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THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ENERGY AND URIZEN.BLAKE’S ALIENATED REASON AS THE SOURCE OF OPPRESSION IN THE HUMAN MIND AND IDENTITY

Georgia Dimitrakopoulou

First published: 2023https://doi.org/10.35603/sws.iscah.2023/fs10.17View metrics

Abstract

In my paper, the version of Urizen’s creation and existence particularly refers to/concerns the contrast/conflict between energy and reason. In Blake’s mythological system, Urizen is a false God which represents the distortion of truth and concerns the pragmatic, unspiritual apprehension, and appreciation of the mundane world as a creation of falsity which must be accepted by humans in order to survive, to secure life and multiply. Urizen creates and lives in an alienated and enslaving realm, a distorted mental state which is detached from God’s truth. Personified in Urizen, the human reason is false consciousness and derives from impure energy. Urizen is an abstraction of the human self. It is the “holy” God of pragmatism in real life. The [First] Book of Urizen presents Blake’s ideas about human error, false consciousness and its aftermaths. The book is an exposition of man’s slavery to a false God and miscommunication with divinity. Miscommunication is the result of reason’s interpolation, suppressed desires and illusory delight. Los, the universal man, the eternal prophet is a false prophet who must acquire true consciousness and humane identity. The estranged, isolated, and false human self must realize his self-delusion and renounce this false God, so as to embrace truth and authenticity. Consequently, believing in this false God man is not an artist and his mundane work has no quality and value. Art, which is communication, is distorted by the human urizenic, false identity. Reason, the reasoning power, rationalization is unable to shape life artistically because Urizen, as a false God hinders genuine creation. Art is an internal discourse of active communication which is based on pure energy and intellectual beauty. Urizen has no position in this discourse because it disrupts the artistic vision and produces false art. Urizen represents inartistic ugliness. It is the representation of error, the devourer and degraded intellect. Urizen is considered Blake’s negative aesthetic and represents the aesthetic category of the ugly. It is also Blake’s aesthetic realism, the ‘negative sublime’ of his aesthetic vision and stands in juxtaposition with his aesthetic idealism. Thus, in Blake’s aesthetics there are two different aspects of the sublime, its negative and positive forms. Urizen being Blake’s negative aesthetic, is a separate category which juxtaposes with the ‘Sublime of Imagination’ and completes his aesthetic vision. Although aesthetic realism is necessary to offer a complete depiction of Blake’s sublime, it is not the vision of beauty and spirituality. Nevertheless, it is essential to supplement Blake’s aesthetics.

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Publication details

Title
THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ENERGY AND URIZEN.BLAKE’S ALIENATED REASON AS THE SOURCE OF OPPRESSION IN THE HUMAN MIND AND IDENTITY
Authors
Georgia Dimitrakopoulou
Proceedings
Proceedings of 10th SWS International Scientific Conference on Arts And Humanities - ISCAH 2023
Publisher
SGEM WORLD SCIENCE (SWS) Scholarly Society
Year
2023
Pages
277-286
SWS Citekey
Dimitrakopoulou202310111
ISSN
2682-9940
ISBN
978-3-903438-07-1
Language
en
Publication type
Proceedings Paper
Keywords
The Book of UrizenReasonEnergyFalse CreationArthuman self and identitytrue self and consciousness
References19

  1. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, E 34.

  2. Ibid., E 34-5.

  3. The Book of Urizen, PLATE 10, Ch. IV. [b] l. 12, E 75.

  4. Ibid., PLATE 19, Ch. VI, l. 12, E 79.

  5. Raine, Kathleen. Blake and Tradition V. I. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1968, 364.

  6. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, PLATE 4, E 34.

  7. The Book of Urizen, Ch. VII, PLATE 20, ll. 30-41, E 80-1.

  8. Ibid., Ch. II, PLATE 4, ll. 24-26, E 72.

  9. Ibid., Ch. I, PLATE 3, ll. 25-6, E 71.

  10. Ibid., Ch. I, PLATE 3, ll. 3-5, E 70.

  11. Ibid., Ch. III, PLATE 5, ll. 40-41, E 73.

  12. Bloom, Harold. Blake’s Apocalypse: A Study in Poetic Argument. London, Gollancz, 1963, 78.

  13. The Book of Urizen, Ch. II, PLATE 4, l. 23, E 72.

  14. The Ancient Britons, E 543.

  15. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, PLATE 16, E 40.

  16. Annotations to Lavater’s Aphorisms on Man, E 601.

  17. Bloom, Harold. Blake’s Apocalypse: A Study in Poetic Argument. London: Gollancz, 1963, 85.

  18. Paley, Morton D. Energy and the Imagination. A Study of the Development of Blake’s Thought. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970, 15.

  19. Easson, Parkhurst Kay and Easson, Roger eds. William Blake: The Book of Urizen. London: Thames and Hudson, 1979, 69.

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