The Occult in the Poetry of William Blake
Symbolism and Mystical Themes Explored
William Blake’s poetry draws deeply from occult traditions, weaving mystical symbolism, esoteric themes, and visionary imagery into his verses. His works reflect influences from spiritual philosophies like the Kabbalah and the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, as well as broader currents of Western esotericism. For Blake, poetry was not just art but a vehicle for exploring hidden aspects of reality and the human mind.
Readers are drawn into a world where archetypal forms, mythic worlds, and spiritual allegory intersect, revealing layers of meaning beyond literal interpretation. These occult dimensions set Blake’s poetry apart, offering insight into both his unique worldview and the broader mystical traditions of his era.
William Blake: Biography and Occult Influences
William Blake’s life was marked by an unconventional approach to art, spirituality, and knowledge. His relationships with intellectuals and his engagement with mystical and occult philosophies, such as Swedenborgianism and various esoteric societies, shaped both his worldview and poetry in enduring ways.
Early Life and Education
William Blake was born in London in 1757 into a middle-class family of modest means. He received basic schooling at home, allowing his independent thinking to develop early. His interest in art emerged as a child, leading his parents to apprentice him to an engraver, James Basire, when he was just 14.
Blake’s early exposure to London’s vibrant cultural scene introduced him to both the artistic and intellectual currents of the era. He later attended the Royal Academy, where he mingled with young artists, but found its academic style restrictive. These formative years gave Blake both technical skill and a willingness to challenge mainstream religious and artistic conventions—a tendency that later led him into the study of mysticism and the occult.
Key Relationships and Intellectual Circles
Blake surrounded himself with a loose network of artists, writers, and intellectuals who shared his interests in spirituality and the esoteric. Among the most influential were John Varley, a watercolorist who encouraged Blake’s explorations into visionary art, and John Linnell, who later supported Blake financially and introduced him to other spiritual seekers.
The poet and critic William Butler Yeats, though from a later generation, became one of Blake’s most important proponents and popularizers, emphasizing the mystical strands of his work. Kathleen Raine and Harold Bloom, noted Blake scholars, have also remarked on the depth and complexity of his spiritual and occult influences. Through these connections, Blake became increasingly immersed in circles that discussed alchemy, Gnosticism, and the occult philosophies circulating in late eighteenth-century London.
Encounters With Swedenborg and Mystical Societies
A decisive moment in Blake’s spiritual development was his engagement with the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish theologian and mystic. Blake attended Swedenborgian meetings and briefly aligned with the Swedenborgian New Church, finding in its teachings an emphasis on visionary experience and a rejection of dogmatic orthodoxy.
Blake was also connected informally to groups interested in Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism, though no direct evidence exists that he was a formal member. These esoteric traditions often overlapped with the activities of the Theosophical Society and similar circles, where discussion of hidden knowledge, spiritual vision, and symbols was central.
Although Blake later distanced himself from organized Swedenborgianism, elements of Swedenborg’s influence remained in Blake’s poetry and art, especially his portrayals of angels, visions, and complex spiritual hierarchies. His works reflect a syncretic approach, drawing selectively from the occult, mystical Christianity, and the intellectual ferment of his era.
Foundations of the Occult in Blake’s Imagination
William Blake’s poetry integrates elements of mysticism, the supernatural, and esoteric symbolism. His work explores the powers of imagination and the process of spiritual regeneration as central themes, drawing upon occult traditions and visionary experiences.
Concept of the Imagination and Visionary Experience
Blake regarded the imagination as a mode of accessing higher spiritual truths. For him, imagination was not only an artistic faculty but also an instrument that enabled contact with what he called “the world of archetypal forms.”
He described vivid visions of angels, devils, and the departed, experiences which shaped his views on consciousness and the supernatural. Blake’s poetry conveys a persistent duality: he saw the physical world as distinct from the realm of immortal thoughts. This visionary quality is evident in works like The First Book of Urizen, where myth and occult imagery are central.
Blake rejected materialism, asserting that imagination provided direct revelations about spiritual forces. He believed these forces could be encountered through repeated visionary experiences, paralleling concepts sometimes found in occult séances or mystical trance.
