ABSTRACT
In William Blake's relativistic universe, time is ending all the time - and so it is also always re-beginning. From Blake's grassroots perspective, the domino effect of these shifts gives even small challenges to the status quo wide, potentially apocalyptic repercussions. The cosmological implications of the relational concept of time were first set forth by Gottfried Willielm Leibniz in the course of an unpleasant debate in 1710 with Samuel Clarke, a disciple of Newton who apparently had Isaac Newton's help in drawing up his replies. Blake undoubtedly knew of this celebrated debate; Joseph Priestley offers thorough analyses of both sides in A Free Discussion of the Doctrines of Materialism and Philosophical Necessity, which Blake seems to have read. Blake would also have known about controversial recent discoveries of deep geologic time and deep astronomic space, and their dire implications for Creation by divine design.
