Plate 12

Here's Blake's Jerusalem, Plate 12; Erdman 154-5:
(Erdman tells us that this plate may be thought of as single
pages. In his Illuminated Blake (page291) he  describes the
swan with five fish, one near it and the others running down
the right margin. You may also see two open mouthed eels.

Erdman also describes here the lower picture of Plate 11.) 

 
PLATE 12 text
Why wilt thou give to her a Body whose life is but a Shade?.
Her joy and love, a shade: a shade of sweet repose:
But animated and vegetated, she is a devouring worm:
What shall we do for thee O lovely mild Jerusalem?

And Los said. I behold the finger of God in terrors!           
Albion is dead! his Emanation is divided from him!
But I am living! yet I feel my Emanation also dividing
Such thing was never known! O pity me, thou all-piteous-one!
What shall I do! or how exist, divided from Enitharmon?
Yet why despair! I saw the finger of God go forth                
Upon my Furnaces, from within the Wheels of Albions Sons:
Fixing their Systems, permanent: by mathematic power
Giving a body to Falshood that it may be cast off for ever.
With Demonstrative Science piercing Apollyon with his own bow!
God is within, & without! he is even in the depths of Hell!      

Such were the lamentations of the Labourers in the Furnaces!

And they appeard within & without incircling on both sides
The Starry Wheels of Albions Sons, with Spaces for Jerusalem:
And for Vala the shadow of Jerusalem: the ever mourning shade:
On both sides, within & without beaming gloriously!              

Terrified at the sublime Wonder, Los stood before his Furnaces.
And they stood around, terrified with admiration at Erins Spaces
For the Spaces reachd from the starry heighth, to the starry
    depth;
And they builded Golgonooza: terrible eternal labour!What are those golden builders doing? where was the burying-place
Of soft Ethinthus? near Tyburns fatal Tree? is that
Mild Zions hills most ancient promontory; near mournful
Ever weeping Paddington? is that Calvary and Golgotha?
Becoming a building of pity and compassion? Lo!
The stones are pity, and the bricks, well wrought affections:    
Enameld with love & kindness, & the tiles engraven gold
Labour of merciful hands: the beams & rafters are forgiveness:
The mortar & cement of the work, tears of honesty: 
the nails,
And the screws & iron braces, are well wrought blandishments,
And well contrived words, firm fixing, never 
forgotten,         
Always comforting the remembrance: the floors, 
humility,
The cielings, devotion: the hearths, thanksgiving:
Prepare the furniture O Lambeth in thy pitying looms!
The curtains, woven tears & sighs, wrought into lovely forms
For comfort. there the secret furniture of Jerusalems chamber    
Is wrought: Lambeth! the Bride the Lambs Wife loveth thee:
Thou art one with her & knowest not of self in thy supreme joy.

- 155 -

Go on, builders in hope: tho Jerusalem wanders far away,
Without the gate of Los: among the dark Satanic wheels.

Fourfold the Sons of Los in their divisions: and fourfold,       
The great City of Golgonooza: fourfold toward the north
And toward the south fourfold, & fourfold toward the east & west
Each within other toward the four points: that toward
Eden, and that toward the World of Generation,
And that toward Beulah, and that toward Ulro:                    
Ulro is the space of the terrible starry wheels of Albions sons:
But that toward Eden is walled up, till time of renovation:
Yet it is perfect in its building, ornaments & perfection.

And the Four Points are thus beheld in Great Eternity
West, the Circumference: South, the Zenith: North,               
The Nadir: East, the Center, unapproachable for ever.
These are the four Faces towards the Four Worlds of Humanity
In every Man. Ezekiel saw them by Chebars flood.
And the Eyes are the South, and the Nostrils are the East.
And the Tongue is the West, and the Ear is the North.            

