Contrariety In William Blake's Early Poetry

William Blake is a poet of distinctive originality in the history of English literature. His reputation as a poet has experienced a drastic change from oblivion to prominence in his lifetime and after his death. Since the 20th century he has drawn more and more critical attention and his status of centrality in Romanticism has been gradually and steadily established and exalted. Contrariety is a very important aspect of Blake's aesthetic thoughts, which is the central element underlying his poetry. Tracing the complex political and ideological milieu of the 18th century, as well as the biographical records of Blake's life experience, this dissertation aims to investigate the origins and features of Blake's notion of contrariety as well as its embodiments in his early poetry.Blake's idea of contrariety is the result of his imbibition and transcendence of the thoughts of other writers and philosophers, especially Emanuel Swedenborg and Jacob Boehme who provided the necessary impulse and material for Blake to think about the basic principles of contrariety. Meanwhile, the contrary states of the outer living environment and his inner mind also contribute to the formation of his aesthetics of contrariety. Blake's contrariety transcends the traditional dualism of good and evil, body and soul, involving the dynamic interaction of contrary forces, which is condensed in his saying"Without Contraries is no progression"in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The conception of contrariety has a wide array of meanings, which encompasses his ideas about human perception, political revolution and female sexuality.Chapter one deals with the embodiment of the idea of contrariety reflected in human perception: an opposition between innocence and experience, with the paired poems in Songs of Innocence and of Experience as the focus of analysis. Innocence and experience indicate opposing directions of human perception, and their opposition lies in different responses to nature and authority. The innocent appreciate all the natural things, calmly face the natural course of human life and ingenuously believe in the goodwill of authority and the established social institutions. In contrast, the experienced unreasonably fear nature and even the release of natural feelings. They always perceive the dark side of the society and the sinister intention of authoritative force, which incur their forbidding indignation. Neither perception is satisfactory for the innocent understanding of the world is too optimistic while the perception from experience is usually biased and dogmatic. Innocence and experience form a sharp contrast with each other and their opposition is a complementary one.Chapter two, mainly taking"The Tyger"and Lambeth Prophecies as examples, explores the contrariety of political revolution in the form of a confrontation between energy and reason. Energy finds its expression in the revolutionary force and reason in the tyrannical force. Blake lived in an age of revolutions, which prompts him to contemplate the significance of political revolution. In his view, revolution is both creative and destructive. When unbounded, revolutionary energy will become so overwhelmingly powerful that it may lead to destruction and even the establishment of a new form of tyranny. Reason suffocates human mind and sterilizes the society; however, it is just the counterwork of reason that keeps the overflow of energy within a healthy limit. Revolutionary energy personified as Orc and tyrannical reason in the image of Urizen incessantly fight against each other in Blake's political prophecies, and these two contraries are mutually defining and necessarily antagonistic.Chapter three analyses the idea of contrariety expressed through female sexuality, focusing on the females in The Book of Thel, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, Europe, A Prophecy and some short lyrics. Blake calls for the liberation of females on the one hand, and insists on the subordination of them on the other. This ambivalence is reflected in his treatment of female sexuality which is presented as in a state of struggle between two contrary forces: liberation and submission. Women strive to liberate themselves from sexual repression: they take the initiative in the pursuit of sexual love and celebrate the gratified sexual desire. However, in this process, the liberating force comes up against the resistance of the submissive. Women are forced to submit to male sexual aggression and they are even subtly influenced by the doctrines of sexual oppression and introject submission. It is important to observe that latent is the female will for dominance in both liberation and submission when they run to an extreme. Negation of the contrary force is destructive because it is through the struggle between liberation and submission that female sexuality remains in a state of dynamic harmony. Through the above analysis, the dissertation arrives at the conclusion that Blake believes contraries are immanent in human life and human society and he constructs his thoughts through contraries. Contrariety is the core of his early poetic works, which shows his response to politics, morality and civilization of the English society in the 18th century and mirrors his meditation on man and society. His notion of contrariety provides a different perspective to understanding the world and encourages much innovative writings among writers of later generations.