imagination, Blake believes, allows us to experience unity with God, which is made possible through Jesus's life and death on Earth.