Reading Order
JerusalemJerusalem Reading Order
Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion (c.1804–1820) by William Blake is the longest and most ambitious of his illuminated prophetic books — a 100-plate work engraved and printed over roughly twenty years that represents the culmination of Blake's entire mythological system. Jerusalem is simultaneously a symbolic epic, a meditation on the fall and redemption of Albion (Britain as cosmic man), a critique of the materialism, rationalism, and industrialism of Blake's age, and an assertion of the supremacy of Imagination and Forgiveness over law, nature, and reason. The poem follows Albion's fall into division (his Emanation Jerusalem — representing liberty, imagination, and spiritual love — has been separated from him and is imprisoned by the fallen Albion's own dark spectre of rational tyranny) through the failed attempts of Los (the prophetic poet-spirit) to forge the connections that will restore Albion, to the final awakening and redemption in which Albion embraces Jesus (identified with the Imagination) and the whole cosmos is transformed. Jerusalem is one of the most difficult long poems in the language — its mythology is idiosyncratic, its narrative is non-linear, its geography (Lambeth, Luvah, Golgonooza) is symbolic — and it rewards reading with a guide alongside. But it is also one of the most visually extraordinary objects in English literature: the 100 plates are hand-colored in each copy, and the illuminations are integral to the text.
Where to start
Jerusalem (c.1804–1820) — the Princeton / William Blake Trust facsimile (ed. Morton Paley) reproduces the original illuminated plates; the complete text is in the Oxford Standard Authors Blake (ed. Geoffrey Keynes). Northrop Frye's Fearful Symmetry (1947) is the best guide to the mythology. Read the four Chapters in order but come prepared: Jerusalem rewards persistence rather than immediate comprehension.
Complete Jerusalem Book List
- 1Buy
Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake
Northrop Frye·1947·The essential guide to Blake's mythology — Frye's systematic account of the Zoas, the Emanations, and the prophetic books is the single most important scholarly work on Blake; reading Fearful Symmetry before or alongside Jerusalem is the difference between bewilderment and understanding. - 2Buy
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
William Blake·1793·The essential entry point to Blake's mythology — The Marriage is where the theological and philosophical principles that Jerusalem enacts are first stated aphoristically; read it before Jerusalem to understand what Blake means by Energy, Reason, Imagination, and Forgiveness. - 3Buy
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
William Blake·1794·The lyric complement to Jerusalem's prophetic epic — the Songs show the same conflict between imaginative freedom and repressive law in brief, compressed lyric form; reading both shows the full range of Blake's formal and emotional range. - 4Buy
Milton: A Poem in Two Books
William Blake·1810·The prophetic book that immediately precedes Jerusalem — Blake's poem about Milton descending from eternity to correct his errors about women and nature; understanding Milton clarifies the mythology that Jerusalem develops and shows the progression of Blake's thought. - 5Buy
Paradise Lost
John Milton·1667·The epic that underlies all of Blake's prophetic books — Blake identified deeply with Milton as the English poet who challenged religious orthodoxy, though he also believed Milton was wrong about almost everything; 'Milton was of the Devil's party without knowing it' is one of the seeds of Jerusalem's entire mythology.
Jerusalem — Frequently Asked Questions
What is Jerusalem by William Blake about?
Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion (c.1804–1820) by William Blake is a 100-plate illuminated prophetic epic about the fall and redemption of Albion — Britain as a cosmic man who has fallen into the division, materialism, and rationalism that Blake identified with the Industrial Revolution and Enlightenment. Albion's Emanation (his spiritual counterpart Jerusalem, representing liberty and imagination) is imprisoned by Albion's own tyrannical spectre of reason. The prophetic figure Los (the poet-spirit) works to forge spiritual connections and awaken Albion, who finally embraces Jesus (identified with Imagination) and is restored. The poem is Blake's most ambitious critique of the fallen world and his most complete vision of redemption through imaginative love and forgiveness.
Who is Los in Blake?
Los is William Blake's symbolic figure for the Eternal Prophet — the poet-spirit who, in the fallen world of the prophetic books, labors to forge spiritual connections and awaken humanity to Imagination. Los is the form that Blake's own poetic identity takes in the mythology: he works at his furnace and anvil, building Golgonooza (the city of art and imagination), and is the figure who fights against the forces of rationalism (Urizen) and materialism that keep Albion (Britain) imprisoned. The name Los may be an anagram of 'Sol' (sun) or 'Soul.' In Jerusalem, Los is the central consciousness working through the four Chapters to awaken the fallen Albion.
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