The Complete Poetry and Prose Summary & Key Insights

"The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake," edited by David V. Erdman (with Harold Bloom's later critical introduction in some editions), isn't a narrative with a single plot. Instead, it's a collection encompassing Blake's entire known output, offering a multifaceted exploration of his visionary world. The "plot points" are dispersed across individual poems, songs, and prose writings, often intertwined and mirroring each other thematically. There aren't characters in the conventional sense, but rather archetypal figures representing different aspects of human experience and spiritual struggle.

Central to Blake's work is the ongoing conflict between innocence and experience, often personified through childlike figures and their eventual encounters with the corrupting influence of the world. The "Innocence" poems in Songs of Innocence portray a simplistic, idealized world, while the corresponding "Experience" poems in Songs of Experience reveal the harsh realities of societal oppression, hypocrisy, and spiritual disillusionment. Key figures like the lamb and the tiger, the chimney sweeper, and the little black boy represent aspects of this duality, symbolizing the contrasting forces of divine goodness and human cruelty.

Recurring themes permeate Blake's oeuvre. The struggle between good and evil, represented allegorically, isn't simply a moral dichotomy but a complex interplay of forces within the human soul. The concept of imagination versus reason is central; Blake champions the power of imagination as a source of spiritual truth and artistic expression, rejecting the limitations of purely rational thought. He criticizes institutional religion, particularly the Church of England, viewing it as a force of repression and spiritual stagnation, contrasting it with a more mystical and individualistic spirituality rooted in direct experience of the divine.

The concept of the "divine body" – God manifested in both the natural world and the human form – is paramount. Blake’s complex theology, infused with Gnosticism and a profound belief in individual liberation, permeates his work. He emphasizes the importance of embracing the body and sensuality not as inherently sinful, but as essential aspects of spiritual awakening.

Political and social commentary is woven throughout his work. Blake condemns social injustice, particularly the exploitation of the poor and the oppression of the marginalized. He challenges societal norms and authority, advocating for individual liberty and spiritual revolution.

Blake’s "prophetic books," like The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Milton, and Jerusalem, are complex and challenging works filled with symbolic imagery and intricate narratives. They explore his cosmology, his critiques of societal structures, and his visionary insights into the nature of good and evil, heaven and hell, existing not as separate realms but as interwoven aspects of human existence. In essence, "The Complete Poetry and Prose" is not a single story but a vast and multifaceted landscape exploring the depths of human nature and spiritual possibility, as perceived by one of the most original and enigmatic figures in English literature.