And the North Gate of Golgonooza toward Generation;
Has four sculpturd Bulls terrible before the Gate of iron.
And iron, the Bulls: and that which looks toward Ulro,
Clay bak'd & enamel'd, eternal glowing as four furnaces:
Turning upon the Wheels of Albions sons with enormous power.     
And that toward Beulah four, gold, silver, brass, & iron:

import-plate-7

<pre>&nbsp; </pre>
<pre>but when he [Los' spectre] saw that Los
</pre>
<pre>(PLATE 7)
Was living: panting like a frighted wolf, and howling
He stood over the Immortal, in the solitude and darkness:
Upon the darkning Thames, across the whole Island westward.
A horrible Shadow of Death, among the Furnaces: beneath
The pillar of folding smoke; + by arguments of science &amp;&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>by terrors:
Terrors in every Nerve, by spasms &amp; extended pains:
While Los answer'd unterrified to the opake blackening Fiend

And thus the Spectre spoke: Wilt thou still go on to destruction?
Till thy life is all taken away by this deceitful Friendship?   
He drinks thee up like water! like wine he pours thee
Into his tuns: thy Daughters are trodden in his vintage
He makes thy Sons the trampling of his bulls, they are plow'd
And harrowd for his profit, lo! thy stolen Emanation
Is his garden of pleasure! all the Spectres of his Sons mock thee
Look how they scorn thy once admired palaces! now in ruins
Because of Albion! because of deceit and friendship! For Lo!
Hand has peopled Babel &amp; Nineveh: Hyle, Ashur &amp; Aram:
Cobans son is Nimrod: his son Cush is adjoind to Aram,
By the Daughter of Babel, in a woven mantle of pestilence &amp; war.
They put forth their spectrous cloudy sails; which drive their
     immense
Constellations over the deadly deeps of indefinite Udan-Adan
Kox is the Father of Shem &amp; Ham &amp; Japheth, he is the Noah
Of the Flood of Udan-Adan. Hutn is the Father of the Seven
From Enoch to Adam; Schofield is Adam who was New-              
Created in Edom. I saw it indignant, &amp; thou art not moved!
This has divided thee in sunder: and wilt thou still forgive?
O! thou seest not what I see! what is done in the Furnaces.
Listen, I will tell thee what is done in moments to thee unknown:&nbsp;</pre>
<pre><a href="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/rbc/rbc0001/2003/2003rosen1811/0007q.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/rbc/rbc0001/2003/2003rosen1811/0007q.jpg" width="230" /></a>
- 149 -

Luvah was cast into the Furnaces of&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>affliction and sealed,      
And Vala fed in cruel delight, the&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>Furnaces with fire:
Stern Urizen beheld; urgd by&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>necessity to keep
The evil day afar, and if perchance&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>with iron power
He might avert his own despair: in&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>woe &amp; fear he saw
Vala incircle round the Furnaces&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>where Luvah was clos'd:        
With joy she heard his howlings,&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>&amp; forgot he was her Luvah,
With whom she liv'd in bliss in&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>times of innocence &amp; youth!
Vala comes from the Furnace in a&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>cloud, but wretched Luvah
Is howling in the Furnaces, in&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>flames among Albions Spectres,
To prepare the Spectre of Albion to reign over thee O Los,      
Forming the Spectres of Albion according to his rage:
To prepare the Spectre sons of Adam, who is Scofield: the Ninth
Of Albions sons, &amp; the father of all his brethren in the Shadowy
Generation. Cambel &amp; Gwendolen wove webs of war &amp; of
Religion, to involve all Albions sons, and when they had        
Involv'd Eight; their webs roll'd outwards into darkness
And Scofield the Ninth remaind on the outside of the Eight
And Kox, Kotope, &amp; Bowen, One in him, a Fourfold Wonder
Involv'd the Eight--Such are the Generations of the Giant Albion,
To separate a Law of Sin, to punish thee in thy members.        

Los answer'd. Altho' I know not this! I know far worse than this:
I know that Albion hath divided me, and that thou O my Spectre,
Hast just cause to be irritated: but look stedfastly upon me:
Comfort thyself in my strength the time will arrive,
When all Albions injuries shall cease, and when we shall        
Embrace him tenfold bright, rising from his tomb in immortality.
They have divided themselves by Wrath. they must be united by
Pity: let us therefore take example &amp; warning O my Spectre,
O that I could abstain from wrath! O that the Lamb
Of God would look upon me and pity me in my fury.               
In anguish of regeneration! in terrors of self annihilation:
Pity must join together those whom wrath has torn in sunder,
And the Religion of Generation which was meant for the
     destruction
Of Jerusalem, become her covering, till the time of the End.
O holy Generation! [<i>Image</i>] of regeneration!            t
O point of mutual forgiveness between Enemies!
Birthplace of the Lamb of God incomprehensible!
The Dead despise &amp; scorn thee, &amp; cast thee out as accursed:
Seeing the Lamb of God in thy gardens &amp; thy palaces:
Where they desire to place the Abomination of Desolation.       
Hand sits before his furnace: scorn of others &amp; furious pride:
Freeze round him to bars of steel &amp; to iron rocks beneath
His feet: indignant self-righteousness like whirlwinds of the
     north:
               (End of Plate 7)

