ABSTRACT
In Blair’s Grave we can see that the problem of representing what lies beyond human experience remained a major obstacle for devotional poets of the mideighteenth century. For graveyard poets concerned primarily with the contemplation of death, the hindrance is particularly acute. It is here that we take our cue from Paul Williamson, who pertinently asks: “By what means does the graveyard poet gain access to the analogical knowledge on which his poem depends?”1 Broadly surveying the landscape of religious poetics during this period, one may well conjecture that the primary objective of the devotional author is to achieve direct discourse with God by way of humble submission to his inspiration. Sublime rapture, the most fashionable of poetic virtues, is then the aesthetic manifestation of religious modesty. The graveyard poet, however, seeks an alternative source of divinity in post-mortal revelation: simply stated, he seeks the knowledge of the dead.
