SOURCE: Kiralis, Karl. “The Theme and Structure of William Blake's Jerusalem.” ELH 23 (June 1956): 127-43.

In the following essay, Kiralis disagrees with the contention of most critics that Jerusalem has no coherent theme or structure and claims that Blake explains both within the work itself.

Though Jerusalem is generally considered to be one of the most enigmatic if not chaotic works produced by a major figure in English literature, actually William Blake explains its theme and structure within the work itself. The very nature of the structure, one of interfolded growth as described on plate 98, seems to have caused critics to shy away from a sufficient consideration of the basic form of the work.

In 1811, Southey dismissed the whole problem by calling what he saw of Jerusalem “a perfectly mad poem”; Allen Cunningham scorned it as an “animated absurdity”; Alexander Gilchrist turned Blake's own words—“Scattered upon the void...