Golgonooza: City of Imagination

by Kathleen Raine

The seven studies that comprise this book are the culmination of more than forty years of research into the meaning of Blake's symbolic themes by a scholar-poet who is internationally recognized as one of Blake's most profound interpreters. They are written so as to reach into the very heart of Blake's symbolic thought and for this reason may be read as an introduction to the whole of his imaginative vision.

Genres: Poetry, Philosophy, Religion, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Kathleen Jessie Raine CBE was an English poet, critic and scholar, writing in particular on William Blake, W.B. Yeats and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of spirituality, most prominently Platonism and Neoplatonism, she was a founding member of the Temenos Academy.

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first address in the book, "Science and Imagination in William Blake", is a kind of recap of her book "The Inner Journey of the Poet" (a book I wanted to reread as soon as I finished it), so it was good to have many of its points summarized in this address. I believe it's in this address where Raine makes the point that we've turned away from eternity in favor of futurity. In other words, that we are less tuned in to the enduring archetypes of Imagination to the extent we focus on the naturalized thinking of advancing our futures in the material world. She makes the claim the Imagination is real to the extent that its archetypes are present in the minds of humanity, and that the real world is unreal because we keep dividing it into smaller and smaller units until what is most basic is insubstantial. All of her points are arguable, but they make food for contemplation.

In "Blake and Maya", Raine compares similarities of Blake's thought about Imagination with the thought of Berkeley, Plotinus and the Bhagavad Gita.

In "Mythologizing of Time", Raine discusses the Blakean character Los, who's claimed to represent Time, and sprinkles her observations with thoughts pulled from Berkeley, Swedenborg and Jacob Boehme.

"Blake, Swedenborg & the Divine Human" discusses Raine's claim that Blake saw all of humanity, all reality, as essentially being one human, not in a personified sense, but in the sense that, to the extent we are aware of anything, it must be accessible in human terms, and thus must in a way be human. She quotes passages from Swedenborg, Blake, and C.G. Jung to support what she acknowledges is a subtle argument.

"The City in Blake's Prophetic Poetry" again invokes Plotinus in describing Jerusalem as the archetypal city of imagination, with Babylon representing the archetypal materialist city of efficiency without beauty, and Golgonooza as those parts of our cities which are built in an attempt to realize Jerusalem.

"Blake's Illustrations of Job" invokes the writings of C.G. Jung in a plate-by-plate description and explanation of how Blake's vision was similar and different from Jung's.

In "Blake and Michelangelo", Raine does the same thing in comparing Blake's vision with Michelangelo's in rendering The Last Judgement. She points out that Michelangelo focuses on the damning Jesus, where Blake focuses on the welcoming Jesus.

In "The Sleep of Albion", Raine discusses how Arthurian legend influenced Blake.

Coupled with "The Inner Journey of the Poet", this book takes the reader through ideas that will probably be absorbing to those who feel a dissatisfaction with mere realism and technology, and will probably be tedious and annoying to those who who are perfectly satisfied with a materialist, scientific, technological, purely rational way of seeing things.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is impossible to appreciate Blake without a good guide. Kathleen Raine is one of the most insightful commentators on Blake. Here you will learn about his 'system' and realise how radical he is. He was not only a poet, an engarver, and artist and bookmaker. He was a spiritual guide!

[Randy Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently read Peter Ackroyd’s biography of William Blake and felt it missed Blake’s passion for his ideas. This volume is a nice counterweight as it is all about Blake’s core beliefs and presented with eloquence and fervor.

Imagination as a central human function is what Blake cares about more than anything else. He believes that before there is the world, there is our act of imagination.

Where Blake splits off from the Western tradition is that he thinks empiricism, the plodding gathering of facts is insufficient and a sign of spiritual poverty. He wants to make the act of imagining a holy one and to infused into the stale humdrum sense of the world a new and vibrant wonder.

Raine is a passionate modern advocate for Blake and in some ways the absolute lack of images is bracing because it forces the focus to be on his ideas. His visual creations were so compelling that they could distract from what he had to say. When in need I could easily refer to them online.

[Kerri]

Research for my term paper on Romantics