All Religions are One
Encyclopedia
All Religions are One is the title of a series of philosophical aphorism
s by William Blake
, written in 1788. Following on from his initial experiments with relief etching in the non-textual The Approach of Doom (1787), All Religions are One and There is No Natural Religion
represent Blake's first successful attempt to combine image and text via relief etching, and are thus the earliest of his illuminated manuscript
s. As such, they serve as a significant milestone in Blake's career; as Peter Ackroyd
points out, "his newly invented form now changed the nature of his expression. It had enlarged his range; with relief etching, the words inscribed
like those of God upon the tables of law, Blake could acquire a new role."
of this text is "W Blakes Original Stereotype
was 1788". It is almost universally agreed amongst Blakean scholars, that the "Original Stereotype" to which he here refers was All Religions are One and/or There is No Natural Religion.
During the 1770s, Blake had come to feel that one of the major problems with reproducing artwork in print was the division of labour by which it was achieved; one person would create a design (the artist), another would engrave
it (the engraver), another print
it (the printer) and another publish
it (the publisher). It was unusual for artists to engrave their own designs, due primarily to the social status
attached to each job; engraving was not seen as an especially exalted profession, and was instead regarded as nothing more than mechanical reproduction. Artists like James Barry
and John Hamilton Mortimer
were the exceptions to the norm insofar as they tended to engrave their own material. A further division in the process was that text and images were handled by different artisans; text was printed by means of a movable letterpress
, whereas images were engraved, two very different jobs.
During Blake's training as a professional copy engraver with James Basire
during the 1770s, the most common method of engraving was stippling
, which was thought to give a more accurate impression of the original picture than the previously dominant method, line engraving
. Etching
was also commonly used for layering in such aspects as landscape and background. All traditional methods of engraving and etching were intaglio
, which meant that the design's outline was traced with a needle through an acid-resistant 'ground' which had been poured over the copperplate. The plate was then covered with acid, and the engraver went over the incised lines with a burin
to allow the acid to bite into the furrows and eat into the copper itself. The acid would then be poured off, leaving the design incised on the plate. The engraver would then engrave the plate's entire surface with in a web of crosshatched lines
, before pouring the ink onto the plate and transferring it to the printing press
.
Frustrated with this method, Blake seems to have begun thinking about a new method of publishing at least as early as 1784, as in that year a rough description of what would become relief etching appears in his unpublished satire, An Island in the Moon
. Around the same time, George Cumberland
had been experimenting with a method to allow him to reproduce handwriting via an etched plate, and Blake incorporated Cumberland's method into his own relief etching; treating the text as handwritten script rather than mechanical letterpress, and thus allowing him to make it a component of the image.
Blake's great innovation in relief etching was to print from the relief, or raised, parts of the plate rather than the intaglio, or incised, parts. Whereas intaglio methods worked by creating furrows into which the acid was poured to create 'holes' in the plate and the ink then poured over the entire surface, Blake wrote and drew directly onto the plate with an acid-resistant material known as a stop-out. He would then embed the plate’s edges in strips of wax to create a self-contained tray and pour the acid about a quarter of an inch deep, thus causing the exposed parts of the plate to melt away, and the design and/or text to remain slightly above the rest of the plate, i.e. in relief, like a modern rubber stamp
. The acid was then poured off, the wax was removed, and the raised part of the plate covered with ink before finally being pressed onto the paper in the printing press. This method allowed expressive effects which were impossible to achieve via intaglio. The major disadvantage was that text had to be written backwards as whatever was on the plate would print in reverse when pressed onto the paper. The dominant theory as to how Blake solved this problem is simply that he wrote in reverse
. Another theory, suggested by David Bindman, is that Blake wrote his (acid resistant) text on a sheet of paper the correct way around, and then pressed the paper onto the plate, thus reversing the text and producing the same result as if had he written it backwards in the first place.
Blake could also colour the plates themselves in coloured inks before pressing them or tint them with watercolours
after printing. Because of this aspect, a major component of relief etching was that every page of every book was a unique piece of art; no two copies of any page in Blake's entire oeuvre are identical. Variations in the actual print, different colouring choices, repainted plates, accidents during the acid bath etc, all led to multiple examples of the same plate.
Blake himself referred to relief etching as "printing in the infernal method, by means of corrosives [...] melting apparent surfaces away, and displaying the infinite which was hid." A contemporary description of the method was provided by Blake's friend, J.T. Smith; "writing his poetry, and drawing his marginal subjects of embellishments in outline upon the copper-plate with an impervious liquid, and then eating the plain parts or lights away with aquafortis
considerably below them so that the outlines were left as Stereotype."
Relief etching was the same basic method used for woodcutting
, and copper relief etching had been practised in the early eighteenth century by Elisha Kirkall, but Blake was the first to use such a method to create both words and designs mixed together on the same plate. Apart from the unique aesthetic effects possible, a major advantage of relief etching was that Blake could print the material himself. Because the text was in relief, the pressure needed for printing was constant, unlike in intaglio printing, where different pressures were needed to force the paper into the furrows, depending on size. Additionally, intaglio etchings and engravings were printed with great pressure, but in relief etching, because the printed material was a raised surface rather than incised lines, considerably less pressure was required. As such, relief etching tackled the problem of the division of labour of publishing. Blake's new method was autographic; "it permitted – indeed promoted – a seamless relationship between conception and execution rather than the usual divisions between invention and production embedded in eighteenth-century print technology, and its economic and social distinctions among authors, printers, artists and engravers. Like drawings and manuscripts, Blake's relief etchings were created by the direct and positive action of the author/artist's hand without intervening processes". Blake served as artist, engraver, printer and publisher.
Copy A is located in The Huntington Library, except Plate 2 (title page), which exists in two impressions. The copy of the title page which goes with Copy A is located in the Geoffrey Keynes
Collection in the Fitzwilliam Museum
. The title page from another copy (colour printed in brown ink), the additional plates of which are unrecorded, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum
.
All Religions are One comprises ten plates, each of which is roughly 5.4 X 4 cm., with each paragraph on a separate plate, except Plate 10, which contains both Principal 7d and a short paragraph which functions as a conclusion to the series. In numerous cases, it seems as if the acid has eaten away too much of the relief, and Blake has had to go over sections with ink and wash
, often touching the text and design outlines with pen. Several of the plates also bear evidence of rudimentary colour printing, a method with which Blake was experimenting in the 1790s, and these plates may represent his first attempts at this technique (whereby he used coloured inks to print rather than black). Several of the plates also feature examples of white line engraving, a technique where Blake would literally cut into the stop-out to create tiny furrows, which would be eaten away by the acid, creating a streak effect in the final print.
The black ink framing lines drawn around each design are thought to have been added at a later date, possibly in 1818, just prior to Blake giving the plates to John Linnell
. The ink and wash work in the designs themselves may also have been executed at that time, although this cannot be ascertained for certain. It has been suggested that the framing lines may have been added due to the discrepancy between the size of the plates and the size of the paper (each sheet is 37.8 x 27 cm.).
Plates 1 and 3–10 of the Huntington copy were acquired by John Linnell some time after 1818, with the missing title page replaced by an impression of the title page from There is No Natural Religion. The plates were sold from the Linnell estate on 15 March 1918 to Henry E. Huntington
. Plate 2 was acquired by George A. Smith
in 1853. It may have subsequently been owned by William Muir
, but was ultimately sold at Sotheby's
by Sir Hickman Bacon on 21 July 1953, to Geoffrey Keynes, who donated it to the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1982.
