CW: Poetic imagery of blood and gore, ravishing, and apocalyptic discussion
Today we discuss the works of William Blake that don't usually make it into anthologies and undergraduate curricula - namely "America: A Prophecy," "The [First] Book of Urizen," and "Laocoon" (as well as one EXTREMELY popular poem from the deleted preface to "Milton: A Poem", and Pseudo Ossian's "The War of Inis-Thona," for context). These works begin to describe the greater mythological project of Blake's, which extends all the way to his masterpiece: "Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Great Albion". These are trying texts, but reflect a dramatic shift in the acceptable understanding of Christianity, the understanding of a poet's role in society, and the artistic priorities of art in the 19th century.
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