Mysticism, Occultism, and Regeneration
Blake synthesized mysticism and occultism, developing an esoteric system that emphasized personal spiritual regeneration. He drew from diverse sources such as Biblical prophecy, Gnosticism, and traditional folk magic. These influences appear in his detailed symbolic system, including representations of the soul’s journey and the cycles of death and rebirth.
Regeneration, or the renewal of consciousness, had special importance for Blake. He depicted it as a transformative process, achieved by overcoming dualities within the self. His mystical poetry suggested that true liberation involved reconciling contradictory spiritual forces, rather than seeking escape from them.
Blake’s understanding of occultism did not imply secret societies but rather a direct, inner engagement with hidden aspects of reality. He viewed poetry as a tool for awakening readers to the supernatural elements shaping both the seen and unseen worlds.
Occult Symbolism in Blake’s Poetry
William Blake’s poetry is marked by allusions to occult systems and symbols drawn from astrology, alchemy, and mystical interpretations of Christianity. His verses interweave spiritual music, esoteric concepts, and references influenced by traditions such as cabalism and renaissance occultism.
Astrology, Alchemy, and Cabalism
Blake incorporated astrological symbolism in poems such as those in Songs of Innocence and of Experience, where celestial bodies often represent spiritual states or forces. He used sun, moon, and star imagery as metaphors for consciousness and the soul’s journey, reflecting Renaissance interests in cosmic harmony.
Alchemy appears in his transformation motifs and layered imagery. Blake’s descriptions of fire, gold, and purification echo alchemical processes, hinting at inner change and spiritual evolution. This symbolism aligns with how alchemists sought both material and spiritual transmutation.
Blake referenced cabalistic themes, drawing upon symbolic traditions that valued hidden knowledge and numerology. Lists and diagrams in his illuminated books often mirror cabalistic tree-of-life structures, suggesting a cosmic order underlying human experience.
Christian Mystical and Esoteric Themes
Much of Blake’s work is grounded in Christian mystical thought, particularly influences from Swedenborgianism and the New Jerusalem Church. He reinterpreted Biblical figures and events, recasting them as symbols in an ongoing spiritual drama.
His interest in divine love and spiritual music permeates poems like “Jerusalem.” Here, the image of the New Jerusalem represents an esoteric ideal—a society transformed by spiritual insight rather than ecclesiastical authority.
While critical of the institutional Christian church, Blake embraced a vision of inner revelation and personal connection with the divine. This approach reveals a syncretic blend of Christian motifs with broader occult perspectives, emphasizing visionary experience over dogma.
Major Prophetic Works and the Occult
William Blake’s poetry frequently draws upon occult symbolism, mystical traditions, and esoteric philosophies. He reinterpreted religious and mystical concepts, presenting them through powerful imagery and prophetic visions that reflect his interest in spiritual transformation and critique of conventional morality.
Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience
Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience set the foundation for Blake’s occult vision by contrasting states of spiritual purity with worldly corruption. Images of innocence reference lost paradises, while experience invokes struggle, duality, and hidden knowledge.
Many poems introduce supernatural beings—angels, devils, and spirits—serving as guides between worlds. The dual structure itself suggests a Gnostic or mystical dialectic, illustrating Blake’s belief in the interplay between light and shadow.
Blake’s fascination with the grave and the soul’s journey is especially clear in poems like “The Chimney Sweeper” and “The Sick Rose.” Here, life, death, and rebirth emerge as recurring occult motifs. His focus on vision, prophecy, and revelation aligns these works with esoteric traditions and frames human experience as part of a broader cosmic struggle between good and evil.
Prophetic Books and the Last Judgment
Blake’s prophetic books, such as The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Book of Urizen, and America: A Prophecy, directly engage with occult concepts. Written in a visionary style, these texts present mythic histories involving gods, spirits, and cosmic cycles.
In The Book of Urizen, creation is recast as an act of spiritual rebellion and fragmentation, echoing themes from Kabbalah. The texts frequently allude to the Last Judgment—not only as an apocalypse but also as an individual’s revelation or awakening.
