William Blakes Divine Love: Visions of Oothoon (Routledge Studies in Romanticism)

Despite the fact that William Blake summarises the plot of Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1793) in just eight lines in the prefatory ‘Argument,’ there are several contentious moments in the poem which continue to cause debate. Critics read Oothoon’s call to Theotormon’s eagles and her offer to catch girls of silver and gold as either evidence of her rape-damaged psyche or confirmation of her selfless love which transcends her socio-sexual state. How do we reconcile the attack of Theotormon’s eagles and the wanton play of the girls with Oothoon’s articulate and highly sophisticated expressions of spiritual truth and free love? In William Blake’s Divine Love: Visions of Oothoon, Joshua Schouten de Jel explores the hermeneutical possibilities of Oothoon’s self-annihilation and the epistemological potential of her visual copulation by establishing an artistic and hagiographical heritage which informs the pictorial representation and poetic pronunciation of Oothoon’s enlightened entelechy. Working with Michelangelo’s The Punishment of Tityus (1532) and Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647–51), Oothoon’s ecstatic figuration reflects two iconographic traditions which, framed by the linguistic tropes of divine love expressed within a female-centred mystagogy, reveal the soteriological significance of Oothoon’s willing self-sacrifice. Despite the fact that William Blake summarises the plot of Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1793) in just eight lines in the prefatory Argument, there are several contentious moments in the poem which continue to cause debate. Critics read Oothoons call to Theotormons eagles and her offer to catch girls of silver and gold as either evidence of her rape-damaged psyche or as confirmation of her selfless love which transcends her socio-sexual state. How do we reconcile the attack of Theotormons eagles and the wanton play of the girls with Oothoons articulate and highly sophisticated expressions of spiritual truth and free love? In William Blakes Divine Visions of Oothoon, Joshua Schouten de Jel explores the hermeneutical possibilities of Oothoons self-annihilation and the epistemological potential of her visual copulation by establishing an artistic and hagiographical heritage which informs the pictorial representation and poetic pronunciation of Oothoons enlightened entelechy. Working with Michelangelos The Punishment of Tityus (1532) and Gian Lorenzo Berninis Ecstasy of Saint Teresa (1647-51), Oothoons ecstatic figuration reflects two iconographic traditions which, framed by the linguistic tropes of divine love expressed within a female-centred mystagogy, reveal the soteriological significance of Oothoons willing self-sacrifice. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Dedication Contents List of Abbreviations 1 Introduction 2 ‘The Nakedness of Women Is the Work of God’ 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Nakedness and Sexual Morality 2.3 Erotica 2.4 Oothoon’s Skin 3 The Tityus Tradition After Michelangelo 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Blake’s Notebook 3.3 Michelangelo’s Punishment of Tityus 3.4 The Tityus Tradition 3.5 Francesco Bartolozzi’s Tityus and Risen Christ 3.6 Copying 3.7 Blake’s Revision(s) of the Tityus Tradition 3.8 Oothoon as a Redeemed Tityus 4 Divine Love: The Transverberation 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Looking at Love 4.3 Levitation and Birds 4.4 Theatricality 5 L’Estasi di Santa Teresa 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Blake, the Royal Academy, and Bernini 5.3 The Body 5.4 The Eye 5.5 The Spectator 5.6 Voyeurism 5.7 Jouissance Index