ABSTRACT
William Blake continually returned to John Milton, from his critical attack in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell to his usurpation of the Miltonic sublime in Milton and the other prophetic writings. Blake’s response to Milton’s influence has been much discussed by theorists of literary tradition and poetic influence, but as Blake said of the Judeo-Christian tradition, “this history has been adopted by both parties.” In Blake’s subtle and complex analysis, however, the Church Paul is not to be confused with the St Paul who wrote the epistles. Blake had earlier associated Milton with the doctrines of the Church Paul – in The Four Zoas his list of the fallen sons of prophecy ends with “Paul Constantine Charlemaine Luther Milton”. Paul can become the “Church Paul” and Milton can become the “Church Milton” if their fierce writings are not encountered by fierce readers.
