I thought that one of the most interesting sections of “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” was when William Blake discussed Paradise Lost. I took Paradise Lost last semester, so a lot of what we learned is still pretty fresh in my mind!
First, I thought that the quote, “Those who restrain desire, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained; and the restrainer or reason usurps its place & governs the unwilling” was very interesting. Last semester, we discussed a great deal about what it was Milton wrote about free will. In Paradise Lost, Milton writes that God has given people free will because there would be no point in their obeying God if there was no other way they could behave. This is why Satan’s fall from Heaven is so significant: he has the ability to stay loyal to God, even though God knew that he would not. The implication that those who restrain their own desires are actually not strong, but simply have weak desires, seems to go against everything that Milton writes. Milton, I think, would state that those who are able to remain loyal to God, despite their desires, are perhaps the strongest people. However, I do understand that perhaps this is intentional on the part of Blake. It seems that he wishes to argue that there are certain human desires that it is unreasonable to expect all people to control completely.
Next, I found the quote, “…the Devil’s account is, that the Messiah fell, & formed a heaven of what he stole from the Abyss” to also be quite interesting. A big theme in Paradise Lost is Satan realizing that his mindset matters more than his physical location. In particular, Satan, after he betrays God, visits Eden and realizes that Hell is not a place. Rather, it is a mindset that he brings with him everywhere, since he has fallen and feels that there is no way for him to repent. It was interesting to think of Satan and the other fallen angels as making the best of their own situation and making a Heaven out of Hell.
I thought that the note at the end of this was pretty significant since it seems to give us a pretty good idea of what Blake thought of Milton! Blake writes, “The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil’s party without knowing it.” I did a little research on this phrase, since I remembered reading about it last year but didn’t remember all the specifics on it, and it seems to me that Blake thought this about Milton since Milton portrays Satan as the protagonist and a character worthy of pity in Paradise Lost.
Yes, I think Blake sees Satan as a kind of hero in “Paradise Lost,” as having the right energy and desire, as it were, unwilling to be restrained by reason. In a sense, Blake is arguing that true poetry is allowing thoughts to be articulated even if they don’t seem reasonable, and that’s what Milton did in creating Satan. Most Milton critics think that Blake just misreads Milton’s epic poem. Harold Bloom argued that this is what all great poets do–misread other great poets.
As someone who also took the Paradise Lost class last semester, it too has been on my mind as we’ve read Blake. Milton especially popped into my head when reading “Introduction.” The lines “Calling the lapséd soul” and “And fallen, fallen light renew” obviously bring to mind Milton and Paradise Lost—though I’m curious about what the line is between Blake alluding mainly to the Bible, mainly to Milton, or a mix of both.