The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1960)
Title
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1960)
Original Date:
1790, 1795
Facsimile Date:
1960
Publisher:
Trianon Press
Physical Description:
27 color plates ; 39 cm.
Background Information:
The original work was created in 1790; this facsimile was made from copy D, produced in 1795. Union College holds two copies of this work, which were donated by Hans Rozendaal and Walter Tower.
Student Commentary:
Overview: In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Blake offers a response to Emanuel Swedenborg’s Heaven and Hell (1758). Blake takes issue with what he considered Swedenborg’s restrictive moral and religious structures and presents the idea that all humans contain dichotomies and contradictions within themselves. Blake takes similar aim at other works that were, however, important to him in other contexts, including Milton’s Paradise Lost and the Bible. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell includes a number of distinct sections, including one with original proverbs coined by Blake. This work touches on themes such as religion, the seeming rigidity of moral laws, and the need to embrace the duality of the human spirit. - Jessica Rosenthal ‘18