After the original 1795 printing, the text of All Religions was not published again until 1893, in The Works of William Blake, Poetic, Symbolic and Critical, edited by W.B. Yeats and E.J. Ellis
.
places No Natural Religion prior to All Religions in his 'Appendix to the Prophetic Books'. However, in 1971, Geoffrey Keynes argued that All Religions are One was the earlier of the two, based on what he saw as its "greater technical imperfection." In his 1978 book, The Complete Graphic Works of William Blake, David Bindman initially disagreed with Keynes, arguing that the imperfections in All Religions are not because of an earlier date of composition, but because of the increased complexity of the plates, with such complexity demonstrating Blake growing in confidence from the more rudimentary plates for No Natural Religion. Most scholars however support Keynes, and All Religions are One precedes There is No Natural Religion in almost all modern anthologies of Blake's work; for example, Alicia Ostriker
's William Blake: The Complete Poems (1977), David V. Erdman
's 2nd edition of The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake (1982), Morris Eaves', Robert N. Essick's and Joseph Viscomi's Blake's Illuminated Books, Volume 3: The Early Illuminated Books (1993), even Bindman's own The Complete Illuminated Books of William Blake (2003), and W.H. Stevenson's 3rd edition of Blake: The Complete Poems (2007).
Further evidence for Keynes hypothesis is discussed by Eaves, Essick and Viscomi, who, in counterpoint to Bindman, see the style of No Natural Religion as more confident than that of All Religions. They especially cite the use of upright roman lettering
in All Religions contrasted with the italic
, cursive
writing on several plates of No Natural Religion; italic text "was easier to execute since it required fewer independent strokes. And since the resulting dense matrix of lines provided better support for the inking dabber, italic permitted a shallower etch." Blake introduced italic script on plate a3 of No Natural Religion, a script which he would use throughout the 1790s. Other evidence for an earlier dating of All Religions is that many of the individual letters themselves lean to the left, unlike in No Natural Religion. This was a common problem in mirror writing, and its presence in All Religions but not No Natural Religion suggests Blake was only learning how to overcome it as he worked.
|width=auto| Plate 1 (frontispiece) || || The Voice of one crying in the
Wilderness || Non-descript vegetation surrounds the text on both sides and on the bottom. In the main image, a male, naked from the waist up, sits on a large stone and points to the right. The background is filled with tree trunks and leaves. || The phrase "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" is from the Bible, where it occurs in each of the four New Testament
gospel
s; Matthew
, 3:3; Mark
, 1:3; Luke
, 3:4; and John
1:23. In all four gospels, the phrase is used by Isaiah
to describe John the Baptist
, thus suggesting that John may be the figure in the picture, preaching in the wilderness represented by the foliage and tree trunks. It was common for texts in the late eighteenth century to have a frontispiece
portrait of the author, so by depicting John the Baptist instead of himself, Blake indicates that he sees himself following in the prophetic
tradition of John, and as such, "the wilderness becomes a metaphor for the false philosophies
Blake argues against."
|-
|width=auto| Plate 2 (title page) || || ALL
RELIGIONS
are
ONE || The image depicts an old man, his hands resting on an open book. Behind him and to the left is an angel
, his left hand resting on the old man's shoulder. The angel's right hand is resting on a large tablet with a double-arched top, bearing the title "ALL RELIGIONS are ONE," the words digetically
inscribed on the tablet. || Due to the double-arched top, the tablet is reminiscent of the two stone tablets of the decalogue
, and as such, the old man may be an Old Testament
prophet. If the tablets do represent the decalogue, it is significant that Blake's title has supplanted the text. Blake would go on to criticise the ten commandments in later work such as The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
(1790), The Book of Urizen
(1794), The Book of Los
(1795) and The Song of Los
(1795), and that same critical inclination seems present here as he quite literally effaces the content of the original tablets, replacing it with his own doctrine. However, it is also worth noting that the angel embraces the man with his left hand and the tablets with his right, thus suggesting a spiritual union between the man of prophecy (Blake himself) and the foundational text of orthodox Christianity.
|-
|width=auto| Plate 3 (Argument) || || The Argument
As the true meth-
-od of knowledge
is experiment
the true faculty
of knowing must
be the faculty which
experiences, This
faculty I treat of. || At the top of the plate, vines surround "The Argument". In the main image, a male lies on the ground, his head propped on his right hand. Grass grows at his feet and behind the grass may be the base of a hill or cliff. || The posture of the figure is indicative of traditional melancholy
. The text seems to be a declaration of the tenets of Empiricism
as advocated by John Locke
, Isaac Newton
and, especially, Francis Bacon
. In 1808, Blake annotated Volume 1 of The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds
, edited by Edmond Malone
, and wrote "Bacon says that everything must be done by experiment."
|-
|width=auto| Plate 4 (Principle 1st) || || PRINCIPLE 1st
That the Poetic Genius is
the true Man. and that
the body or outward form
of Man is derived from the
Poetic Genius. Likewise
that the forms of all things
are derived from their
Genius. which by the
Ancients was call'd an
Angel & Spirit & Demon || A vine runs along the bottom of the plate, below the text. Above the text, an old man sits among clouds, his arms stretched out to the left and right, each hand resting on a cloud. || As this is the plate where Blake first introduces the notion of the "Poetic Genius
", the figure in the clouds could be a personification of that notion. David Bindman interprets him as "the human form or spirit or demon of the cloud." Thematically, this plate undercuts the pseudo-empiricist declaration of the previous plate, suggesting that the external form of Man actually originates from the internal Poetic Genius, not from sensate experiences. The clouds on this plate have been created via white line etching.
|-
|width=auto| Plate 5 (Principle 2d) || || PRINCIPLE 2d
As all men are alike in
outward form, So (and
with the same infinite
variety) all are alike in
the Poetic Genius || Below the text, a flock of sheep can be seen grazing. On the right side of the text stands a small palm tree
. On the left, a much larger palm tree stretches to the top of the plate and spreads its branches around two figures, both seemingly naked, lying side by side on the ground. || Due to the posture, it is possible that the figure in the background is in the process of emerging from within the figure in the foreground, and if so, the image could be a metaphorical depiction of the birth of Eve
from Adam
's rib, as described in the Book of Genesis, 2:21–22. Bindman also interprets the people as Adam and Eve, and argues that the sheep at the bottom of the plate illustrate the claim that "all are alike", and Adam and Eve illustrate the "infinite variety." Similarly, if the image does depict Eve emerging from Adam, it is thematically relatable to All Religions as a whole; "a picture of the original human 'outward form' is an appropriate illustration for a work stressing the oneness of all forms, physical and religious, that have a common origin." Robert N. Essick speculates that the palm tree, as a "traditional symbol of immortality
and resiliency, may [...] symbolise the continual renewal of the same basic forms of nature."
|-
|width=auto| Plate 6 (Principle 3d) || || PRINCIPLE 3d
No man can think
write or speak from his
heart but he must intend
truth. Thus all sects of
Philosophy are from the
Poetic Genius adapted
to the weaknesses of
every individual || At the bottom of the text, the last letter of "every" in the last line extends into the lower margin as a vine. Along the right margin is another vine extending into a flower. The main image depicts an old man in a chair, writing in a book on his lap. Behind him sits another man. He too has a book on his lap, from which he is reading. || The two men may depict the "sects of philosophy" mentioned in the text. If the objects on the left are columns, the picture may depict Ancient Greece
or Rome
, which is also hinted at by the chairs' arched backs, and as such, the image depicts the foundations of ancient philosophy. The backs of the chairs have been created via white line etching.
|-
|width=auto| Plate 7 (Principle 4.) || || PRINCIPLE 4.
