Inspired satire on religion and morality, including 70 aphorisms of "Proverbs of Hell." 27 full-color plates, full text.
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reviews
Jan 16, 2009
En Las Bodas del cielo y el infierno -su obra más importante- queda patente esta alteridad entre el bien y el mal, entre Cristo y Satanás, entre el alma y el cuerpo: "Sin contrarios no hay progresión. Atracción y Repulsión; Razón y Energía; Amor y Odio, son necesarios para la existencia humana." Blake pone en cuestión los códigos de las escrituras sagradas y arremete contra el dogma que disocia alma y cuerpo proponiendo que: "El hombre no tiene un Cuerpo distinto de su Alma, pues
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Jan 05, 2010
Max
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Hm... The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, eh? I read C.S. Lewis's The Great Divorce before I read this, and I think his preface there sums up my thoughts on the work:
I think that The Marriage is a very engaging and invigorating int More...
Blake wrote The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. If I have written of their Divorce, this is not because I think myself a fit antagonist for such a genius, nor even because I feel at all sure that I know what he meant.And yet... I, too, do write of their divorce.
I think that The Marriage is a very engaging and invigorating int More...
Mar 12, 2011
Javier
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The Proverbs of Hell are a chilling and disturbingly saccharine peek into the psychological profile of the Human experience. Check out the Dover edition which has reproduced the original plates in facsimile and full color!
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Dec 24, 2008
q
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One of the Proverbs of Hell is "Improvent [sic] makes strait roads, but the Crooked roads without Improvement are roads of Genius." These roads are mostly too crooked for me, but it's fun to pick this up now and again and ponder. The illuminations are as strange as the text.
This Dover edition is cheap and has good plates. It's a facsimile of copy D, in the Library of Congress. The internets also have this one and some others, but the electronic version of copy D seems to More...
This Dover edition is cheap and has good plates. It's a facsimile of copy D, in the Library of Congress. The internets also have this one and some others, but the electronic version of copy D seems to More...
Dec 28, 2009
Melissa
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The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is one of my favorites if only because William Blake does a great job at being unforgiving. It captures the clash between the material and the physical, the beautiful and the ugly very well. The art is equally impressive, something I think most readers tend to overlook. The work reminds me of Milton's 'Paradise Lost,' but obviously much shorter and less glorifying of what life could be versus what it actually is. I highly recommend the illustrated version. His dra
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Aug 10, 2011
Jeff
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One score and 3(?) years ago, my four fingers and opposable thumb wrought an almost unreadable essay on Wm Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Tonight, August 10, 2011, i went into my basement, dredged up said craptasterpiece (along with several million invisible dust mites), and punished my ego with a read through.
How Prof. Herron endured that obstacle course of passive voice, rambling vagueness, and empty recapitulations of "thesis statements" i'll never know. That h More...
How Prof. Herron endured that obstacle course of passive voice, rambling vagueness, and empty recapitulations of "thesis statements" i'll never know. That h More...
Sep 17, 2007
Matthew
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When I read this book I start to believe that I'm capable of comprehending Blake's ideas, but I don't think it's as easy as saying that he's being dialectical or ironic or that he's trying to subvert the traditional and accepted meanings of the language and concepts that he employs. There is an esoteric dimension in which much of what he says reflects and exemplifies its opposite as well as its understood meaning. I suspect that Blake knew exactly what he meant, but without the benefit of a pr
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Jan 05, 2011
Adam
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Blake fascinates me, but I know relatively little about him. I'd say this is my first real exposure to him outside of the standard high school English Lit selections ("Tyger Tyger burning bright, etc.")
So here we have part Biblical prophecy (in which he seems to suggest that the mores imposed by the church are more sinful than the sins they profess to be against), a series of proverbs, and a series of dreams or visions.
Clearly, I need to read more to put this in More...
So here we have part Biblical prophecy (in which he seems to suggest that the mores imposed by the church are more sinful than the sins they profess to be against), a series of proverbs, and a series of dreams or visions.
Clearly, I need to read more to put this in More...
Mar 24, 2011
Kara
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The illuminations accompanying Blake's poetry should be considered necessary to the reading of his poems. The illuminations are beautiful, descriptive, obviously terribly time consuming and should not be counted as something separate from the words. That said, sometimes it is difficult to read the poems on the illuminations, as they were meant to be read. This book provides the complete illuminations followed by the poems sans illumination, for ease of reading.
Jun 20, 2010
patxi
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Ante la imposición de una verdad revelada, un librepensador es capaz de mostrar, en un opúsculo tan breve como "El matrimonio del Cielo y del Infierno", las posibilidades que ofrece nuestra capacidad de razonamiento a partir de una tradición libertaria.
Contundente, liberrimo, con una riqueza imaginativa desbordante, y en el caso de esta edición, que reproduce las planchas originales, preciosamente iluminada.
Contundente, liberrimo, con una riqueza imaginativa desbordante, y en el caso de esta edición, que reproduce las planchas originales, preciosamente iluminada.
