William Blake in Context Literature in Context Series

William Blake, poet and artist, is a figure often understood to have 'created his own system'. Combining close readings and detailed analysis of a range of Blake's work, from lyrical songs to later myth, from writing to visual art, this collection of thirty-eight lively and authoritative essays examines what Blake had in common with his contemporaries, the writers who influenced him, and those he influenced in turn. Chapters from an international team of leading scholars also attend to his wider contexts: material, formal, cultural, and historical, to enrich our understanding of, and engagement with, Blake's work. Accessibly written, incisive, and informed by original research, William Blake in Context enables readers to appreciate Blake anew, from both within and outside of his own idiom.

Introduction Sarah Haggarty; Part I. Life, Works, and Reception: 1. Life Leo Damrosch; 2. Networks Jon Mee; 3. Engraving Mark Crosby; 4. Illuminated books David Worrall; 5. Manuscripts Sarah Haggarty; 6. Book illustration Luisa Calè; 7. Painting Martin Myrone; 8. Early reception Sibylle Erle and Keri Davies; 9. Late reception Jason Whittaker; 10. Editing and editions Morris Eaves; Part II. Form, Genre, and Mode: 11. Comedy Fred Parker; 12. Prophecy Ian Balfour; 13. Rhythm Derek Attridge; 14. Songs Steve Newman; 15. Sound Michael Hurley; 16. Sublimity David Baulch; 17. System, myth, and symbol Tilottama Rajan; Part III. Creative Cross-Currents: 18. The Bible Stephen Prickett; 19. Chaucer, Spenser, and Shakespeare David Fuller; 20. Milton G. A. Rosso; 21. Eighteenth century and romanticism David Duff; 22. Byron Jerome McGann; 23. Pre-Raphaelites and aesthetes Elizabeth Helsinger; 24. Yeats, Eliot, and Auden Edward Larrissy; 25. Whitman, Crane, and the Beats Linda Freedman; Part IV. History, Society, and Culture: 26. Animals Kurt Fosso; 27. Antiquarianism Noah Heringman; 28. Education and childhood Louise Joy; 29. Empiricism Nicholas M. Williams; 30. Life sciences Denise Gigante; 31. London Saree Makdisi; 32. Money Matthew Rowlinson; 33. Moravianism Alexander Regier; 34. Mysticism Laura Quinney; 35. Nationalism and imperialism Julia M. Wright; 36. Sex, sexuality, gender Susan Matthews; 37. War and revolution Andrew Lincoln; 38. (Without) sympathy Steven Goldsmith.

Sarah Haggarty is a Lecturer in the Faculty of English and Fellow of Queens' College, at the University of Cambridge. She has published three previous books about Blake: Blake's Gifts: Poetry and the Politics of Exchange (Cambridge, 2010); William Blake: Songs of Innocence and of Experience (with Jon Mee, 2013); and Blake and Conflict (with Jon Mee, 2009).