As none by trave
ling over known
lands can find out
the unknown. So
from already ac-
-quired knowledge
Man could not ac
quire more. there
fore an universal
Poetic Genius exists || Vines grow above, below and to the left of the text. In the main picture at the top of the plate, a man is walking to the right, holding a walking-stick in his hand. || Eaves, Essick and Viscomi argue that Blake may have been inspired in this principle by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
's Biographia Literaria
in which Coleridge argued against the associationism
of David Hartley
and for the primacy of the Imagination. The man in the image probably depicts the traveller mentioned in the text, passing through "known lands". Peter Ackroyd suggests that the man may be Blake himself, attempting to travel through the worn-out land of contemporary philosophical and theological thought
. Blake would use this same image on Plate 14 of For Children: The Gates of Paradise' (1793). The hills in the background have been composed via white line etching.
|-
|width=auto| Plate 8 (Principle, 5) || || PRINCIPLE, 5
The Religions of all Nat-
-ons are derived from each
Nations different reception
of the Poetic Genius which
is every where call'd the Spi
-rit of Prophecy || Vines divide the heading and the first line of text, and extend from the last line into the image below. Above the heading, a group of small figures, probably children, look toward a much larger figure in a chair on the right. Probably male, the figure leans towards the children. They appear to be inside a large tent. Below the text, a naked male moves to the left, although he seems to be looking upwards. He is holding a large harp. || The image of the children is probably a depiction of religious instruction, hence the imparting of the knowledge of "the Religions of all Nations". The figure below the text could be a bard
, who would thus represent "the Spirit of Prophecy". Bindman speculates that he may represent "a unity of time and space." The phrase "the Spirit of Prophecy" is from the Book of Revelation
, 19:10, where the spirit is equated with the testimony of Christ; "I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy"." As such, Blake equates the Poetic Genius with the Spirit of Prophecy, thus lending an ancient biblical credence to his theory; the Poetic Genius is in fact the testimony of Jesus.
|-
|width=auto| Plate 9 (Principle, 6) || || PRINCIPLE, 6
The Jewish & Chris-
tian Testaments are
An original derivati-
-on from the Poetic Ge-
nius. this is necessary
from the confined natu
re of bodily sensation || Above the text, are two stone tablets with an unreadable inscription on each one. Below the text, a figure (who could be male or female) in a long gown walks to the right. The scene appears to be at night. || The tablets probably represent the "Jewish & Christian Testaments" mentioned in the text. The figure may be a personification of the "confined nature of bodily sensation". Thematically, Blake is arguing for the divine authority of the Bible as an original manifestation of the Poetic Genius; "any such authority resides in the Testaments, because of their original inspiration, and not in institutional religions that claim to be based on them. In Blake's view, such religions distorted and manipulated original meanings for the purpose of subjugation." Blake would return to the concept of organised religion corrupting the original Biblical messages in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790), Europe a Prophecy
(1794), The Book of Urizen (1794) and The Song of Los (1795). Eaves, Essick and Viscomi see the designs "as a repetition of the distinction between inspired testaments and sense experience set forth in the text, but the tablets and their enclosure also suggest the codification of 'Poetic Genius' into repressive laws of institutional religion." The darkness has been composed via white line etching.
|-
|width=auto| Plate 10 (Principle 7d) || || PRINCIPLE 7d
As all men are alike
(tho' infintiely vari-
ous) So all Religions
& as all similars have
one source
The true Man is the
source he being the
Poetic Genius || Above the text is a male figure, pictured from the chest up with his arms raised. Below him on the left is a figure lying on the ground with his upper body raised slightly. Below on the right is another figure lying on the ground, his upper body twisted away from the central figure and his arms reaching to the right. Below the text, a bird flies over dark water. || The figure at the top of the image may be Christ, and the scene depicted could be that of Christ rising from the tomb and startling two sentries, as described in Matthew 28:4. It is also possible that the two figures are Adam and Eve, and the figure above is God, separating them. The bird may be the dove of the Holy Spirit
moving "upon the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2). The sea has been composed via white line etching.
|-
|width=auto| Alternatively coloured title page || || || || An alternative version of the title page from an otherwise unknown copy, colour printed in brown ink. The shadow across the tablets was created with wash after the print. Now located in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
|}
David Bindman classifies All Religions are One as "a rather abstract dialogue with conventional theology
," and in this sense, it is often interpreted as Blake's earliest engagement with deism
and dualism
. Similarly, Northrop Frye
argues that Blake's theory that all religions are one is a "visionary tolerance" at odds with the "rational tolerance" of deism "which holds that all religions are equally an attempt to solve an insoluble mystery." Working along the same lines, Florence Sandler argues that in these texts Blake "set himself to the task of separating true religion from its perversions in his own age and in the Bible itself." Also concentrating on the refutation of deism, Alicia Ostriker refers to the series as a "mockery of rationalism
and an insistence on Man's potential infinitude." S. Foster Damon
suggests that what Blake has done in All Religions are One is "dethroned reason
from its ancient place as the supreme faculty of man, replacing it with the Imagination." Damon also argues that "Blake had completed his revolutionary theory of the nature of Man and proclaimed the unity of all true religions." Harold Bloom
reaches much the same conclusion, suggesting that Blake is arguing for the "primacy of the poetic imagination over all metaphysical
and moral systems". A similar conclusion is reached by Denise Vultee, who argues that "the two tractates are part of Blake's lifelong quarrel with the philosophy of Bacon, Newton, and Locke. Rejecting the rational empiricism of eighteenth-century deism or "natural religion
", which looked to the material world for evidence of God's existence, Blake offers as an alternative the imaginative faculty or "Poetic Genius"."
In terms of influences on Blake, in 1787 Henry Fuseli
was working on a translation of J.C. Lavater
's Aphorisms on Man for the publisher Joseph Johnson
, when he hired Blake to engrave the frontispiece. Blake became so enamoured of Lavater's work that on the inside cover of his own copy of the book, he inscribed both his name and Lavater's, and drew a heart encompassing them. Blake also extensively annotated his own copy of Aphorisms, and a number of critics have noted parallels between the Lavater annotations and Blake's own aphorisms in both All Religions and No Natural Religion. S. Foster Damon specifically points to Lavater's first two aphorisms as having a strong influence on Blake;
To these points Blake has annotated "This is true Christian philosophy far above all abstraction."
Another work which may also have influenced him is Emanuel Swedenborg
's Heaven and Hell
(1758). In his annotations to Swedenborg, Blake twice connects the word "Lord" with "Poetic Genius". During Swedenborg's discussion of the connection between the spiritual world and the natural world, Blake writes "He who Loves feels love descend into him & if he has wisdom may perceive it is from the Poetic Genius which is the Lord." Shortly thereafter, to Swedenborg's "the negation of God constitutes Hell", Blake annotates "the negation of the Poetic Genius."
While the Lavater and Swedenborg influences are somewhat speculative, the importance of Bacon, Newton and Locke is not, as it is known that Blake despised empiricism from an early age. In 1808, as he annotated The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Blake wrote
Harold Bloom also cites the work of Anthony Collins
, Matthew Tindal
and John Toland
as having an influence on Blake's thoughts. In a more general sense, "Blake sees the school of Bacon and Locke as the foundation of natural religion, the deistic attempt to prove the existence of God on the basis of sensate experience and its rational investigation." To that end, Blake "manipulates the syncretic
mythology of Jacob Bryant
, Paul Henri Mallet
, and perhaps other founders of what has become the comparative study of religion, to argue for the existence of a universal and supra-rational 'Poetic Genius' that expresses itself through the shared (though ever various) forms of all religions."
In relation to his later work, Northrop Frye sees All Religions are One and There is No Natural Religion as forming a fundamental statement of intent for Blake, a kind of pre-emptive outline of his future work, "a summarised statement of the doctrines of the engraved canon." Similarly, Eaves, Essick and Viscomi state that they "contain some of Blake's most fundamental principles and reveal the foundation for later development in his thought and art." W.H. Stevenson calls them "a very early statement of fundamental opinions [Blake] held all his life." As an example of how Blake returned to the specific themes of All Religions, in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790), he writes "the Poetic Genius was the first principle and all the others merely derivative" (12:22–24).