- 150 -</pre>
<pre>**************************************************************</pre>
<pre>Notes:</pre>
<pre>&nbsp;"but when he [Los' spectre] saw that Los
(PLATE 7)
Was living: panting like a frighted wolf...
and he sought by other means, To lure Los: by tears,
....While Los answer'd unterrified to the opake blackening Fiend

 And thus the Spectre spoke: Wilt thou still go on to destruction?&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>..................." </pre>
<pre></pre>
<pre>Here the first paragraph of the text has been condensed, leaving out</pre>
<pre>a wealth of adjectival interpolations.  A speaking knowledge of&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>elementary English grammar enables the reader to begin to get some</pre>
<pre>preliminary understanding of Blake's intentions.</pre>
<pre></pre>
<pre>So many English writers of every sort are fond of piling&nbsp;</pre>
<pre>dependent clauses into their sentences to the point where an</pre>
<pre>ordinary reader is sure to miss what they're basically trying</pre>
<pre>to say. Short sentences tell us more than long involved complex</pre>
<pre>ones.  This failing is one of the primary <span class="st">deficiencies in&nbsp;</span></pre>
<pre><span class="st">understanding poetry (or prose for that matter). </span></pre>
<pre></pre>

Plate 8

PLATE 8
Rose up against me thundering from the Brook of Albions River

- 150 -

From Ranelagh & Strumbolo, from Cromwells gardens & Chelsea
The place of wounded Soldiers. but when he saw my Mace
Whirld round from heaven to earth, trembling he sat: his cold
Poisons rose up: & his sweet deceits coverd them all over        
With a tender cloud. As thou art now; such was he O Spectre
I know thy deceit & thy revenges, and unless thou desist
I will certainly create an eternal Hell for thee. Listen!
Be attentive! be obedient! Lo the Furnaces are ready to recieve
     thee.
Courtesy of LC Rare Books and

Special Collections

--------------------------------
I will break thee into shivers! &

melt thee in the furnaces of
     death;       
I will cast thee into forms of

abhorrence & torment if thou

Desist not from thine own will,

& obey  not my stern command!

I am closd up from my children:

my Emanation is dividing
And thou my Spectre art divided

against me. But mark
I will compell thee to assist me

in my terrible labours. To beat 
These hypocritic Selfhoods on 

the Anvils of bitter Death
I am inspired: I act not for myself: 

for Albions sake
I now am what I am: a horror and 

an astonishment
Shuddring the heavens to look 

upon me: 

Behold what cruelties
Are practised in Babel & Shinar, 

& have approachd to Zions Hill  

While Los spoke, the terrible Spectre fell shuddring before him
Watching his time with glowing eyes to leap upon his prey
Los opend the Furnaces in fear. the Spectre saw to Babel & Shinar
Across all Europe & Asia. he saw the tortures of the Victims.
He saw now from the ou[t]side what he before saw & felt from 
     within
He saw that Los was the sole, uncontrolld Lord of the Furnaces
Groaning he kneeld before Los's iron-shod feet on London Stone,
Hungring & thirsting for Los's life yet pretending obedience.
While Los pursud his speech in threatnings loud & fierce.

Thou art my Pride & Self-righteousness: I have found thee out:   
Thou art reveald before me in all thy magnitude & power
Thy Uncircumcised pretences to Chastity must be cut in sunder!
Thy holy wrath & deep deceit cannot avail against me
Nor shalt thou ever assume the triple-form of Albions Spectre
For I am one of the living: dare not to mock my inspired fury 
If thou wast cast forth from my life! if I was dead upon the
     mountains
Thou mightest be pitied & lovd: but now I am living; unless
Thou abstain ravening I will create an eternal Hell for thee.
Take thou this Hammer & in patience heave the thundering Bellows
Take thou these Tongs: strike thou alternate with me: labour     
     obedient                                                   
Hand & Hyle & Koban: Skofeld, Kox  &  Kotope, labour mightily
In the Wars of Babel & Shinar, all their Emanations were
Condensd. Hand has absorbd all his Brethren in his might
All the infant Loves & Graces were lost, for the mighty Hand
(Erdman 151)

