How did Emanuel Swedenborg influence William Blake’s religious thought?

William Blake was profoundly influenced by the ideas of the Swedish theologian Emanuel Swedenborg, though his relationship with Swedenborg’s teachings evolved from initial interest to critical rejection.1

Blake’s early engagement with Swedenborgian thought is evident in several ways:
* Institutional Participation: In April 1789, Blake attended the general conference of the New Church in London, which had been founded by Swedenborg’s followers.1
* Literary and Artistic Influence: His poem "The Divine Image" from Songs of Innocence is considered implicitly Swedenborgian, and he explicitly based his 1809 design The Spiritual Preceptor on Swedenborg’s True Christian Religion.1
* Parody and Critique: Blake’s famous work The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790?) serves in part as a parody of Swedenborg. While it echoes the theologian’s "Memorable Relations" of spiritual visions with its own "Memorable Fancies," it subverts those ideas to eulogize energy and challenge conventional morality.2

Ultimately, Blake grew disillusioned, labeling Swedenborg a "Spiritual Predestinarian" and concluding that the New Church was as susceptible to "Priestcraft" as the established Church of England.1