Blake, Kierkegaard, and the Spectre of Dialectic

Download or read book Blake, Kierkegaard, and the Spectre of Dialectic written by Lorraine Clark and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-05-07 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study traces affinities between the late prophetic poems of William Blake and the work of the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. Both feature concepts (the Spectre fought by Blake's poet-prophet Los, and Kierkegaard's idea of "dread") embodying a spirit of philosophical negation, skepticism, and dialectic which the writers sought to resist. Lorraine Clark uses Kierkegaard's philosophy to illuminate Blake's prophecies, showing that both offer the basis for a profound critique of romanticism, while themselves partaking of some of the ideals and tensions central to our understanding of the romantic movement.