The landmark book that situates Blake's poetry within the intellectual movements of his day and unlocks his symbolism for modern readers
Since it was first published, Northrop Frye's Fearful Symmetry has established itself as the defining commentary on the poetic vision of William Blake. Frye gives a complete solution to the riddles of Blake's longer poems-the so-called "Prophecies"-and demonstrates how Blake's works form a coherent mythical pattern that broadens our conception of literature. He explains how Blake arrived at a theory of knowledge that was also, for him, a theory of religion, life, and art, and how this rigorously defined system of ideas found expression in the complicated but consistent symbolism of his poetry. With an incisive foreword by scholar and literary critic Nicholas Halmi, this Princeton Classics edition shows how Blake reflects the literary and the intellectual atmosphere of his time while holding renewed meaning for us today. Northrop Frye (1912–1991) was University Professor at the University of Toronto, where he was also professor of English at Victoria College. His books include Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (Princeton). Nicholas Halmi is professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Oxford and the Margaret Candfield Tutorial Fellow in English at University College. "An intelligent and beautifully written critical interpretation of the poetry and symbolic thought of William Blake."-The New Yorker
"To say it is a magnificent, extraordinary book is to praise it as it should be praised, but in doing so one gives little idea of the huge scope of the book and of its fiery understanding. Several great poets have written of Blake, but this book, I believe, is the first to show the full magnitude of Blake's mind, its vast creative thought."-Edith Sitwell, The Spectator
"According as we agree or disagree with Mr. Frye's contention, we shall decide finally on the supremacy of his book. In following the structure of Blake's total vision and relating it to the thought of his age, he has triumphantly carried out a task which, given the giant shape of the material, cannot help being immense. His cadences, by sheer explanatory devotion, approach the sonorities of Blake's own."-Times Literary Supplement
"Frye conducts his ambitious study with unflagging energy, great enthusiasm, and immense erudition."-Poetry
