(abstract 1)
Dwelling upon the Romantic period in English literature, Mincoff points out that “for the romantics
reason had been more or less dethroned – tacitly rather than explicitly – but in as far as they were in conscious revolt, it was against the poetic practice inculcated by rationalism” (p.762). Romanticism was the age of conscious revolt against the spirit of the preceding generations. It was the age of spiritual rebirth, and the age of revulsion against conventional beliefs, rationalism and reason. Doubtlessly, it is William Blake to be pointed out as one of the most vivid representatives of the period. As Mincoff says, “like most of the romantics, Blake was strongly opposed to the existing political and social system, an enthusiastic supporter of the French revolution, and inspired with bright dreams of a visionary future” (p.762).
Blake believed that the true manifestation of man was through imagination. His works outline him as an extremely sensitive person, gifted with the visionary abilities of a prophet. He was the son of a London tradesman, and attended a drawing school where he developed his talent as an artist. Alicia Ostriker, in The Complete Poems of William Blake, gives a more detailed biographical information; after “having attended the Henry Parr’s drawing school in the Strand, he was, in 1772 apprenticed to Henry Basire, engraver to the Society of Antiquaries, and later was admitted as a student to the Royal Academy; in 1783 he published Poetical Sketches. The first of his ’illuminated books” was Songs of Innocence (1789) which, like The Book of Thel (published in the same year) has as its main theme the celebration of innocence.”
William Blake folds out a new way of rebellious writing. He believed that “readers of poetry should be as read as the writer himself, and the poet should only guide the reader.” Blake himself was very well–read too, he was familiar with Ancient Greek
mythology, Judeo – Christian mythology, Norse mythology, and of course, much read in Renaissance, and highly influenced by Edmund Spenser and Milton’s revisions of the Bible. All these can be seen present in The Book of Thel.
According to Northrop Frye, the intertext of the Book of Thel is mounted upon the Classical mythology and ritual, Judeo-Christian mythology, symbolism and allegory, and upon the
Neoplatonic philosophy of pre-existence. One may assume that it is the Neoplatonic myth more palpable than the other two. As Kostova has quoted Marylin Butler “Blake mimics the Neoplatonic myth that the soul journeys out of light into a human world of darkness, suffering, and loss, and thus exposes the state of innocence as a virginal fear of engagement” (p.150). She also points out that,”according to the Neoplatonic myth, unembodied souls initially dwell in the Intellectual Realm. There they remain with soul-entire, and are immune from care and trouble. The souls’ descent from this plane of perfect existence into the material world is considered to be a terrible misfortune” (p. 151)
According to her, again Thel is one of the unincarnated souls living in that Neoplatonic Realm of perfection. However, Thel’s lamentation in this world distances her from the concepts of Neoplatonism. At this point a shift into the Blakean philosophy and mythology can be made. In his Prophetic Books Blake develops a unique symbolical mythology of his own. His characters represent an astonishing mixture of philosophical and religious concepts. As it is said in the explanatory notes to the Portable Blake, (p.50-51)”Blake’s characters are name attached arbitrarily to absolute human faculties and states of being. The name of the character may have a punning or derived relation to the faculty he represented, as Urizen is the God of this world and its sterility is ‘your reason’“.
As it is the case with The Book of Thel. To begin with, the heroine’s name.“The unfamiliar name of the heroine offers further grounds for speculation, since it may be derived from a Greek word meaning ‘wish’ or ‘will’, and Thel’s shrinking and running away at the end of the adventures seem to be evidence of a deficiency in her will and desire” (Blake’s Poetry and Designs, p.61). Ostriker interprets Thel’s name equally as descending to earthly life, to death, or the state of Experience. Like the virgin goddess Persephone, she undertakes a descent to the underworld but she fears and rejects the impending transformation” (p.878). In other words Thel is lamenting for spring, but she is in her summer-fall, and must step into maturity.
Backing up on the illuminated edition of the poem, one should assume that the concept of experience within the poem should be associated with sexuality, for the title page reveals a young woman, supposingly Thel, who is watching a sexual encounter between a man and a woman, who have evidently appeared from two flowers.