Aphorism
An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
s by William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
, written in 1788. Following on from his initial experiments with relief etching in the non-textual The Approach of Doom (1787), All Religions are One and There is No Natural Religion
There is No Natural Religion
There is No Natural Religion is the title of a series of philosophical aphorisms by William Blake, written in 1788. Following on from his initial experiments with relief etching in the non-textual The Approach of Doom , All Religions are One and There is No Natural Religion represent Blake's first...
represent Blake's first successful attempt to combine image and text via relief etching, and are thus the earliest of his illuminated manuscript
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
s. As such, they serve as a significant milestone in Blake's career; as Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd CBE is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot and Sir Thomas More he won the Somerset Maugham Award...
points out, "his newly invented form now changed the nature of his expression. It had enlarged his range; with relief etching, the words inscribed
Epigraphy
Epigraphy Epigraphy Epigraphy (from the , literally "on-writing", is the study of inscriptions or epigraphs as writing; that is, the science of identifying the graphemes and of classifying their use as to cultural context and date, elucidating their meaning and assessing what conclusions can be...
like those of God upon the tables of law, Blake could acquire a new role."
Relief etching
In 1822, Blake completed a short two-page dramatic piece which would prove to be the last of his illuminated manuscripts, entitled The Ghost of Abel A Revelation In the Visions of Jehovah Seen by William Blake. Inscribed in the colophonColophon (publishing)
In publishing, a colophon is either:* A brief description of publication or production notes relevant to the edition, in modern books usually located at the reverse of the title page, but can also sometimes be located at the end of the book, or...
of this text is "W Blakes Original Stereotype
Stereotype (printing)
In printing, a stereotype, also known as a cliché, stereoplate or simply a stereo, was originally a "solid plate or type-metal, cast from a papier-mâché or plaster mould taken from the surface of a forme of type" used for printing instead of the original...
was 1788". It is almost universally agreed amongst Blakean scholars, that the "Original Stereotype" to which he here refers was All Religions are One and/or There is No Natural Religion.
During the 1770s, Blake had come to feel that one of the major problems with reproducing artwork in print was the division of labour by which it was achieved; one person would create a design (the artist), another would engrave
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
it (the engraver), another print
Printing
Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....
it (the printer) and another publish
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
it (the publisher). It was unusual for artists to engrave their own designs, due primarily to the social status
Social status
In sociology or anthropology, social status is the honor or prestige attached to one's position in society . It may also refer to a rank or position that one holds in a group, for example son or daughter, playmate, pupil, etc....
attached to each job; engraving was not seen as an especially exalted profession, and was instead regarded as nothing more than mechanical reproduction. Artists like James Barry
James Barry (painter)
James Barry , Irish painter, best remembered for his six part series of paintings entitled The Progress of Human Culture in the Great Room of the Royal Society of Arts...
and John Hamilton Mortimer
John Hamilton Mortimer
John Hamilton Mortimer was a British Neoclassical painter known primarily for his romantic paintings and pieces set in Italy and its countryside, various other works depicting conversations between people, and works drawn in the 1770s portraying war scenes, very similar to those of Salvator Rosa...
were the exceptions to the norm insofar as they tended to engrave their own material. A further division in the process was that text and images were handled by different artisans; text was printed by means of a movable letterpress
Letterpress printing
Letterpress printing is relief printing of text and image using a press with a "type-high bed" printing press and movable type, in which a reversed, raised surface is inked and then pressed into a sheet of paper to obtain a positive right-reading image...
, whereas images were engraved, two very different jobs.
During Blake's training as a professional copy engraver with James Basire
James Basire
James Basire , also known as James Basire Sr., was an English engraver. He is the most significant of a family of engravers, and noted for his apprenticing of the young William Blake....
during the 1770s, the most common method of engraving was stippling
Stippling
Stippling is the creation of a pattern simulating varying degrees of solidity or shading by using small dots. Such a pattern may occur in nature and these effects are frequently emulated by artists.-Art:...
, which was thought to give a more accurate impression of the original picture than the previously dominant method, line engraving
Line engraving
Line engraving is a term for engraved images printed on paper to be used as prints or illustrations. The term is now much less used and when is, it is mainly in connection with 18th or 19th century commercial illustrations for magazines and books, or reproductions of paintings.Steel engraving is...
. Etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
was also commonly used for layering in such aspects as landscape and background. All traditional methods of engraving and etching were intaglio
Intaglio (printmaking)
Intaglio is a family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, known as the matrix or plate, and the incised line or area holds the ink. Normally, copper or zinc plates are used as a surface, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or...
, which meant that the design's outline was traced with a needle through an acid-resistant 'ground' which had been poured over the copperplate. The plate was then covered with acid, and the engraver went over the incised lines with a burin
Burin
Burin from the French burin meaning "cold chisel" has two specialised meanings for types of tools in English, one meaning a steel cutting tool which is the essential tool of engraving, and the other, in archaeology, meaning a special type of lithic flake with a chisel-like edge which was probably...
to allow the acid to bite into the furrows and eat into the copper itself. The acid would then be poured off, leaving the design incised on the plate. The engraver would then engrave the plate's entire surface with in a web of crosshatched lines
Hatching
Hatching is an artistic technique used to create tonal or shading effects by drawing closely spaced parallel lines...
, before pouring the ink onto the plate and transferring it to the printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
.
Frustrated with this method, Blake seems to have begun thinking about a new method of publishing at least as early as 1784, as in that year a rough description of what would become relief etching appears in his unpublished satire, An Island in the Moon
An Island in the Moon
An Island in the Moon is the name generally assigned to an untitled, unfinished prose satire by William Blake, written in late 1784. Containing early versions of three poems later included in Songs of Innocence and satirising the "contrived and empty productions of the contemporary culture", An...
. Around the same time, George Cumberland
George Cumberland
George Cumberland was an English art collector, writer and poet. He was a lifelong friend and supporter of William Blake, and like him was an experimental printmaker. He was also an amateur watercolourist, and one of the earliest members of the Bristol School of artists...
had been experimenting with a method to allow him to reproduce handwriting via an etched plate, and Blake incorporated Cumberland's method into his own relief etching; treating the text as handwritten script rather than mechanical letterpress, and thus allowing him to make it a component of the image.
Blake's great innovation in relief etching was to print from the relief, or raised, parts of the plate rather than the intaglio, or incised, parts. Whereas intaglio methods worked by creating furrows into which the acid was poured to create 'holes' in the plate and the ink then poured over the entire surface, Blake wrote and drew directly onto the plate with an acid-resistant material known as a stop-out. He would then embed the plate’s edges in strips of wax to create a self-contained tray and pour the acid about a quarter of an inch deep, thus causing the exposed parts of the plate to melt away, and the design and/or text to remain slightly above the rest of the plate, i.e. in relief, like a modern rubber stamp
Rubber stamp
Rubber stamping, also called stamping, is a craft in which some type of ink made of dye or pigment is applied to an image or pattern that has been carved, molded, laser engraved or vulcanized, onto a sheet of rubber. The rubber is often mounted onto a more stable object such as a wood, brick or an...
. The acid was then poured off, the wax was removed, and the raised part of the plate covered with ink before finally being pressed onto the paper in the printing press. This method allowed expressive effects which were impossible to achieve via intaglio. The major disadvantage was that text had to be written backwards as whatever was on the plate would print in reverse when pressed onto the paper. The dominant theory as to how Blake solved this problem is simply that he wrote in reverse
Mirror writing
Mirror writing is formed by writing in the direction that is the reverse of the natural way for a given language, such that the result is the mirror image of normal writing: it appears normal when it is reflected in a mirror. It is sometimes used as an extremely primitive form of cipher...
. Another theory, suggested by David Bindman, is that Blake wrote his (acid resistant) text on a sheet of paper the correct way around, and then pressed the paper onto the plate, thus reversing the text and producing the same result as if had he written it backwards in the first place.
Blake could also colour the plates themselves in coloured inks before pressing them or tint them with watercolours
Watercolor painting
Watercolor or watercolour , also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle...
after printing. Because of this aspect, a major component of relief etching was that every page of every book was a unique piece of art; no two copies of any page in Blake's entire oeuvre are identical. Variations in the actual print, different colouring choices, repainted plates, accidents during the acid bath etc, all led to multiple examples of the same plate.
