SOURCE: Stevenson, W. H. “Blake's Jerusalem.” Essays in Criticism 9 (1959): 254-64.

In the following essay, Stevenson explores the nature of Jerusalem in order to formulate a basic understanding of the work.

Jerusalem is a tantalising work—like a money-box with no key. It promises much, but it has always proved difficult to get into. This article is not to be a new attempt to ‘explain’ Jerusalem so much as an attempt to find out what sort of a work it is. Blake seems to encourage his critics to venture into all sorts of other departments of learning, which would be a good thing, if it did not make them forget their own. I have therefore tried to look at Jerusalem in a more usual, more literary way. It is, of course, impossible to make any final assessment which does not include a poem's subject-matter and its significance; but there...