Spectre (Blake)

For other uses, see Spectre.
Los's Spectre torments him at his smithy in Blake's poem Jerusalem. This image comes from Copy E. of the work, printed in 1821 and in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art[1][2]

The Spectre is one aspect of the fourfold nature of the human psyche along with Humanity, Emanation and Shadow that William Blake used to explore his spiritual mythology throughout his poetry and art. As one of Blake's elements of the psyche, Spectre takes on symbolic meaning when referred to throughout his poems. According to professor Joseph Hogan, "Spectre functions to define individuals from others [...] When it is separated [from Emanation], it is reason, trying to define everything in terms of unchanging essences."[3] Thus, according to Samuel Foster Damon, Spectre epitomizes "Reason separated from humanity" and "Self-centered selfhood"[4] or, as Alexander S. Gourlay puts it, Spectre is "characterized by self-defensive rationalization".[5]

Spectre appears in several of Blake's works, including Jerusalem, Milton: a poem and The Four Zoas. Because of its widespread presence in Blake's more mythological works, scholars have reflected on Spectre through multiple critical approaches including Jungian archetypal analysis, as a means of mapping Blake's mythology within intellectual history and within his own biographical experience.

  1. ^ "Copy Information for Jerusalem The Emanation of The Giant Albion". William Blake Archive. Retrieved Sep 11, 2013.
  2. ^ Morris Eaves; Robert N. Essick; Joseph Viscomi (eds.). "Object description for"Jerusalem The Emanation of The Giant Albion, copy E, object 15 (Bentley 15, Erdman 15, Keynes 15)"". William Blake Archive. (link: illbk.15). Retrieved September 12, 2013.
  3. ^ Hogan, Joseph. "Glossary". The Urizen Books of William Blake. Department of Languages and Literatures, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Archived from the original on 2015-04-28.
  4. ^ Damon, Samuel Foster (1988). "Spectre". In Morris Eaves (ed.). A Blake Dictionary: The Ideas and Symbols of William Blake. UPNE. pp. 380–382. ISBN 9780874514360.
  5. ^ Gourlay, Alexander S. Morris Eaves; Robert N. Essick; Joseph Viscomi (eds.). "An Emergency Online Glossary of Terms, Names, and Concepts in Blake". William Blake Archive. Retrieved September 26, 2013.