Blake himself referred to relief etching as "printing in the infernal method, by means of corrosives [...] melting apparent surfaces away, and displaying the infinite which was hid." A contemporary description of the method was provided by Blake's friend, J.T. Smith; "writing his poetry, and drawing his marginal subjects of embellishments in outline upon the copper-plate with an impervious liquid, and then eating the plain parts or lights away with aquafortis
Nitric acid
Nitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosive and toxic strong acid.Colorless when pure, older samples tend to acquire a yellow cast due to the accumulation of oxides of nitrogen. If the solution contains more than 86% nitric acid, it is referred to as fuming...
considerably below them so that the outlines were left as Stereotype."
Relief etching was the same basic method used for woodcutting
Woodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
, and copper relief etching had been practised in the early eighteenth century by Elisha Kirkall, but Blake was the first to use such a method to create both words and designs mixed together on the same plate. Apart from the unique aesthetic effects possible, a major advantage of relief etching was that Blake could print the material himself. Because the text was in relief, the pressure needed for printing was constant, unlike in intaglio printing, where different pressures were needed to force the paper into the furrows, depending on size. Additionally, intaglio etchings and engravings were printed with great pressure, but in relief etching, because the printed material was a raised surface rather than incised lines, considerably less pressure was required. As such, relief etching tackled the problem of the division of labour of publishing. Blake's new method was autographic; "it permitted – indeed promoted – a seamless relationship between conception and execution rather than the usual divisions between invention and production embedded in eighteenth-century print technology, and its economic and social distinctions among authors, printers, artists and engravers. Like drawings and manuscripts, Blake's relief etchings were created by the direct and positive action of the author/artist's hand without intervening processes". Blake served as artist, engraver, printer and publisher.
Copy
Although All Religions are One was etched in 1788, the only surviving copy (known as Copy A) was not printed until 1795; a large paper copy printed as part of a deluxe edition of Blake's collected illuminated manuscripts. Whether he had printed All Religions prior to 1795 is unknown. However, the fact that it is not mentioned in his 'To the Public' address of October 1793, where he listed all of his extant manuscripts up to that time except All Religions and No Natural Religion, would suggest he had not.Copy A is located in The Huntington Library, except Plate 2 (title page), which exists in two impressions. The copy of the title page which goes with Copy A is located in the Geoffrey Keynes
Geoffrey Keynes
Sir Geoffrey Langdon Keynes was an English biographer, surgeon, physician, scholar and bibliophile...
Collection in the Fitzwilliam Museum
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. Admission is free....
. The title page from another copy (colour printed in brown ink), the additional plates of which are unrecorded, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
.
All Religions are One comprises ten plates, each of which is roughly 5.4 X 4 cm., with each paragraph on a separate plate, except Plate 10, which contains both Principal 7d and a short paragraph which functions as a conclusion to the series. In numerous cases, it seems as if the acid has eaten away too much of the relief, and Blake has had to go over sections with ink and wash
Wash (painting)
thumb|Example of a wash drawing by [[R. G. Skerrett]].A wash is a painting technique in which a paint brush that is very wet with solvent and holds a small paint load is applied to a wet or dry support such as paper or primed or raw canvas. The result is a smooth and uniform area that ideally lacks...
, often touching the text and design outlines with pen. Several of the plates also bear evidence of rudimentary colour printing, a method with which Blake was experimenting in the 1790s, and these plates may represent his first attempts at this technique (whereby he used coloured inks to print rather than black). Several of the plates also feature examples of white line engraving, a technique where Blake would literally cut into the stop-out to create tiny furrows, which would be eaten away by the acid, creating a streak effect in the final print.
The black ink framing lines drawn around each design are thought to have been added at a later date, possibly in 1818, just prior to Blake giving the plates to John Linnell
John Linnell
John Sidney Linnell is an American musician, is known primarily as one half of Brooklyn, New York alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants...
. The ink and wash work in the designs themselves may also have been executed at that time, although this cannot be ascertained for certain. It has been suggested that the framing lines may have been added due to the discrepancy between the size of the plates and the size of the paper (each sheet is 37.8 x 27 cm.).
Plates 1 and 3–10 of the Huntington copy were acquired by John Linnell some time after 1818, with the missing title page replaced by an impression of the title page from There is No Natural Religion. The plates were sold from the Linnell estate on 15 March 1918 to Henry E. Huntington
Henry E. Huntington
Henry Edwards Huntington was a railroad magnate and collector of art and rare books. Born in Oneonta, New York, Huntington settled in Los Angeles, where he owned the Pacific Electric Railway as well as substantial real estate interests...
. Plate 2 was acquired by George A. Smith
George A. Smith
George Albert Smith was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as a member of the church's First Presidency.-Childhood:Smith was born in Potsdam, St...
in 1853. It may have subsequently been owned by William Muir
William Muir
Sir William Muir, KCSI was a Scottish Orientalist and colonial administrator.-Life:He was born at Glasgow and educated at Kilmarnock Academy, at Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities, and at Haileybury College. In 1837 he entered the Bengal Civil Service...
, but was ultimately sold at Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
by Sir Hickman Bacon on 21 July 1953, to Geoffrey Keynes, who donated it to the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1982.
After the original 1795 printing, the text of All Religions was not published again until 1893, in The Works of William Blake, Poetic, Symbolic and Critical, edited by W.B. Yeats and E.J. Ellis
Edwin Ellis
Edwin John Ellis was a British poet and illustrator, now remembered mostly for the three-volume collection of the works of William Blake he edited with W. B. Yeats....
.
Dating
Until 1971, most editors tended to consider All Religions are One as later than There is No Natural Religion. For example, in his 1905 book The poetical works of William Blake; a new and verbatim text from the manuscript engraved and letterpress originals, John SampsonJohn Sampson (linguist)
John Sampson was an Irish linguist. As a scholar he is best known for The Dialect of the Gypsies of Wales , an authoritative grammar of the Welsh-Romany language. It was written with the collaboration of Edward Wood, who died in 1902...
places No Natural Religion prior to All Religions in his 'Appendix to the Prophetic Books'. However, in 1971, Geoffrey Keynes argued that All Religions are One was the earlier of the two, based on what he saw as its "greater technical imperfection." In his 1978 book, The Complete Graphic Works of William Blake, David Bindman initially disagreed with Keynes, arguing that the imperfections in All Religions are not because of an earlier date of composition, but because of the increased complexity of the plates, with such complexity demonstrating Blake growing in confidence from the more rudimentary plates for No Natural Religion. Most scholars however support Keynes, and All Religions are One precedes There is No Natural Religion in almost all modern anthologies of Blake's work; for example, Alicia Ostriker
Alicia Ostriker
Alicia Suskin Ostriker is an American poet and scholar who writes Jewish feminist poetry.Alicia is married to the noted astronomer Jeremiah Ostriker who taught at Princeton University...
's William Blake: The Complete Poems (1977), David V. Erdman
David V. Erdman
David V. Erdman was an American literary critic, editor, and Professor Emeritus of English at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Professor Erdman established his reputation as a William Blake scholar when his Blake: Prophet Against Empire was published in 1954...
's 2nd edition of The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake (1982), Morris Eaves', Robert N. Essick's and Joseph Viscomi's Blake's Illuminated Books, Volume 3: The Early Illuminated Books (1993), even Bindman's own The Complete Illuminated Books of William Blake (2003), and W.H. Stevenson's 3rd edition of Blake: The Complete Poems (2007).
Further evidence for Keynes hypothesis is discussed by Eaves, Essick and Viscomi, who, in counterpoint to Bindman, see the style of No Natural Religion as more confident than that of All Religions. They especially cite the use of upright roman lettering
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
in All Religions contrasted with the italic
Italic script
Italic script, also known as chancery cursive, is a semi-cursive, slightly sloped style of handwriting and calligraphy that was developed during the Renaissance in Italy...
