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Blake, Hegel And Dialectic [Review], Michael Fischer

English Faculty Research

According to David Punter, "Blake's dialectic and Hegel's share a number of crucial features" (p. 11), making Hegel's Phenomenology the "closest parallel to [Blake's] work" (p. 17). By emphasizing progression through contraries, both Blake and Hegel transform the dialectical tradition that they presumably inherit from Heraclitus, Giordano Bruno, and Jakob Böhme, all of whom Punter analyzes in his opening chapter. Subsequent chapters trace the similarities that Punter finds among such works as the Phenomenology, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and The Four Zoas. Although Punter calls his comparison of Blake and Hegel "important and fruitful" (p. …