Why Mrs Blake Cried: William Blake and the Sexual Basis of Spiritual Vision

by Marsha Keith Schuchard

Written by a leading William Blake scholar, this is an intriguing and controversial history of the poet and artist, which reveals a world of waking visions, magical practices, sexual-spiritual experimentation, tantric sex and free love.

Genres: Poetry, History, Psychology, Sexuality, Alchemy

448 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 2006

Reviews

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book exists on two planes. As an academic work ostensibly about William Blake, it's riddled with far too many unsubstantiated hypotheses. The author poses questions and then, more often than not, lets them trail off into the realm of gossip. At other times, the evidence seems excessively thin as if a little digging would scratch right through to the other side.

As a popular history of the sexualized religion that emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries, the book fares better. Schuchard tells us all about the Sifting Time in the Moravian church, the beliefs and visions of Swedenborg, the rise of Mesmerism or somnambulism, and the intermingling of Kabbalistic and Tantric ideas that moved through European religious circles. The real gems are the quotes that are often giggle worthy.

"The gushing blood of the humanised [sic:] Jesus redeemed all the organs of the human body, including the male and female genitalia."
"For Swedenborg, his psycho-erotic penetration of the Holy of Holies was a life-changing experience."
"In lively and sensitive women, the most agreeable termination of their emotions is often a convulsion."

At other times the language was a bit sophomoric, as in, "Through the clouds of magnetic miasma, we will begin to penetrate a turbulent atmosphere of sexual and visionary experimentation and start to learn 'why Mrs Blake cried'."

Regardless, it's a lovely book, but take it with a grain of salt. Schuchard seems prone to selective interpretation, opting for the juicier reading every time, which makes some of her conclusions suspiciously convenient for her thesis. Luckily she has carefully noted her source material, so think of her as a tour guide pointing toward interesting sites instead of a final authority on psychosexual religious ecstasy and its role in sacred vision.

As a bonus, it's interesting to follow up on John Wesley's connections to the Moravians.

[Eli Bishop · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't a well-informed response to the book, because I ended up only reading about two thirds of it, but I'll just say that it's a fascinating read even though it falls short in many ways as biography. Basically, all of the background material about 18th-century counterculture is wonderful, whereas nearly all of the material about Blake himself is along the lines of "There's no evidence that Blake actually knew any of these people or did any of these things, but it makes sense that he might have"... which is interesting too, but gets awfully repetitive once it becomes clear that the author is not going to present any such evidence or discuss Blake in any more depth (or at least, she didn't do so in the first two thirds of the book).

[Katy German]

Overstuffed sentences, bloated theories...why did this book get published? Contextualizing and interpreting useful documentary evidence illuminating the religious practices of William Blake's parents is good for a monograph at most; the book-length version is fattened with lurid, breathless detail. The typeface is large, the margins wide, and the paper bulky (big surprise).

If you want to explore Blake's spiritual vision, go back to the prophetc books and dig back in; their density and difficulty will reward your efforts. That same enegry would be wasted here.

[Zachary Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Other reviews here suggest this book is not well researched, and falls too often to speculation. Given the clear textual evidence and the variety of sources presented, I vehemently disagree. This is an extrodinary work of scholarship and a major contribution to the origins of Blake's visonary art, not to mention a facinating intellectual history of radical Christianity that has been surpressed by the high priests of Old Nobodaddy.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am I the only one on Goodreads who's even started reading this amazing book? no because there's another edition on Goodreads " Why Mrs Blake Cried: William Blake and the Sexual Basis of Spiritual Vision" with useful comments.

[Mirco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spotted this book at a book shop in 2009: I had the greatest expectations, not in the least on account of its succulent topic.

Alas, my reading history came to an almost complete stop, to use a mild euphemism. A couple of months ago I finally decided that I have to complete it, no matter what. Why so long? Dunn0, but I guess the abundance of details and repetitions is quite overwhelming. Also, for everyone in the know, it is quite clear that:

1) dr. Schuschard has undoubtedly done her homework
2) she is a scholar, but by no means a true insider in hermetica.

Everything, whether is Hebrew Qabbalah, Vedic and Tantric sources, Moravian spirituality, is filtered through the erotico-spiritual theme. There is also a plethora of unwarranted conclusions, which are educated guesses at best. So why 4 instead of 3? Well, the topic is fantastic, and the actors even more so (Blake, Zinzerdorf, Swedenborg, what more can man ask?)

[Pittounikos Dmt Moesy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The footnotes alone are a treasure of esoteric information you can spend hours going down rabbit holes on.
Emanuel Swedenborg is the main star in this story. You can read things about Emanuel 'Buddha of the North', Swedenborg in here you won't find in other books.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's amazing that this book is 10 years old and it's still the last good book written about William Blake. Ms. Schuchard's writing is not brilliant but its adequate and her subject matter is terribly interesting: It concerns the sexual practices of William Blake and documents the general attitude of openness to incorporating sexual spiritual practices among late 18th and early 19th century Christians. Without being an expert on William Blake iconography we can still identify Tantric traits and symbols in Blake's engravings. England and France were somewhat enamored with Indian culture in the late 18th century. A few Christians incorporated Indian spiritual/sexual practice into Christianity.
Ms. Schuchard's emphasis is on the scandalous aspect of Blake's sexuality, but we need not approach her work with a Victorian sensibility. We learn interesting facts about how the Cabala may have been disseminated among the congregation of the Fetter Lane Moravians and how such influence affected Emanuel Swedenborg.