, cursive
Cursive
Cursive, also known as joined-up writing, joint writing, or running writing, is any style of handwriting in which the symbols of the language are written in a simplified and/or flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing easier or faster...
writing on several plates of No Natural Religion; italic text "was easier to execute since it required fewer independent strokes. And since the resulting dense matrix of lines provided better support for the inking dabber, italic permitted a shallower etch." Blake introduced italic script on plate a3 of No Natural Religion, a script which he would use throughout the 1790s. Other evidence for an earlier dating of All Religions is that many of the individual letters themselves lean to the left, unlike in No Natural Religion. This was a common problem in mirror writing, and its presence in All Religions but not No Natural Religion suggests Blake was only learning how to overcome it as he worked.
Content
When analysing All Religions are One it is important to remember that the images are not necessarily literal depictions of the text; "the philosophical propositions [...] offer little visual imagery or even named objects. These qualities may have determined the relative independence of many of the designs from the accompanying text. The links are thematic and metaphoric, not direct and literal."|width=auto| Plate 1 (frontispiece) || || The Voice of one crying in the
Wilderness || Non-descript vegetation surrounds the text on both sides and on the bottom. In the main image, a male, naked from the waist up, sits on a large stone and points to the right. The background is filled with tree trunks and leaves. || The phrase "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" is from the Bible, where it occurs in each of the four New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
s; Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
, 3:3; Mark
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...
, 1:3; Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
, 3:4; and John
Gospel of John
The Gospel According to John , commonly referred to as the Gospel of John or simply John, and often referred to in New Testament scholarship as the Fourth Gospel, is an account of the public ministry of Jesus...
1:23. In all four gospels, the phrase is used by Isaiah
Isaiah
Isaiah ; Greek: ', Ēsaïās ; "Yahu is salvation") was a prophet in the 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah.Jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon; he is the first listed of the neviim akharonim, the later prophets. Many of the New Testament teachings of Jesus...
to describe John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
, thus suggesting that John may be the figure in the picture, preaching in the wilderness represented by the foliage and tree trunks. It was common for texts in the late eighteenth century to have a frontispiece
Book frontispiece
A frontispiece is a decorative illustration facing a book's title page. The frontispiece is the verso opposite the recto title page. Elaborate engraved frontispieces were in frequent use, especially in Bibles and in scholarly books, and many are masterpieces of engraving...
portrait of the author, so by depicting John the Baptist instead of himself, Blake indicates that he sees himself following in the prophetic
Prophecy
Prophecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...
tradition of John, and as such, "the wilderness becomes a metaphor for the false philosophies
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
Blake argues against."
|-
|width=auto| Plate 2 (title page) || || ALL
RELIGIONS
are
ONE || The image depicts an old man, his hands resting on an open book. Behind him and to the left is an angel
Angel
Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...
, his left hand resting on the old man's shoulder. The angel's right hand is resting on a large tablet with a double-arched top, bearing the title "ALL RELIGIONS are ONE," the words digetically
Diegesis
Diegesis is a style of representation in fiction and is:# the world in which the situations and events narrated occur; and# telling, recounting, as opposed to showing, enacting.In diegesis the narrator tells the story...
inscribed on the tablet. || Due to the double-arched top, the tablet is reminiscent of the two stone tablets of the decalogue
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...
, and as such, the old man may be an Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
prophet. If the tablets do represent the decalogue, it is significant that Blake's title has supplanted the text. Blake would go on to criticise the ten commandments in later work such as The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is a book by the English poet and printmaker William Blake. It is a series of texts written in imitation of biblical prophecy but expressing Blake's own intensely personal Romantic and revolutionary beliefs. Like his other books, it was published as printed sheets...
(1790), The Book of Urizen
The Book of Urizen
The Book of Urizen is one of the major prophetic books of the English writer William Blake, illustrated by Blake's own plates. It was originally published as The First Book of Urizen in 1794. Later editions dropped the "First". The book takes its name from the character Urizen in Blake's mythology,...
(1794), The Book of Los
The Book of Los
The Book of Los is a 1795 prophetic book by English poet and painter William Blake. It exists in only one copy, now held by The British Museum. The book is related to the Book of Urizen and to the Continental prophecies; it is essentially a retelling of Urizen from the point of view of Los...
(1795) and The Song of Los
The Song of Los
The Song of Los is one of William Blake's epic poems, known as prophetic books. The poem consists of two sections, "Africa" and "Asia". In the first section Blake catalogues the decline of morality in Europe, which he blames on both the African slave trade and enlightenment philosophers...
(1795), and that same critical inclination seems present here as he quite literally effaces the content of the original tablets, replacing it with his own doctrine. However, it is also worth noting that the angel embraces the man with his left hand and the tablets with his right, thus suggesting a spiritual union between the man of prophecy (Blake himself) and the foundational text of orthodox Christianity.
|-
|width=auto| Plate 3 (Argument) || || The Argument
As the true meth-
-od of knowledge
is experiment
the true faculty
of knowing must
be the faculty which
experiences, This
faculty I treat of. || At the top of the plate, vines surround "The Argument". In the main image, a male lies on the ground, his head propped on his right hand. Grass grows at his feet and behind the grass may be the base of a hill or cliff. || The posture of the figure is indicative of traditional melancholy
Melancholia
Melancholia , also lugubriousness, from the Latin lugere, to mourn; moroseness, from the Latin morosus, self-willed, fastidious habit; wistfulness, from old English wist: intent, or saturnine, , in contemporary usage, is a mood disorder of non-specific depression,...
. The text seems to be a declaration of the tenets of Empiricism
Empiricism
Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,...
as advocated by John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
, Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...
and, especially, Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
. In 1808, Blake annotated Volume 1 of The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
, edited by Edmond Malone
Edmond Malone
Edmond Malone was an Irish Shakespearean scholar and editor of the works of William Shakespeare.Assured of an income after the death of his father in 1774, Malone was able to give up his law practice for at first political and then more congenial literary pursuits. He went to London, where he...
, and wrote "Bacon says that everything must be done by experiment."
|-
|width=auto| Plate 4 (Principle 1st) || || PRINCIPLE 1st
That the Poetic Genius is
the true Man. and that
the body or outward form
of Man is derived from the
Poetic Genius. Likewise
that the forms of all things
are derived from their
Genius. which by the
Ancients was call'd an
Angel & Spirit & Demon || A vine runs along the bottom of the plate, below the text. Above the text, an old man sits among clouds, his arms stretched out to the left and right, each hand resting on a cloud. || As this is the plate where Blake first introduces the notion of the "Poetic Genius
Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
", the figure in the clouds could be a personification of that notion. David Bindman interprets him as "the human form or spirit or demon of the cloud." Thematically, this plate undercuts the pseudo-empiricist declaration of the previous plate, suggesting that the external form of Man actually originates from the internal Poetic Genius, not from sensate experiences. The clouds on this plate have been created via white line etching.
|-
|width=auto| Plate 5 (Principle 2d) || || PRINCIPLE 2d
As all men are alike in
outward form, So (and
with the same infinite
variety) all are alike in
the Poetic Genius || Below the text, a flock of sheep can be seen grazing. On the right side of the text stands a small palm tree
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
. On the left, a much larger palm tree stretches to the top of the plate and spreads its branches around two figures, both seemingly naked, lying side by side on the ground. || Due to the posture, it is possible that the figure in the background is in the process of emerging from within the figure in the foreground, and if so, the image could be a metaphorical depiction of the birth of Eve
Eve
Eve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-People:*Eve , a common given name and surname*Eve , American recording artist and actress-Places:...
from Adam
Adam
Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...
