Publication Date

8-1977

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

William McMahon, George McCelvey, Dorothy McMahon

Degree Program

Department of English

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

This study represents an attempt to explore the occult tradition, in particular the Kabbalah, in an effort to establish a relationship between this tradition and the prophetic poems of William Blake. The Kabbalah is examined to reveal similarities between the kabbalistic Adam Kadmon and Blake's sleeping giant Albion. In addition, a comparison is made of the sexual dichotomies in both sources. Once Blake is viewed as a part of the occult tradition and the kabbalistic similarities are explored, an important aspect of Blake's poetry is clarified, by considering the essential design of kabbalistic thought as it stands in close relation to the prophetic poems, which are his most ambitious projects.

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | English Language and Literature | Literature in English, British Isles

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