Plate 7

but when he [Los' spectre] saw that Los

(PLATE 7)
Was living: panting like a frighted wolf, and howling
He stood over the Immortal, in the solitude and darkness:
Upon the darkning Thames, across the whole Island westward.
A horrible Shadow of Death, among the Furnaces: beneath
The pillar of folding smoke; + by arguments of science & 

by terrors:
Terrors in every Nerve, by spasms & extended pains:
While Los answer'd unterrified to the opake blackening Fiend

And thus the Spectre spoke: Wilt thou still go on to destruction?
Till thy life is all taken away by this deceitful Friendship?    
He drinks thee up like water! like wine he pours thee
Into his tuns: thy Daughters are trodden in his vintage
He makes thy Sons the trampling of his bulls, they are plow'd
And harrowd for his profit, lo! thy stolen Emanation
Is his garden of pleasure! all the Spectres of his Sons mock thee
Look how they scorn thy once admired palaces! now in ruins
Because of Albion! because of deceit and friendship! For Lo!
Hand has peopled Babel & Nineveh: Hyle, Ashur & Aram:
Cobans son is Nimrod: his son Cush is adjoind to Aram,
By the Daughter of Babel, in a woven mantle of pestilence & war. 
They put forth their spectrous cloudy sails; which drive their
     immense
Constellations over the deadly deeps of indefinite Udan-Adan
Kox is the Father of Shem & Ham & Japheth, he is the Noah
Of the Flood of Udan-Adan. Hutn is the Father of the Seven
From Enoch to Adam; Schofield is Adam who was New-               
Created in Edom. I saw it indignant, & thou art not moved!
This has divided thee in sunder: and wilt thou still forgive?
O! thou seest not what I see! what is done in the Furnaces.
Listen, I will tell thee what is done in moments to thee unknown: 

- 149 -

Luvah was cast into the Furnaces of 

affliction and sealed,       
And Vala fed in cruel delight, the 

Furnaces with fire:
Stern Urizen beheld; urgd by 

necessity to keep
The evil day afar, and if perchance 

with iron power
He might avert his own despair: in 

woe & fear he saw
Vala incircle round the Furnaces 

where Luvah was clos'd:         
With joy she heard his howlings, 

& forgot he was her Luvah,
With whom she liv'd in bliss in 

times of innocence & youth!
Vala comes from the Furnace in a 

cloud, but wretched Luvah
Is howling in the Furnaces, in 

flames among Albions Spectres,
To prepare the Spectre of Albion to reign over thee O Los,       
Forming the Spectres of Albion according to his rage:
To prepare the Spectre sons of Adam, who is Scofield: the Ninth
Of Albions sons, & the father of all his brethren in the Shadowy
Generation. Cambel & Gwendolen wove webs of war & of
Religion, to involve all Albions sons, and when they had         
Involv'd Eight; their webs roll'd outwards into darkness
And Scofield the Ninth remaind on the outside of the Eight
And Kox, Kotope, & Bowen, One in him, a Fourfold Wonder
Involv'd the Eight--Such are the Generations of the Giant Albion,
To separate a Law of Sin, to punish thee in thy members.         

Los answer'd. Altho' I know not this! I know far worse than this:
I know that Albion hath divided me, and that thou O my Spectre,
Hast just cause to be irritated: but look stedfastly upon me:
Comfort thyself in my strength the time will arrive,
When all Albions injuries shall cease, and when we shall         
Embrace him tenfold bright, rising from his tomb in immortality.
They have divided themselves by Wrath. they must be united by
Pity: let us therefore take example & warning O my Spectre,
O that I could abstain from wrath! O that the Lamb
Of God would look upon me and pity me in my fury.                
In anguish of regeneration! in terrors of self annihilation:
Pity must join together those whom wrath has torn in sunder,
And the Religion of Generation which was meant for the
     destruction
Of Jerusalem, become her covering, till the time of the End.
O holy Generation! [Image] of regeneration!            t
O point of mutual forgiveness between Enemies!
Birthplace of the Lamb of God incomprehensible!
The Dead despise & scorn thee, & cast thee out as accursed:
Seeing the Lamb of God in thy gardens & thy palaces:
Where they desire to place the Abomination of Desolation.        
Hand sits before his furnace: scorn of others & furious pride:
Freeze round him to bars of steel & to iron rocks beneath
His feet: indignant self-righteousness like whirlwinds of the
     north:
               (End of Plate 7)

- 150 -

**************************************************************

Notes:

 "but when he [Los' spectre] saw that Los
(PLATE 7)
Was living: panting like a frighted wolf...
and he sought by other means, To lure Los: by tears,
....While Los answer'd unterrified to the opake blackening Fiend

 And thus the Spectre spoke: Wilt thou still go on to destruction? 

