The Apocalypse in England: Revelation Unravelling, 1700–1834 PDF
Preview The Apocalypse in England: Revelation Unravelling, 1700–1834
THE APOCALYPSE IN ENGLAND STUDIES IN LITERATURE ANO RELIGION General Editor: David Jasper, Director of the Centre for the Study of Literature and Theology, University of Glasgow Studies in Literature and Religion is a series of interdisciplinary titles, both monographs and essays, concerned with matters of literature, art and textuality within religious traditions founded upon texts and textual study. In a variety of ways they are concerned with the fundamental issues of the imagination, literary perceptions and theory, and an understanding of poetics for theology and religious studies. Published titles include: David Scott Arnold LIMINAL READINGS Forms of Otherness in Melville, Joyce and Murdoch John D. Barbour THE CONSCIENCE OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHER Ethical and Religious Dimensions of Autobiography Tibor Fabiny THE LION AND THE LAMB Figuralism and Fulfilment in the Bible, Art and Literature Max Harris THEATRE AND INCARNATION David Jasper (editor) POSTMODERNISM, LITERATURE AND THE FUTURE OF THEOLOGY TRANSLATING RELIGIOUS TEXTS READINGS IN THE CANON OF SCRIPTURE Written for Our Learning Ann Loades and Michael McLain (editors) HERMENEUTICS, THE BIBLE AND LITERARY CRITICISM Irena S. M. Makarushka RELIGIOUS IMAGINATION AND LANGUAGE IN EMERSON AND NIETZSCHE Kevin Mills JUSTIFYING LANGUAGE Paul and Contemporary Literary Theory LindaMunk THE TRIVIAL SUBLIME George Pattison KIERKEGAARD: THE AESTHETIC AND THE RELIGIOUS The Apocalypse in England Revelation Unravelling, 1700-1834 Christopher Burdon First published in Great Britain 1997 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-39784-6 ISBN 978-0-230-37975-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230379756 First published in the United States of America 1997 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-16542-0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Burdon, Christopher. The Apocalypse in England : Revelation unravelling, 1700-1834 I Christopher Burdon. p. em. - (Studies in literature and religion) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-312-16542-0 (cloth) I. Bible. N.T. Revelation-Criticism, interpretation, etc. -England-History-18th century. 2. Bible. N.T. Revelation- -Criticism, interpretation, etc.-England-History-19th century. 3. Bible. N.T. Revelation-In literature. 4. Bible. N.T. Revelation-Influence. 5. English poetry-18th century. 6. English poetry-19th century. I. Title. II. Series. BS2825.2.B86 1997 228' .06'0942-dc20 96-34795 CIP © Christopher Burdon 1997 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1997 978-0-333-65946-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WI P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I 06 05 04 03 02 01 ()() 99 98 97 For Rosemary This page intentionally left blank Contents List of Illustrations ix Preface xi List of Abbreviations xiii Introduction 1 1 A Book Resisting Interpretation 5 Apocalypse, Prophecy, Allegory and Midrash 8 Telling, Seeing, Hearing and Writing 16 2 Apocalypse and Reason 31 Providence 39 Chronology 48 'Usefulness' 54 Purity 60 3 Prophecy and Poetry 67 'The Uncertain Continuance of Reason' 67 The Reasons of the Heart 74 The Language of the Spirit 80 4 Revelation and Revolution 90 Proof by Apocalypse 96 The Dawning Millennium 105 The Rhetoric of Patmos 119 The Collapse of Interpretation 128 5 Coleridge and the Limits of Interpretation 134 Wordsworth and the Displacement of Apocalypse 136 Eichhorn and Prophetic History 143 Irving and the Religion of Ideas 152 The Spirituality of Hades 160 Prometheus Bound 168 vii viii Contents 6 Rewriting Apocalypse: Shelley and Blake 174 Prometheus and the Death of God 175 Prophecy and State Religion 180 Revelation Reversed 193 The Books of Fire 200 7 The Half-Unravelled Web 209 Notes and References 219 Select Bibliography 237 Index 245 List of Illustrations 1 William Blake, 'The Angel of Revelation' 2 Blake, America, plate 8 3 Blake, America, plate 10 4 Blake, Europe, plate 1 5 Blake, Europe, plate 15 6 Blake, Jerusalem, plate 22 7 Blake, The Book of Urizen, plate 1 8 Durer, The Woman and the Dragon 9 Durer, The Battle with the Dragon 10 Joseph Mede's synchronisms (from Clavis Apocalyptica, 1833 edition) 11 William Whiston's chart of apocalyptic history (Essay on Revelation, 1706) ix
The list of books you might like
