In his Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1793) William Blake, deeply interested in the idea of liberty and spurred on by the events of the French Revolution, demonstrated the extent to which the idea of human liberty needed to be expanded to take in every aspect of human existence. Where the political liberty of the people might be realized through revolution, even deeper sorts of revolutions would be needed to unseat some of the tyrannous ideas inherent in many of the most basic ideas held by people everywhere. The Daughters of Albion are the women of England but they are also every type of person who remains enslaved. Blake goes deeply into the question of the rights of women and he touches strongly on the problem of human slavery, such as the case of the Africans in America. But, as he does these things in the context of extending the argument that has already been made for liberty by the French Revolution, it must also be asked whether he means the Daughters of Albion to stand for all the people of Albion. Does he also mean to suggest that such a revolution should take place in England as well? The poem offers some support for this idea.
It was in this poem that Blake introduced the character or concept of Urizen (a pun on "your reason") and, as Paananen notes, "all revolutions are, in fact, directed against Urizen, the jealous law giver and lover of order" (62). The French Revolution was a case of passionate action taken in pursuit of a desirable end and, since Urizen will always defend other tyrannies, equally passionate responses are needed elsewhere as well. Blake had certainly accepted the need for revolution and was enthusiastic about the events in France. In Blake's interpretation of the events of the late 1780s "the people of France inspired by the new energy of America were awakening to pursue life, liberty, and happiness with all the fury of a spiritual existence" (Erdman 149). He was, in turn, optimistic ...