Catherine Blake and Her Marriage: Two Notes

These two essays explore the character of Catherine Blake and of her marriage to William Blake. Morton D. Paley argues that the 1790s saw strains in the Blake marriage, perhaps over William’s interest in polygamy, Catherine’s jealousy, and family discord, and that these were reflected in Visions of the Daughters of Albion and Vala. The Blakes’ conflict was apparently resolved when they together produced copies of William’s books. Mark Crosby’s essay focuses on a newly recovered letter to William Hayley of 1804, who idealized the Blakes’ marriage and compared Catherine to Margaret Klopstock, whose letters to Richardson made her a touchstone for wifely perfection. This and other writings of the time suggest, however, that William was then unhappy in his marriage, and Crosby argues this may have been the result of Catherine’s not being as sexually available as Blake wished. What may be Catherine’s annotations of a work by Hayley imply that she shared his discontent.