The Poetics of Incarnation
This chapter argues that Blake’s ‘interpretations’ of the Bible tend to be visions in the sense of arrested scenes. It is thus not surprising that his most memorable reinventions of Bible scenes and poems are to be found in his actual paintings rather than in literary narrative. The numerous Gospel scenes which Blake painted or engraved at different times add up to something like a systematic exegesis of those texts. Indeed, taken together, his drawings, engravings, and water-colours contain a reading of the Bible — its narratives, poems, and prophecies — more extensive and detailed than that to be found in any other English poet or painter.
Keywords: Blake, religious paintings, incarnation, Job, Bible, Old Testament, Gospel
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