Blake and the Methodists
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Blake and the Methodists Michael Farrell Independent scholar, UK
Michael Farrell 2014 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-45549-9 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-49817-8 ISBN 978-1-137-45550-5 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137455505 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Farrell, Michael, 1982 author. Blake and the Methodists / Michael Farrell. pages cm Summary: Blake and the Methodists explores the work of the poet and painter William Blake (1757 1827) within the context of Methodism the largest dissenting religious group during his lifetime and contributes to ongoing critical debates surrounding Blake s religious affinities by suggesting that, contrary to previous thinking, Blake held sympathies with certain aspects of Methodism, particularly as it was preached by its founder-member, John Wesley. Farrell suggests that Blake s theology is essentially eclectic in combining different aspects of doctrine and practice from diverse religious and mystical traditions, and argues for a less radicalised perception of the writer s theological outlook than has previously been surmised by scholars Provided by publisher. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Blake, William, 1757 1827 Criticism and interpretation. 2. Blake, William, 1757 1827 Religion. 3. Methodism in literature. I. Title. PR4148.R4F37 2014 821'.7 dc23 2014022912 Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
To the memory of my grandmother
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Contents Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Bibliographical Note viii ix x Introduction 1 1 Blake and Methodism: Context and Theory 15 2 The Moravians 30 3 Blake, Wesley, and Theology 51 4 Literary Culture 69 5 Hymnody 88 6 Night Thoughts 112 7 Blake, Wesley, and Milton 133 8 The New Birth 162 Conclusion 193 Notes 197 Bibliography 229 Index 251 vii
Acknowledgements The following acknowledgements, for the most part, are to those friends and colleagues with whom I had the pleasure to work with during my time in Oxford between 2005 and 2009. I am grateful to Corpus Christi College and the Arts and Humanities Research Council for generously funding the project. I would also like to express my thanks to the editorial team at Palgrave Macmillan and to the staff at the various libraries and institutions either to which I belonged or had the pleasure of visiting, including: Corpus Christi College, Oxford; the Bodleian Library, Oxford; the English Faculty, Oxford; the John Rylands Library, Manchester; and the British Library. My gratitude extends to numerous friends, colleagues, and tutors over the years: Joseph Crawford, Valentine Cunningham, Victor D Avella, Mary Fairclough, David Fallon, John Filling, Georgina Green, Felicity James, Matthew Kimberley, Jon Mee, Helen Moore, John Mundy, Beth Munro, Olivia Murphy, Piers Pennington, John Riley, Nicholas Shrimpton, Daniel Tarozzi, and John Walsh. I am particularly grateful to Seamus Perry and Jonathan Roberts for their invaluable insights. Special thanks and love to my family: Mum, Dad, Paul, Lyndsey, Amelia, and Luke. And finally, all my love to Ellie: my love, my friend, and my soul mate. Thank you for always being there. You mean more to me than words can say. viii
List of Abbreviations BIQ BR DE J JWS NT PL WC WJW WJW 2 Works Blake: An Illustrated Quarterly G. E. Bentley Jr, Blake Records: Second Edition Jon Mee, Dangerous Enthusiasm The Journal of John Wesley abridged by Christopher Idle John Wesley s Sermons edited by Albert Outler and Richard Heitzenrater Edward Young, Night Thoughts edited by Stephen Cornford John Milton, Paradise Lost in Milton: Poetical Works edited by Douglas Bush Edward Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 11, edited by Gerald Cragg The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 3, edited by Albert Outler The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley edited by Baker and Heitzenrater ix
Bibliographical Note All references to Blake s poetry and prose, unless stated otherwise, are taken from The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake edited by David Erdman, henceforth abbreviated as E, preceded by the title of the text cited and followed by the page number. Due to the number of alternative versions of many of Blake s key works, I omit to state line or plate number (without wishing to disregard consideration of dramatic context or irony). All of Blake s illustrations referred to in the following pages are accessible via the Blake Archive: http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/indexworks.htm. I have used a mixture of early editions of John Wesley s publications and, where appropriate, Frank Baker and R. P. Heitzenrater s standard scholarly edition of Wesley s collected works, The Bicentennial Edition of the Works of John Wesley in 16 volumes of 26 published. Given that this publishing venture is unfinished, I have also consulted specific volumes of other editions of Wesley s collected works. All quotations from Paradise Lost are from Milton: Poetical Works edited by Douglas Bush (Oxford, 1979) and all quotations from Edward Young s Night Thoughts are from the 2008 Cambridge edition edited by Stephen Cornford. All references to these works are formatted as: Book/Night number, followed by the line number(s), followed by the page number in parentheses. For full publication details please refer to the Bibliography. All quotations from the Bible are from the King James Version. x