ABSTRACT

Amongst the early English Romantics, two writers in particular were influenced by Boehme: William Blake (1757–1827) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834). Along with William Wordsworth (1770–1850), these men are often listed together as avatars of the early Romantic movement in English poetry. Although Wordsworth owned copies of Boehme and occasionally paraphrased him, it was Blake and Coleridge who displayed the deeper affinity with his theosophy. 1 In this chapter, I examine first how Blake’s reading of Boehme influenced his works, and conclude by contextualizing Blake’s engagement with Boehme within English Romanticism at the turn of the eighteenth century, with particular reference to Coleridge’s response to Boehme. 2