..................." 

Here the first paragraph of the text has been condensed, leaving out

a wealth of adjectival interpolations.  A speaking knowledge of 

elementary English grammar enables the reader to begin to get some

preliminary understanding of Blake's intentions.

Like so many English writers of every sort are fond of piling 

dependent clauses into their sentences to the point where an

ordinary reader is sure to miss what they're basically trying

to say. Short sentences tell us more than long involved complex

ones.  This failing is one of the primary deficiencies in 

understanding poetry (or prose for that matter). 

another one

 
                  Courtesy of LC Rosenwald Collection:


There are 100 plates in Blake’s Jerusalem
Blake’s Jerusalem has 100 plates; they may be published from the Library of Congress or from the Yale archives. Here is Plate 5.

Here’s the text of this plate:
PLATE 5
The banks of the Thames are clouded! the ancient porches of
    Albion are
Darken'd! they are drawn thro' unbounded space, scatter'd upon
The Void in incoherent despair! Cambridge & Oxford & London,
Are driven among the starry Wheels, rent away and dissipated,
In Chasms & Abysses of sorrow, enlarg'd without dimension,
    terrible[.]    
Albions mountains run with blood, the cries of war & of tumult
Resound into the unbounded night, every Human perfection
Of mountain & river & city, are small & wither'd & darken'd
Cam is a little stream! Ely is almost swallowd up!
Lincoln & Norwich stand trembling on the brink of Udan-Adan!     
Wales and Scotland shrink themselves to the west and to the
    north!
Mourning for fear of the warriors in the Vale of
    Entuthon-Benython
Jerusalem is scatterd abroad like a cloud of smoke thro'
    non-entity:
Moab & Ammon & Amalek & Canaan & Egypt & Aram
Recieve her little-ones for sacrifices and the delights of
    cruelty   

Trembling I sit day and night, my friends are astonish'd at me.
Yet they forgive my wanderings, I rest not from my great task!
To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes
Of Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought: into Eternity
Ever expanding in the Bosom of God. the Human Imagination        
O Saviour pour upon me thy Spirit of meekness & love:
Annihilate the Selfhood in me, be thou all my life!
Guide thou my hand which trembles exceedingly upon the rock of
    ages,
While I write of the building of Golgonooza, & of the terrors of
    Entuthon:
Of Hand & Hyle & Coban, of Kwantok, Peachey, Brereton, Slayd &   
    Hutton:
Of the terrible sons & daughters of Albion. and their
    Generations.

Scofield! Kox, Kotope and Bowen, revolve most mightily upon
The Furnace of Los: before the eastern gate bending their fury.
They war, to destroy the Furnaces, to desolate Golgonooza:
And to devour the Sleeping  Humanity  of  Albion  in  rage  &
    hunger.   

They revolve into the Furnaces Southward & are driven forth
    Northward
Divided into Male and Female forms time after time.
From these Twelve all the Families of England spread abroad.

The Male is a Furnace of beryll; the Female is a golden Loom;
I behold them and their rushing fires overwhelm my Soul,    
In Londons darkness; and my tears fall day and night,
Upon the Emanations of Albions Sons! the Daughters of Albion
Names anciently rememberd, but now contemn'd as fictions!
Although in every bosom they controll our Vegetative powers.

These are united into Tirzah and her Sisters, on Mount Gilead,   
Cambel & Gwendolen & Conwenna &  Cordella & Ignoge.
And these united into Rahab in the Covering Cherub on Euphrates
Gwiniverra & Gwinefred, & Gonorill & Sabrina beautiful,
Estrild, Mehetabel & Ragan, lovely Daughters of Albion
They are the beautiful Emanations of the Twelve Sons of Albion   

The Starry Wheels revolv'd heavily over the Furnaces;
Drawing Jerusalem in anguish of maternal love,
Eastward a pillar of a cloud with Vala upon the mountains
Howling in pain, redounding from the arms of Beulahs Daughters,
Out from the Furnaces of Los above the head of Los.              
A pillar of smoke writhing afar into Non-Entity, redounding
Till the cloud reaches afar outstretch'd among the Starry Wheels
Which revolve heavily in the mighty Void above the Furnaces

