Northrop Frye’s Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake

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Princeton University Press, paperback

Publication Date: September 23, 2025

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The landmark book that situates Blake’s poetry within the intellectual movements of his day and unlocks his symbolism for modern readers

Since it was first published, Northrop Frye’s Fearful Symmetry has established itself as the defining commentary on the poetic vision of William Blake. Frye gives a complete solution to the riddles of Blake’s longer poems–the so-called “Prophecies”–and demonstrates how Blake’s works form a coherent mythical pattern that broadens our conception of literature. He explains how Blake arrived at a theory of knowledge that was also, for him, a theory of religion, life, and art, and how this rigorously defined system of ideas found expression in the complicated but consistent symbolism of his poetry. With an incisive foreword by scholar and literary critic Nicholas Halmi, this Princeton Classics edition shows how Blake reflects the literary and the intellectual atmosphere of his time while holding renewed meaning for us today.

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