JERUSALEM. Lament, tragedy, invocation, cry? William Blake and the play that forgets his name

An audio version of this talk is at my podcast, Talks and Thoughts, available via podcast feeds. Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth, starring Mark Rylance, is brilliant. But what can be made of its violence and passion, humour and hedonism, tragedy and emptiness? Returning to the source of the famous words after which the play is… Continue reading JERUSALEM. Lament, tragedy, invocation, cry? William Blake and the play that forgets his name

Christmas according to William Blake – a warning

An MP3 of the talk can be found at my podcast feed, Talks and Thoughts. An article on Blake’s view of the Christ Child, viewed through his infernal method, can be found here. Here I discuss how William Blake used his infernal methods subtly to critique Christmas via his illustrations to Milton’s ode, On the… Continue reading Christmas according to William Blake – a warning