Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

William Blake (1757-1827) was a British poet, mystic, and artist whose work never achieved prominence during his lifetime. In the centuries since, he has come to be viewed as one of Britain’s greatest writers. Blake permeates the book from start to finish. The novel’s title is taken from his “Proverbs of Hell,” originally published as part of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Each chapter of the Tokarczuk novel begins with a short Blake quotation from “Proverbs of Hell,” “Auguries of Innocence,” “The Mental Traveller,” and his personal letters. Throughout much of the story, Janina and Dizzy are involved in translating Blake’s works into Polish.

Blake’s writings offer a particularly appropriate recurring motif in the novel since his life and words support all three of the book’s themes. He was himself something of a misfit. A few of his contemporaries were convinced that he suffered from mental problems. In that respect, Blake would have fit right into Janina’s circle of friends. He also shared her respect for all forms of life and frequently noted the unity of the cosmos. “To see a world in a grain of sand” is one of his more famous lines. His capacity to see unity where others saw only difference allowed him to exhibit the same reverence for all forms of life that Janina displays.