's rib, as described in the Book of Genesis, 2:21–22. Bindman also interprets the people as Adam and Eve, and argues that the sheep at the bottom of the plate illustrate the claim that "all are alike", and Adam and Eve illustrate the "infinite variety." Similarly, if the image does depict Eve emerging from Adam, it is thematically relatable to All Religions as a whole; "a picture of the original human 'outward form' is an appropriate illustration for a work stressing the oneness of all forms, physical and religious, that have a common origin." Robert N. Essick speculates that the palm tree, as a "traditional symbol of immortality
Immortality
Immortality is the ability to live forever. It is unknown whether human physical immortality is an achievable condition. Biological forms have inherent limitations which may or may not be able to be overcome through medical interventions or engineering...
and resiliency, may [...] symbolise the continual renewal of the same basic forms of nature."
|-
|width=auto| Plate 6 (Principle 3d) || || PRINCIPLE 3d
No man can think
write or speak from his
heart but he must intend
truth. Thus all sects of
Philosophy are from the
Poetic Genius adapted
to the weaknesses of
every individual || At the bottom of the text, the last letter of "every" in the last line extends into the lower margin as a vine. Along the right margin is another vine extending into a flower. The main image depicts an old man in a chair, writing in a book on his lap. Behind him sits another man. He too has a book on his lap, from which he is reading. || The two men may depict the "sects of philosophy" mentioned in the text. If the objects on the left are columns, the picture may depict Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
or Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, which is also hinted at by the chairs' arched backs, and as such, the image depicts the foundations of ancient philosophy. The backs of the chairs have been created via white line etching.
|-
|width=auto| Plate 7 (Principle 4.) || || PRINCIPLE 4.
As none by trave
ling over known
lands can find out
the unknown. So
from already ac-
-quired knowledge
Man could not ac
quire more. there
fore an universal
Poetic Genius exists || Vines grow above, below and to the left of the text. In the main picture at the top of the plate, a man is walking to the right, holding a walking-stick in his hand. || Eaves, Essick and Viscomi argue that Blake may have been inspired in this principle by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
's Biographia Literaria
Biographia Literaria
Biographia Literaria, or in full Biographia Literaria; or Biographical Sketches of MY LITERARY LIFE and OPINIONS, is an autobiography in discourse by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, which he published in 1817. The work is long and seemingly loosely structured, and although there are autobiographical...
in which Coleridge argued against the associationism
Associationism
Associationism in philosophy refers to the idea that mental processes operate by the association of one state with its successor states.The idea is first recorded in Plato and Aristotle, especially with regard to the succession of memories....
of David Hartley
David Hartley (philosopher)
David Hartley was an English philosopher and founder of the Associationist school of psychology. -Early life and education:...
and for the primacy of the Imagination. The man in the image probably depicts the traveller mentioned in the text, passing through "known lands". Peter Ackroyd suggests that the man may be Blake himself, attempting to travel through the worn-out land of contemporary philosophical and theological thought
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
. Blake would use this same image on Plate 14 of For Children: The Gates of Paradise' (1793). The hills in the background have been composed via white line etching.
|-
|width=auto| Plate 8 (Principle, 5) || || PRINCIPLE, 5
The Religions of all Nat-
-ons are derived from each
Nations different reception
of the Poetic Genius which
is every where call'd the Spi
-rit of Prophecy || Vines divide the heading and the first line of text, and extend from the last line into the image below. Above the heading, a group of small figures, probably children, look toward a much larger figure in a chair on the right. Probably male, the figure leans towards the children. They appear to be inside a large tent. Below the text, a naked male moves to the left, although he seems to be looking upwards. He is holding a large harp. || The image of the children is probably a depiction of religious instruction, hence the imparting of the knowledge of "the Religions of all Nations". The figure below the text could be a bard
Bard
In medieval Gaelic and British culture a bard was a professional poet, employed by a patron, such as a monarch or nobleman, to commemorate the patron's ancestors and to praise the patron's own activities.Originally a specific class of poet, contrasting with another class known as fili in Ireland...
, who would thus represent "the Spirit of Prophecy". Bindman speculates that he may represent "a unity of time and space." The phrase "the Spirit of Prophecy" is from the Book of Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
, 19:10, where the spirit is equated with the testimony of Christ; "I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy"." As such, Blake equates the Poetic Genius with the Spirit of Prophecy, thus lending an ancient biblical credence to his theory; the Poetic Genius is in fact the testimony of Jesus.
|-
|width=auto| Plate 9 (Principle, 6) || || PRINCIPLE, 6
The Jewish & Chris-
tian Testaments are
An original derivati-
-on from the Poetic Ge-
nius. this is necessary
from the confined natu
re of bodily sensation || Above the text, are two stone tablets with an unreadable inscription on each one. Below the text, a figure (who could be male or female) in a long gown walks to the right. The scene appears to be at night. || The tablets probably represent the "Jewish & Christian Testaments" mentioned in the text. The figure may be a personification of the "confined nature of bodily sensation". Thematically, Blake is arguing for the divine authority of the Bible as an original manifestation of the Poetic Genius; "any such authority resides in the Testaments, because of their original inspiration, and not in institutional religions that claim to be based on them. In Blake's view, such religions distorted and manipulated original meanings for the purpose of subjugation." Blake would return to the concept of organised religion corrupting the original Biblical messages in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790), Europe a Prophecy
Europe a Prophecy
Europe a Prophecy is a 1794 prophetic book by English poet and illustrator William Blake. It is engraved on 18 plates, and survives in just nine known copies. It followed America a Prophecy of 1793.-Background:...
(1794), The Book of Urizen (1794) and The Song of Los (1795). Eaves, Essick and Viscomi see the designs "as a repetition of the distinction between inspired testaments and sense experience set forth in the text, but the tablets and their enclosure also suggest the codification of 'Poetic Genius' into repressive laws of institutional religion." The darkness has been composed via white line etching.
|-
|width=auto| Plate 10 (Principle 7d) || || PRINCIPLE 7d
As all men are alike
(tho' infintiely vari-
ous) So all Religions
& as all similars have
one source
The true Man is the
source he being the
Poetic Genius || Above the text is a male figure, pictured from the chest up with his arms raised. Below him on the left is a figure lying on the ground with his upper body raised slightly. Below on the right is another figure lying on the ground, his upper body twisted away from the central figure and his arms reaching to the right. Below the text, a bird flies over dark water. || The figure at the top of the image may be Christ, and the scene depicted could be that of Christ rising from the tomb and startling two sentries, as described in Matthew 28:4. It is also possible that the two figures are Adam and Eve, and the figure above is God, separating them. The bird may be the dove of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
moving "upon the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:2). The sea has been composed via white line etching.
|-
|width=auto| Alternatively coloured title page || || || || An alternative version of the title page from an otherwise unknown copy, colour printed in brown ink. The shadow across the tablets was created with wash after the print. Now located in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
|}
Interpretation
The central concern in All Religions are One is the notion of the "Poetic Genius", which is roughly analogous to the imagination. Blake argues that the Poetic Genius is greater than all else and "is the true man." The Poetic Genius thus replaces traditional concepts of divinity insofar as "The body or outward form of Man is derived from the Poetic Genius [...] the forms of all things are derived from their Genius. which by the Ancients was call'd an Angel & Spirit & Demon." Thus, the Poetic Genius supplants theological belief. This Poetic Genius is universal, common to all Mankind; "as all men are alike in outward form [...] all men are alike in the Poetic Genius." Similarly, all philosophies are derived from the Poetic Genius; "all sects of Philosophies are from the Poetic Genius adapted to the weaknesses of every individual", and so too are all religions, which are merely expressions of the Poetic Genius; "the Religions of all Nations are derived from each Nations different reception of the Poetic Genius which is everywhere call'd the Spirit of Prophecy," again emphasising the theological character of the Poetic Genius. Even the Bible originates with the Poetic Genius; "The Jewish & Christian Testaments are An original derivation from the Poetic Genius." Thus, as all Men are alike in their Poetic Genius, and as all religions originate with the Poetic Genius, so too must all religions be alike, thus all religions are one.David Bindman classifies All Religions are One as "a rather abstract dialogue with conventional theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
," and in this sense, it is often interpreted as Blake's earliest engagement with deism
Deism
Deism in religious philosophy is the belief that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for organized religion, can determine that the universe is the product of an all-powerful creator. According to deists, the creator does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the...
and dualism
Dualistic cosmology
Dualistic cosmology is a collective term. Many variant myths and creation motifs are so described in ethnographic and anthropological literature...
