In the Land of Ulro: Satan as a Concept of Mistaken Creativity in William Blake’s Poetry and Designs

Unlike other famous Romantics, William Blake does not glorify Satan as an embodiment of such concepts as liberty, independence and freethinking. In the following article an attempt will be made to see how in Blake’s poetry and painting the figure of Satan becomes associated with rationalism and the notion of misguided creativity. In this aspect Satan is consistently identified with Urizen, Blake’s personification of the fallen human reason and the creator of the material universe. This identification functions as a critique of empiricism and rationalism characteristic for the Age of Reason.