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Northrop Frye's Fearful Symmetry:

A Study Of William Blake
Front Cover
7 Reviews
University of Toronto Press, Jan 1, 2004 - Literary Criticism - 516 pages

Published in 1947, Fearful Symmetry was Northrop Frye's first book and the product of over a decade of intense labour. Drawing readers into the imaginative world of William Blake, Frye succeeded in making Blake's voice and vision intelligible to the wider public. Distinguished by its range of reference, elegance of expression, comprehensiveness of coverage, coherence of argument, and sympathy to its subject, Fearful Symmetry was immediately recognized as a landmark of Blake criticism. Fifty years later, it is still recognized as having ensured the acceptance of Blake as a canonical poet by permanently dispelling the widespread notion that he was the mad creator of an incomprehensible private symbolism.

For this new edition, the text has been revised and corrected in accordance with the principles of the Collected Works of Northrop Frye series. Frye's original annotation has been supplemented with references to currently standard editions of Blake and others, and many new notes have been provided, identifying quotations, allusions, and cultural references. An introduction by Ian Singer provides biographical and critical context for the book, an overview of its contents, and an account of its reception.

  

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Review: Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake

User Review  - Hortense - Goodreads

I thought it was small-minded of him to write, extra clearly mind you, the author's name spelled FREY. Could he have thought I would not defuse the ruse and rescue the rose. He was blighted, obsessed ... Read full review

Review: Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake

User Review  - Zachary Martin - Goodreads

An excellent book about Blake's theories and concerns. If your thinking about trying to make sense of his intense poetic visions, this is a good place to start. Read full review

All 7 reviews »

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Selected pages

Contents

Illustrations
vii
Abbreviations
xix
Preface to the 1969 Edition
5
The Case against Locke
11
The Rising
37
Beyond Good and Evil
61
A Literalist of the Imagination
90
The Thief of Fire
189
The Refiner in Fire
227
The Nightmare with Her Ninefold
266
The Final Synthesis
305
The Burden of the Valley of Vision
392
Blakes Mysticism
415
Emendations
479
Copyright

Common terms and phrases

abstract Adam Albion allegory Annotations to Reynolds apocalypse archetypal artist associated Atlantis becomes Beulah Bible Biblical Blake calls Blake says Blake's symbolism body Book Book of Urizen Bromion chaos chap Christian conception creation creative criticism culture death Deism divine doctrine Druid English Enitharmon epic eternal evil existence Faerie Queene fall fallen world Fearful Symmetry female Four Zoas Frye's genius Hayley Heaven Hebrew hell Hence human idea imagination innocence Jerusalem Jesus Last Judgment Luvah means mental Milton mind moral mystery myth nature Night Northrop Frye Oothoon Orc cycle painting Palamabron Paradise Lost passive perception poem poet poetic poetry Prophecies prophet Rahab reality reason reference religion Revelation Rintrah Satan Selfhood sense experience serpent society Songs Spectre of Urthona Spenser spirit Tharmas thing thought tion Tiriel tree tyranny unfallen University Urizen Urthona Vala vision visionary William Blake word

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References from web pages

JSTOR: Fearful Symmetry, A Study of William Blake.
Fearful Symmetry, A Study of William Blake. By NORTHOP FRYE. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1947. Pp. 462. $5.00. ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0149-6611(194901)64%3A1%3C62%3AFSASOW%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X

Canadian publisher University of Toronto Press Online Book Catalogue
Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake Volume 14. Cloth 0802089836 (£60.00) $95.00. to shopping basket. Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake ...
www.utppublishing.com/ pubstore/ merchant.ihtml?pid=8179& lastcatid=55& step=4

Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake (work by Frye ...
In 1947 he published Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake, which was a sweeping and erudite study of Blake's visionary symbolism. ...
www.britannica.com/ eb/ topic-203104/ Fearful-Symmetry-A-Study-of-William-Blake

Frye exhibit
His chief publications are: Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake, 1947; Anatomy of Criticism, 1957; The Well-Tempered Critic, 1963; The Educated ...
library.vicu.utoronto.ca/ exhibitions/ frye/

Fearful Symmetry: a study of William Blake (Frye, Northrop ...
Fearful Symmetry: a study of William Blake (Frye, Northrop) -- Bibliography (issues) Online by the Union of International Associations (UIA), ...
www.diversitas.org/ db/ x.php?dbcode=re& subject=8055& go=e& id=13477890

Thanks to the generosity of the Northrop Frye Centre at Victoria ...
Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake Vol. 15. Northrop Fryes Notebooks on Romance; Vol. 17. Northrop Fryes Writings on the Eighteenth and Nineteenth ...
cecanstud.wz.cz/ library/ frye_collection.htm

humanities 383 Gwenlyn Setterfield is a notable administrator in ...
Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake. Edited by Nicholas. Halmi. Volume 14 of The Collected Edition of the Works of Northrop Frye ...
muse.jhu.edu/ journals/ university_of_toronto_quarterly/ v075/ 75.1bewell02.pdf

Northrop Frye: The Theoretical Imagination
Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1969. -----. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1957. ...
www.encyclopedia.com/ doc/ 1G1-19793595.html

Northrop Frye (1912-1991) : Library of Congress Citations
Title: Fearful symmetry; a study of William Blake. Published: [Princeton, nj] Princeton University Press [1969] Description: 462 p. illus. 22 cm. ...
www.mala.bc.ca/ ~mcneil/ cit/ citlcfrye1.htm

Northrop Frye: Biography and Much More from Answers.com
His other critical works include the influential Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake (1947), The Well-Tempered Critic (1963), The Secular Scripture ...
www.answers.com/ topic/ northrop-frye

About the author (2004)

The late Northrop Frye was a professor in the Department of English at Victoria College, University of Toronto. Nicholas Halmi is an assistant professor in the Department of English at the University of Washington.

Bibliographic information

QR code for Northrop Frye's Fearful Symmetry
TitleNorthrop Frye's Fearful Symmetry: A Study Of William Blake
Volume 14 of Collected Works of Northrop Frye, Jean O'Grady
Volume 14 of G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series
Volume 14 of Works, Northrop Frye
AuthorNorthrop Frye
EditorsNorthrop Frye, Nicholas Halmi
Edition2, illustrated
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press, 2004
ISBN0802089836, 9780802089830
Length516 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Literary Criticism / Canadian
Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
Literary Criticism / Poetry
Poetry / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
  
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