Extract

IN the final four lines of the manuscript fragment ‘then She bore Pale desire’ (E 446–8),1 circa 1780–83[?], William Blake demands: ‘Go see the City [and its commerce of] friends Joind Hand in Hand.2 Go See the Natural tie of flesh & blood [called “Storge, or parental Affection” by Emanuel Swedenborg in the True Christian Religion, 1781 edition, Vol II, Note 431, p 42].3 Go See more strong the [passionate] ties of marriage love [my emphasis] thou Scarce Shall find but Self love [like a Separating Veil] Stands Between’ the Male and Female (E 448:94–97). Swedenborg vehemently and repetitively condemns ‘Self-love’ in The True Christian Religion, first translated into English in 1781, a work that influenced Blake. Blake's phrase ‘marriage love’ (my emphasis) clearly has Swedenborgian origins. Swedenborg's volume The Delights of Wisdom Pertaining to Conjugial Love after Which Follow the Pleasures of Insanity Pertaining to Scortatory Love was published in English 1794, familiar to Blake, and in the Houghton, Mifflin 1907 edition the title ‘Conjugial Love’ is translated as ‘Marriage Love’ (as also in other modern editions).4 The phrase ‘marriage [monogamous] love’ among Swedenborgians was considered the opposite of ‘Scoratorty [licentious] Love.’

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