Jan 07, 2011
Eileen
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Trying to figure out what this means is fruitless. As with poetry, I found it most enjoyable to just let the phrases I liked roll around on my tongue and savor the images they conjure up. Blake does some interesting things to make bible stories refreshingly different. (For e.g. he sits down and has dinner and conversation with the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel.) His intellectual creativity makes me smile. Some great quotes: “No bird soars too high, if it soars with its own wings.” “The fox condemn
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Feb 19, 2011
Aside from the bizarre, meandering philosophical tracts about "Rintrah" (umm?) and Swedenborg (umm?), he has some interesting things to say about the perception of religion.
PS: Since I'm not sure exactly what the heck William Blake is writing about throughout 1/2 of the book, I think I'm going to skip rating this text.
PS: Since I'm not sure exactly what the heck William Blake is writing about throughout 1/2 of the book, I think I'm going to skip rating this text.
Feb 17, 2009
Erin
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!!
"Note. This Angel, who is now become a Devil, is my particular friend; we often read the Bible together in its infernal or diabolical sense which the world shall have if they behave well.
I have also: The Bible of Hell: which the world shall have whether they will or no."
!!
"Note. This Angel, who is now become a Devil, is my particular friend; we often read the Bible together in its infernal or diabolical sense which the world shall have if they behave well.
I have also: The Bible of Hell: which the world shall have whether they will or no."
!!
Feb 09, 2012
Ellen
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I was surprised to find this accessible after struggling with Blake's "Milton." The so very practical proverbs of hell, the jibes at religion for separating mind and desire, the idea that there can be no good without evil . . . these and other concepts roll and roil and enrich one another.
Apr 20, 2011
Einschrein
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Blake was not the best, most famous, most well-know of the English poets, but his work (many with his own hand-painted illustrations) is staggeringly beautiful. Perhaps my love for his works stems, in part, from a shared sensibility in matters political, religious, social, etc. Well worth a look.
Jan 01, 2012
Adam
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A work of staggering(ly mad) genius. Blake, in layer upon layer of delicious irony and satire, in prose and poetry and images that are both fundamentally unsettling and oddly reassuring, and most certainly deeply human, achieves true profundity, inspires puzzlement and outrage, and makes you laugh insanely hard-- assuming you have a good sense of humour.
I agree with the guy who says this is (potentially) dangerous, and it's sadly too easy to find people who call themselves fans of Bla More...
I agree with the guy who says this is (potentially) dangerous, and it's sadly too easy to find people who call themselves fans of Bla More...
Jul 30, 2008
Daniel
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i love william blake. even if my friend mike says that, while he was teaching high school english, that was the one poet all the boys hyped up on testosterone and a touch of freedom were actually excited about. i guess that says a lot about me --- or/and --- a lot about william blake. but, shit, i'd throw rimbaud into the same damn category and he, well ... he's fucking rimbaud.
on a side note: even though this edition is super-compact, the reproductions of blake's "illuminat More...
on a side note: even though this edition is super-compact, the reproductions of blake's "illuminat More...
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Dec 22, 2010
Robert
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I have probably read and re-read this poem more than any other. The text is a display of one of his fundamental principles: opposites are necessary to human existence. It is also one of the few Blake works that displays flashes of humor.
Jan 10, 2010
Javier
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This book shouldn't be available for all. It's such a revealing writing, its overwhelming. I think Blake sucessfully delivers a very mature study of the human soul through the up and downs between good and evil: between heaven and hell.
Jun 21, 2011
Keith
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While a tour de force of visual art and prose, this left me saying, "Huh?" I'm not much for religious mysticism. Born thousand years earlier, Blake would have been a prophet. To me, in the 21 century, it has little appeal.
Apr 26, 2011
Natasha
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Wonderful poetry. Blake does a wonderful job of turning religious conventions on their head. His imagery is beautiful. His poetry can be pretty snarky too, which I love.
Jan 24, 2010
Redsteve
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This edition includes a plain-text version of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, reproductions of the plates from one of Blake's hand-illuminated versions, and analysis of the text and illustrations.
Mar 23, 2011
Timeless genius,it is always provocative and inspiring. No matter how many other times I've read the same lines, I see something more the next time I read it.
Jan 22, 2011
James
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Interesting bits--including the infamous line (a so-called proverb from hell): "Better murder an infant in its cradle than nurse an unacted desire." Glad I read it.
Mar 28, 2011
I don't quite understand this story, and I wish I did. I just can't seem to fully grasp what Blake is actually saying. Some nice quotes here though.
Dec 01, 2008
Jasmine
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This builds on the possibility of the devil as the hero in Milton. Including his list of the proverbs of hell which teach how to live.
Mar 01, 2009
Meghan
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I love William Blake. The way he integrates image and text is so powerful, and I think this collection even outweighs his Songs.
Apr 07, 2009
Erika
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Well, I haven't read "the facsimile in full color" version, but I have read The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Fascinating stuff.
Apr 28, 2011
This poem is the reason why C.S. Lewis wrote "The Great Divorce."
Very interesting insights into Romanticism.
Very interesting insights into Romanticism.
Sep 29, 2009
Lindsey
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I like Blake, but I also think he's grade A crazy . . . oh, and theologicall incorrect ;-)
