Blake and the Emanation
Blake and the Emanation
Representative of the mind/world dichotomy, the emanation in most criticism is regarded as a futile attempt to banish otherness, or to subdue the feminine, except as an aspect of male creativity. Although it is possible to adopt a view of the limitations of the emanation as a unifying element in The Songs of Innocence and of Experience, and the Lambeth Prophecies, throughout the later works there is a move to incorporate the feminine, so that creativity becomes possible for both men and women.
The implications of femininity are discussed in relation to the ideas of C.G. Jung, and his modern interpreter, James Hillman. The argument is based upon the similarity of the anima to Blake's emanation. In his early works the emanation resembles Jung's view of anima, which is responsive to the notion that thinking is a male prerogative, while feeling is mostly confined to women. This configuration dictates the destructive tendency to think in oppositions. Later works show an increasing desire to undermine the male/female dichotomy. In these, the view of the emanation develops to resemble Hillman's description of anima as psychic structure, in which thinking and feeling operate in creative harmony, and undermine destructive conflict.
The ideas of Rousseau, in relation to the works of Godwin and Wollstonecraft, provide the contemporary context for development of the emanation. Initially a critique of the rationality espoused by Godwin, Blake's emanation develops, following the ideas of Rousseau, to accord with some of Godwin's views on the value of sensibility as a unifying moral force, despite the need to overcome its repressive social effects. Mary Wollstonecraft's denunciation of the oppressive effects of sensibility on the female, expressed in opposition to Rousseau in Vindication of the Rights of Woman, is echoed by Blake's concept of the female will, whilst her eventual adoption of creativity as a means of releasing both sexes from the entrapment of feeling also accords with Blake's position in Jerusalem.
University of Southampton
Boyce, Michele D
468552f6-b224-4336-896e-9201b478872d
2001
Boyce, Michele D
468552f6-b224-4336-896e-9201b478872d
Boyce, Michele D
(2001)
Blake and the Emanation.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
Representative of the mind/world dichotomy, the emanation in most criticism is regarded as a futile attempt to banish otherness, or to subdue the feminine, except as an aspect of male creativity. Although it is possible to adopt a view of the limitations of the emanation as a unifying element in The Songs of Innocence and of Experience, and the Lambeth Prophecies, throughout the later works there is a move to incorporate the feminine, so that creativity becomes possible for both men and women.
The implications of femininity are discussed in relation to the ideas of C.G. Jung, and his modern interpreter, James Hillman. The argument is based upon the similarity of the anima to Blake's emanation. In his early works the emanation resembles Jung's view of anima, which is responsive to the notion that thinking is a male prerogative, while feeling is mostly confined to women. This configuration dictates the destructive tendency to think in oppositions. Later works show an increasing desire to undermine the male/female dichotomy. In these, the view of the emanation develops to resemble Hillman's description of anima as psychic structure, in which thinking and feeling operate in creative harmony, and undermine destructive conflict.
The ideas of Rousseau, in relation to the works of Godwin and Wollstonecraft, provide the contemporary context for development of the emanation. Initially a critique of the rationality espoused by Godwin, Blake's emanation develops, following the ideas of Rousseau, to accord with some of Godwin's views on the value of sensibility as a unifying moral force, despite the need to overcome its repressive social effects. Mary Wollstonecraft's denunciation of the oppressive effects of sensibility on the female, expressed in opposition to Rousseau in Vindication of the Rights of Woman, is echoed by Blake's concept of the female will, whilst her eventual adoption of creativity as a means of releasing both sexes from the entrapment of feeling also accords with Blake's position in Jerusalem.
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Published date: 2001
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Local EPrints ID: 464754
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/464754
PURE UUID: de8eb60e-9f73-4f6b-b875-f16aa2fb2ab8
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 23:59
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 19:43
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Author:
Michele D Boyce
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