SOURCE: "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," in William Blake: A Critical Essay, John Camden Hotten, 1868, pp. 204-27.

In the following excerpt, Swinburne ranks The Marriage of Heaven and Hell as Blake's greatest work

In 1790 Blake produced the greatest of all his books; a work indeed which we rank as about the greatest produced by the eighteenth century in the line of high poetry and spiritual speculation. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell gives us the high-water mark of his intellect. None of his lyrical writings show the same sustained strength and radiance of mind; none of his other works in verse or prose give more than a hint here and a trace there of the same harmonious and humorous power, of the same choice of eloquent words, the same noble command and liberal music of thought; small things he could often do perfectly, and great things often...