The French Revolution and America: A Prophecy reimagine historical upheaval as occult drama, where revolutionary change is driven by spiritual forces. Blake’s symbolic use of fire, light, and transformation suggests the purging and renewal central to many esoteric traditions. His vision of the Last Judgment challenges orthodox beliefs by emphasizing personal perception over institutional authority.
A Vision of Heaven and Earth
Blake’s concept of heaven and earth departs from orthodox Christian views by emphasizing perception and imagination as vehicles to spiritual truth. In texts like “A Vision of the Last Judgment,” he envisioned the apocalypse as an inner transformation accessible to all.
Spiritual beings, both benevolent and malevolent, appear throughout his work, each representing aspects of the psychic landscape. Blake saw the material and spiritual worlds as interconnected, urging readers to awaken their “divine imagination” to perceive the eternity behind appearances.
Images of resurrection, the dissolution of the grave, and the integration of contrary states populate his poetry. For Blake, heaven and earth are not fixed locations but dynamic states shaped by occult insight, prophetic vision, and the breaking of social and metaphysical constraints.
Philosophical Underpinnings and Thought
William Blake’s poetry reflects a blend of mystical philosophy and a sharp critique of prevailing scientific rationalism. His verses show deep engagement with ancient traditions and direct opposition to Enlightenment logic.
Blake, Platonism, and Perennial Philosophy
Blake drew inspiration from Platonism and the Perennial Philosophy, which explores universal truths present across all religious and philosophical traditions. Blake’s references to the Forms, an idea traced to Plato, appear in his emphasis on higher realities beyond the world of senses.
He often incorporated the language and imagery found in esoteric traditions. Blake’s work echoes the notion that genuine knowledge comes from inner vision, not empirical observation. This aligns him with the mystical current that runs through the perennial philosophy—a thread also connected to figures like Emanuel Swedenborg.
Key Influences on Blake’s Mystical Thought:
Inherited
Key Concepts: Plato, Forms, Higher Reality
Perennial Philosophy
Key Concepts: Eternal Truths, Mysticism
Esoteric Traditions
Key Concepts: Inner Vision, Symbolism
Emanuel Swedenborg
Key Concepts: Spiritual Worlds, Prophecy
Opposition to Newtonian Logic and Enlightenment
Blake strongly opposed the rationalist worldview of the Enlightenment and thinkers like Isaac Newton. He believed that the logic and scientific approach championed by Newton reduced the universe to mechanical laws, stripping it of imaginative and spiritual significance.
In both poetry and art, Blake portrayed Newton as blind to deeper realities. He saw "single vision"—a term he used for pure rationalism—as impoverished compared to spiritual sight. Blake was wary of the Enlightenment’s focus on reason and empirical knowledge, arguing that it neglected the spiritual and the creative dimensions of human experience.
Blake’s philosophy asserted that imagination and vision offered paths to true wisdom, standing in contrast to the logical positivism dominant in the Enlightenment. This fundamental opposition influenced much of his symbolic and poetic work.
Artistic Expression and the Occult in Blake’s Visual Works
William Blake’s visual art deeply reflects his esoteric interests. Mystical symbols, mythological scenes, and personal cosmologies fill his paintings and illustrations, serving as visual counterparts to the occult themes in his poetry.
Illuminated Books and Illustrations
Blake developed the technique of illuminated printing, merging text and image in a single artistic process. His illuminated books, such as Songs of Innocence and of Experience and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, feature hand-colored illustrations rich in mystical symbolism.
Blake frequently depicted angels, spirits, and allegorical figures interacting with human subjects, blurring the lines between the material and spiritual realms. For example, the illustration of “Death’s Door” in The Grave by Robert Blair presents a vision of transition between worlds, full of occult imagery.
These works often include layered iconography drawn from esoteric traditions, such as alchemy and biblical prophecy. Many of his illustrations can be viewed at institutions like the British Museum.
Engravings, Drawings, and Portraits
Blake’s engravings expanded on his visionary style. Notable works, such as The Great Red Dragon series, depict figures from the Book of Revelation rendered with intense emotion and complex symbolic detail. Engraving techniques allowed Blake to emphasize stark contrasts between light and shadow, reinforcing the spiritual drama within his compositions.
