Writings of the left hand: William Blake forges a new political aesthetic

Marks, C. (2011) Writings of the left hand: William Blake forges a new political aesthetic. Huntington Library Quarterly, 74 (1). pp. 43-70. ISSN 1544-399X

Abstract/Summary

In The Reason of Church-Government (1642), John Milton creates a hierarchy of genres in which he denigrates political prose as inferior writings “of my left hand,” while poetry is the “inspired gift of God.” Blake, however, admired Milton's republican iconoclasm and thought that Paradise Lost had betrayed Milton's radicalism with its theology of political, social, and sexual repression. By employing left-and-right symbolism in Milton, Blake sought to redeem the poet's radicalism and simultaneously to forge a polemical aesthetic for engaging in political and public debate. Depicting Milton united with Blake's left foot enacts the recovery of Milton's radicalism and figures the politically engaged bard.