William Blake seemed fully resigned to remain a prophet without honor in his own country. In presenting this collection of fourteen original essays, the editors hope to assist in altering our perspective of Blake and his work, by offering a multitude of interpretations from which we can construct a critical basis at once stable and varied. The essays are dominated by concerns, somewhat neglected in past Blake criticism, which find fullest expression in Blake's largest visionary and poetic structures. Particular attention focuses on Blake's form of epic-prophecy, on its traditions, its structure, aesthetics, and metaphysics. A related concern is the emphatic relationship Blake sought to establish with his audience, a question as old as art itself, but generally thought of minor import to the self-conscious, independent literature of the Romantic period. -- From publisher's description.