His drawings often explore themes of prophecy, spiritual vision, and myth. Portraits, including those of historical and literary subjects, sometimes incorporate visionary or supernatural elements, signaling the subject’s spiritual dimension.
Blake’s art frequently merges naturalistic detail with imaginative flourishes, presenting physical forms as vessels for supernatural content. This synthesis sets his visual work apart as an exploration of the occult through both technique and subject matter.
Interpersonal Themes: Love, Friendship, and Brotherhood
Blake’s poetry often explores how spiritual forces shape human connections. He examines love as both a transformative energy and a unifying principle that bridges the material and divine.
Divine Love and Duality in Relationships
Blake’s view of love is deeply influenced by mystical and occult traditions. He often presents love as divine energy, drawing on Christian and esoteric concepts that emphasize love as the path to spiritual unification.
Love appears in his poetry both as an earthly emotion and as a reflection of the divine. This duality surfaces in works where marriage or partnership embodies the synthesis of opposites—freedom and harmony, desire and restraint. For example, “Love and Harmony Combine” illustrates how marriage is not merely social but also mystical, combining energies that reflect the cosmic unity Blake seeks.
He often uses imagery and language that blur the line between the physical and the spiritual, suggesting that true love is inseparable from spiritual awakening. This merging of realms demonstrates the occult belief in the union of spirit and matter.
The Role of Brotherhood and Friendship
Brotherhood, in Blake’s work, extends beyond family ties and becomes a spiritual recognition of shared humanity. He describes brotherhood as a mystical kinship, rooted in the soul rather than blood.
Blake’s use of brotherhood is linked to the teachings of Christianity and occult doctrines. He frames friendship as an energetic bond that supports personal and communal transformation. Brotherhood symbolizes unity against oppressive forces, both external and internal.
In poems like those from “Songs of Innocence and of Experience,” friendship nurtures innocence and encourages the growth of character. Blake’s brotherhood challenges readers to look for divinity in each other, positioning love and friendship as forms of sacred guardianship over the soul.
His poetic vision asks people to respond to each other’s innocence and suffering, calling for empathy and collective spiritual uplift.
Blake’s Influence and Legacy Among Poets and Visionaries
William Blake’s explorations of mysticism and esoteric symbolism profoundly affected later poets, artists, and thinkers. His visionary work not only inspired major literary figures but also intersected with emerging occult and intellectual movements throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Impact on Yeats and Modern Occult Movements
William Butler Yeats was directly influenced by Blake’s use of myth and occult themes. Yeats often drew upon Blake’s prophetic books and imagery, integrating Blakean concepts such as spiritual vision and personal mythology into his own poetry.
Yeats’s involvement in the Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn echoed Blake’s fascination with spiritual revelation and hidden knowledge. The cyclical patterns known as "gyres," central to Yeats’s poetic vision, also parallel Blake’s own symbolic systems.
Modern occult groups referenced Blake’s works for both inspiration and symbolic language. His fusion of art, poetry, and mystical philosophy shaped how many twentieth-century occultists approached literature and ritual, seeing Blake as both a forerunner and a touchstone.
Connections With Literary Criticism and Intellectual Networks
Blake’s poetry became a key subject of interest among twentieth-century literary critics and intellectuals. Harold Bloom, for example, saw Blake’s visionary imagination as fundamental to understanding Romanticism and its legacy.
Blake’s mystical philosophies resonated within networks of critics, philosophers, and avant-garde artists who sought to push the boundaries of literary analysis. His complex symbolism and unorthodox spiritual themes encouraged deeper readings, influencing modern approaches to the study of poetry.
Groups such as the Theosophical Society and other esoteric circles cited Blake as a precursor to their own beliefs. His works bridged artistic creation and intellectual exploration, making him an enduring figure among scholars and occult thinkers alike.
Philosophy of the Soul, Eternity, and Death
William Blake’s poetry explores the mysteries of existence by considering the soul’s nature and its journey beyond physical death. His works draw on biblical and mystical sources, weaving together themes of immortality, the afterlife, and the tension between spiritual and material worlds.
