“Visionary Forms Dramatic”: Expressing and enacting the real in Blake and Dōgen.

ABSTRACT: The work of William Blake (1757-1827) culminates in a vision of the imaginative flourishing of humanity in ‘visionary forms dramatic’. It is a vision, this paper proposes, not of some transcendent realm but of real human action (and the action of other ‘minute particulars’ in our pan-creative universe) in the here and now. The paper hopes to draw new implications from Blake’s vision by juxtaposing it with the so-called ‘performative metaphysics’ of the Japanese Zen master, philosopher, and poet, Dōgen (1200-1253). Dōgen’s religious and aesthetic thought is noted for its thoroughgoing vision of absolute reality as exhaustively expressed in everyday practices and phenomena. Proposing a close analogy between the artistic act, as explored and embodied by Blake, and the action of zazen, as taught by Dōgen, the paper hopes to provide an affirmation of creative activity (in whatever medium) as the expression and enaction of the real.

Daniel has published volumes of poetry in both English and Swedish, including most recently Fordings (Marble Poetry, 2020). Newer work appears in Temenos Academy Review, The Brazen Head, and elsewhere. Daniel has a PhD in Philosophy from, and remains affiliated with, the University of York. With an enduring interest in William Blake, Daniel’s research explores the philosophical and religious correlates of poetic experience. He is currently pursuing a deeper understanding of Dogen’s Zen and the thought of Alfred North Whitehead.