. Similarly, Northrop Frye
Northrop Frye
Herman Northrop Frye, was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century....
argues that Blake's theory that all religions are one is a "visionary tolerance" at odds with the "rational tolerance" of deism "which holds that all religions are equally an attempt to solve an insoluble mystery." Working along the same lines, Florence Sandler argues that in these texts Blake "set himself to the task of separating true religion from its perversions in his own age and in the Bible itself." Also concentrating on the refutation of deism, Alicia Ostriker refers to the series as a "mockery of rationalism
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
and an insistence on Man's potential infinitude." S. Foster Damon
S. Foster Damon
S Foster Damon was an American academic, a specialist in William Blake, a critic and a poet. He was born in Newton, Massachusetts. He was one of the Harvard Aesthetes, and married Louise Wheelwright, sister of John Wheelwright who was another poet identified with that grouping...
suggests that what Blake has done in All Religions are One is "dethroned reason
Reason
Reason is a term that refers to the capacity human beings have to make sense of things, to establish and verify facts, and to change or justify practices, institutions, and beliefs. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, language, ...
from its ancient place as the supreme faculty of man, replacing it with the Imagination." Damon also argues that "Blake had completed his revolutionary theory of the nature of Man and proclaimed the unity of all true religions." Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
reaches much the same conclusion, suggesting that Blake is arguing for the "primacy of the poetic imagination over all metaphysical
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
and moral systems". A similar conclusion is reached by Denise Vultee, who argues that "the two tractates are part of Blake's lifelong quarrel with the philosophy of Bacon, Newton, and Locke. Rejecting the rational empiricism of eighteenth-century deism or "natural religion
Natural theology
Natural theology is a branch of theology based on reason and ordinary experience. Thus it is distinguished from revealed theology which is based on scripture and religious experiences of various kinds; and also from transcendental theology, theology from a priori reasoning.Marcus Terentius Varro ...
", which looked to the material world for evidence of God's existence, Blake offers as an alternative the imaginative faculty or "Poetic Genius"."
In terms of influences on Blake, in 1787 Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli was a British painter, draughtsman, and writer on art, of Swiss origin.-Biography:...
was working on a translation of J.C. Lavater
Johann Kaspar Lavater
Johann Kaspar Lavater was a Swiss poet and physiognomist.-Early life:Lavater was born at Zürich, and educated at the Gymnasium there, where J. J. Bodmer and J. J...
's Aphorisms on Man for the publisher Joseph Johnson
Joseph Johnson (publisher)
Joseph Johnson was an influential 18th-century London bookseller and publisher. His publications covered a wide variety of genres and a broad spectrum of opinions on important issues...
, when he hired Blake to engrave the frontispiece. Blake became so enamoured of Lavater's work that on the inside cover of his own copy of the book, he inscribed both his name and Lavater's, and drew a heart encompassing them. Blake also extensively annotated his own copy of Aphorisms, and a number of critics have noted parallels between the Lavater annotations and Blake's own aphorisms in both All Religions and No Natural Religion. S. Foster Damon specifically points to Lavater's first two aphorisms as having a strong influence on Blake;
- Know, in the first place, that mankind agree in essence, as they do in their limbs and senses.
- Mankind differ as much in essence as they do in form, limbs, and senses – and only so, and not more".
To these points Blake has annotated "This is true Christian philosophy far above all abstraction."
Another work which may also have influenced him is Emanuel Swedenborg
Emanuel Swedenborg
was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian. He has been termed a Christian mystic by some sources, including the Encyclopædia Britannica online version, and the Encyclopedia of Religion , which starts its article with the description that he was a "Swedish scientist and mystic." Others...
's Heaven and Hell
Heaven and Hell (Swedenborg)
Heaven and Hell is the common English title of a book written by mystic Emanuel Swedenborg in Latin, published in 1758.The full title is Heaven and its Wonders and Hell From Things Heard and Seen, or in Latin: De Caelo et Ejus Mirabilibus et de inferno, ex Auditis et Visis.This book is a detailed...
(1758). In his annotations to Swedenborg, Blake twice connects the word "Lord" with "Poetic Genius". During Swedenborg's discussion of the connection between the spiritual world and the natural world, Blake writes "He who Loves feels love descend into him & if he has wisdom may perceive it is from the Poetic Genius which is the Lord." Shortly thereafter, to Swedenborg's "the negation of God constitutes Hell", Blake annotates "the negation of the Poetic Genius."
While the Lavater and Swedenborg influences are somewhat speculative, the importance of Bacon, Newton and Locke is not, as it is known that Blake despised empiricism from an early age. In 1808, as he annotated The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Blake wrote
Burke'sEdmund BurkeEdmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
Treatise on the Sublime & BeautifulA Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and BeautifulA Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful is a 1757 treatise on aesthetics written by Edmund Burke. It attracted the attention of prominent Continental thinkers such as Denis Diderot and Immanuel Kant....
is founded on the Opinions of Newton & Locke on this Treatise Reynolds has grounded many of his assertions. in all his Discourses I read Burkes Treatise when very Young at the same time I read Locke on Human UnderstandingAn Essay Concerning Human UnderstandingFirst appearing in 1690 with the printed title An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke concerns the foundation of human knowledge and understanding. He describes the mind at birth as a blank slate filled later through experience...
& Bacons Advancement of LearningThe Advancement of Learningright|thumbnail|Title pageThe Advancement of Learning is a 1605 book by Francis Bacon.-Darwin:...
on Every one of these Books I wrote my Opinions & on looking them over find that my Notes on Reynolds in this Book are exactly Similar. I felt the Same Contempt & Abhorrence then; that I do now. They mock Inspiration & Vision Inspiration & Vision was then & now is & I hope will always Remain my Element my Eternal Dwelling place. how can I then hear it Contemnd without returning Scorn for Scorn
Harold Bloom also cites the work of Anthony Collins
Anthony Collins
Anthony Collins , was an English philosopher, and a proponent of deism.-Life and Writings:...
, Matthew Tindal
Matthew Tindal
Matthew Tindal was an eminent English deist author. His works, highly influential at the dawn of the Enlightenment, caused great controversy and challenged the Christian consensus of his time.-Life:...
and John Toland
John Toland
John Toland was a rationalist philosopher and freethinker, and occasional satirist, who wrote numerous books and pamphlets on political philosophy and philosophy of religion, which are early expressions of the philosophy of the Age of Enlightenment...
as having an influence on Blake's thoughts. In a more general sense, "Blake sees the school of Bacon and Locke as the foundation of natural religion, the deistic attempt to prove the existence of God on the basis of sensate experience and its rational investigation." To that end, Blake "manipulates the syncretic
Syncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
mythology of Jacob Bryant
Jacob Bryant
Jacob Bryant was a British scholar and mythographer, who has been described as "the outstanding figure among the mythagogues who flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries".-Life:...
, Paul Henri Mallet
Paul Henri Mallet
Paul Henri Mallet was a Swiss writer.He was born and educated in Geneva. He became tutor in the family of the count of Calenberg in Lower Saxony. In 1752 he was appointed professor of belles lettres to the academy at Copenhagen...
, and perhaps other founders of what has become the comparative study of religion, to argue for the existence of a universal and supra-rational 'Poetic Genius' that expresses itself through the shared (though ever various) forms of all religions."
In relation to his later work, Northrop Frye sees All Religions are One and There is No Natural Religion as forming a fundamental statement of intent for Blake, a kind of pre-emptive outline of his future work, "a summarised statement of the doctrines of the engraved canon." Similarly, Eaves, Essick and Viscomi state that they "contain some of Blake's most fundamental principles and reveal the foundation for later development in his thought and art." W.H. Stevenson calls them "a very early statement of fundamental opinions [Blake] held all his life." As an example of how Blake returned to the specific themes of All Religions, in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790), he writes "the Poetic Genius was the first principle and all the others merely derivative" (12:22–24).