Notions of the Soul and Immortality
Blake viewed the soul as the core of human experience and consciousness, depicted as an immortal entity that persists beyond bodily death. He often challenged materialist views, arguing that life does not end with physical demise. Instead, consciousness continues in other forms, echoing esoteric traditions.
His references to The Book of Job stress this perspective, as Job’s trials highlight the soul’s endurance despite suffering and destruction. Blake’s images and poems show souls interacting, transforming, and evolving—never entirely ceasing to exist.
In some works, Blake aligns with mystical Christian doctrine, which places immortal value on the soul and its capacity to perceive the divine. He supports the idea that genuine understanding and creativity come from the soul’s connection to eternal truths.
Eternity and Afterlife in Blake’s Poems
Eternity is a recurring theme in Blake’s poems, presented as a timeless dimension accessible through spiritual vision. In “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” Blake describes the soul’s release from temporal limitation, hinting at a state beyond ordinary perception.
Blake’s engagement with works like Dante’s Divine Comedy is apparent, as both writers envision spiritual journeys traversing death and entering realms of transformative experience. Like Dante, Blake combines Christian iconography with individual imagination, crafting a vivid picture of what eternity means.
Many of Blake’s poems question conventional beliefs about heaven and hell. He frames the afterlife not as mere reward or punishment, but as an ongoing state closely tied to the soul’s development and its relationship with the infinite. The result is a nuanced portrayal of death as transition rather than end.
Blake’s Later Years: Felpham, Lambeth, and Spiritual Authorship
During his later years, William Blake lived in Lambeth and Felpham, two locations that deeply influenced his spiritual vision and literary work. These periods saw the maturation of his symbolic language as he explored hidden, mystical forces through poetry and art.
Life and Works in Lambeth
Blake resided in Lambeth from 1790 to 1800. This decade was one of his most productive, marked by the creation of major prophetic books such as The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Book of Urizen, and The Song of Los.
While living in Lambeth, Blake drew heavily on imagery of angels, spirits, and mystical realms. He claimed to have visionary experiences, frequently seeing spiritual forces influencing daily life. His unique mythological system emerged, blending biblical motifs with personal symbols.
He developed new methods for illustrating and printing his poetry, integrating word and image. The Lambeth period deeply rooted Blake’s identity as a poet-artist driven by spiritual authority and creative autonomy.
Felpham Period and Final Works
In 1800, Blake moved to Felpham, a small village on England’s south coast. Blake described Felpham as a period of intense spiritual insight but also personal challenge.
It was in Felpham that he worked on Milton and Jerusalem, poems that delve deeply into spiritual conflict, and the interplay of human and divine forces. Encounters with angels and spirits persisted, intensifying his conviction that he was guided by higher powers.
Notably, his time in Felpham was marred by an accusation of sedition, which affected his perspective on the relationship between art, society, and spiritual truth. Blake’s final works from this period reflect a matured, complex vision of the occult, shaped by years of mystical experience and reflection.
Conclusion
William Blake approached the occult with a distinct perspective grounded in personal vision and symbolic language. His poetry often reflects mystical themes, drawing on both traditional esoteric teachings and his own spiritual experiences.
Blake’s work contains repeated references to angels, devils, and archetypal worlds, illustrating his engagement with hidden realms of meaning. Influences from figures such as Emanuel Swedenborg and other mystical thinkers are readily apparent in his poems.
Key elements of the occult in his poetry include:
Visionary Experiences: Blake frequently describes encounters with non-physical beings.
Symbolism: He uses enigmatic symbols to express spiritual truths that are not easily captured with direct speech.
Blending Traditions: His poems display a synthesis of Christian mysticism, esoteric philosophy, and personal myth.
The list below highlights central motifs found in Blake's occult poetry:
Angels/Devils
Example: "Songs of Innocence and Experience"
Significance: Spiritual dualities
Archetypes
Example: The Four Zoas
Significance: Universal patterns
Visionary Sites
Example: Jerusalem, Albion
Significance: Inner spiritual journeys
Blake’s poetry remains significant in discussions of the occult, not only for its content but for its deliberate ambiguity and layered symbolism. His imagery continues to invite analysis, revealing a poet deeply engaged with the mysteries of existence.
