ABSTRACT
Blake here gives poetic expression to the idea of the moral struggle reflected in our traditions. The conflicted and contentious appropriation of a religious tradition, what we appeal to and select, what we reject and disregard, notice or pass over, reflects the subjectivity of our cultural formation, the state of our collective ‘soul’. Our propensity towards violence may be reinforced by the traditional narratives that valorise it – and, it has to be said, our horror and despair at violence may be stifled and overcome – but those narratives already reflect and give voice to, already reject and challenge, the innate and sensual attractiveness of violence. The ways in which we appropriate the tradition that confronts us depend upon a common subjective formation, a formation which the agon of our conflicted traditions either favours or challenges.