O what avail the loves & tears of Beulahs lovely Daughters
They hold the Immortal Form in gentle bands & tender tears       
But all within is open'd into the deeps of Entuthon Benython
A dark and unknown night, indefinite, unmeasurable, without end.
Abstract Philosophy warring in enmity against Imagination
(Which is the Divine Body of the Lord Jesus. blessed for ever).
And there Jerusalem wanders with Vala upon the mountains,        
Attracted by the revolutions of those Wheels the Cloud of smoke
Immense, and Jerusalem & Vala weeping in the Cloud
Wander away into the Chaotic Void, lamenting with her Shadow
Among the Daughters of Albion, among the Starry Wheels;
Lamenting for her children, for the sons & daughters of Albion   

Los heard her lamentations in the deeps afar! his tears fall
Incessant before the Furnaces, and his Emanation divided in pain,
Eastward toward the Starry Wheels. But Westward, a black Horror,

Notes on Plate 5:
These incoherent words would yield meaning only to continuous intensive study. 

New One

There are 100 plates in Blake’s Jerusalem


Blake’s Jerusalem has 100 plates; they may be published from the Library of Congress or from the Yale archives. Here is Plate 5.

Here’s the text of this plate:
PLATE 5
The banks of the Thames are clouded! the ancient porches of
    Albion are
Darken'd! they are drawn thro' unbounded space, scatter'd upon
The Void in incoherent despair! Cambridge & Oxford & London,
Are driven among the starry Wheels, rent away and dissipated,
In Chasms & Abysses of sorrow, enlarg'd without dimension,
    terrible[.]    
Albions mountains run with blood, the cries of war & of tumult
Resound into the unbounded night, every Human perfection
Of mountain & river & city, are small & wither'd & darken'd
Cam is a little stream! Ely is almost swallowd up!
Lincoln & Norwich stand trembling on the brink of Udan-Adan!     
Wales and Scotland shrink themselves to the west and to the
    north!
Mourning for fear of the warriors in the Vale of
    Entuthon-Benython
Jerusalem is scatterd abroad like a cloud of smoke thro'
    non-entity:
Moab & Ammon & Amalek & Canaan & Egypt & Aram
Recieve her little-ones for sacrifices and the delights of
    cruelty   
Trembling I sit day and night, my friends are astonish'd at me.
Yet they forgive my wanderings, I rest not from my great task!
To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes
Of Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought: into Eternity
Ever expanding in the Bosom of God. the Human Imagination        
O Saviour pour upon me thy Spirit of meekness & love:
Annihilate the Selfhood in me, be thou all my life!
Guide thou my hand which trembles exceedingly upon the rock of
    ages,
While I write of the building of Golgonooza, & of the terrors of
    Entuthon:
Of Hand & Hyle & Coban, of Kwantok, Peachey, Brereton, Slayd &   
    Hutton:
Of the terrible sons & daughters of Albion. and their
    Generations.

Scofield! Kox, Kotope and Bowen, revolve most mightily upon
The Furnace of Los: before the eastern gate bending their fury.
They war, to destroy the Furnaces, to desolate Golgonooza:
And to devour the Sleeping  Humanity  of  Albion  in  rage  &
    hunger.   

They revolve into the Furnaces Southward & are driven forth
    Northward
Divided into Male and Female forms time after time.
From these Twelve all the Families of England spread abroad.

The Male is a Furnace of beryll; the Female is a golden Loom;
I behold them and their rushing fires overwhelm my Soul,    
In Londons darkness; and my tears fall day and night,
Upon the Emanations of Albions Sons! the Daughters of Albion
Names anciently rememberd, but now contemn'd as fictions!
Although in every bosom they controll our Vegetative powers.

These are united into Tirzah and her Sisters, on Mount Gilead,   
Cambel & Gwendolen & Conwenna &  Cordella & Ignoge.
And these united into Rahab in the Covering Cherub on Euphrates
Gwiniverra & Gwinefred, & Gonorill & Sabrina beautiful,
Estrild, Mehetabel & Ragan, lovely Daughters of Albion
They are the beautiful Emanations of the Twelve Sons of Albion   

The Starry Wheels revolv'd heavily over the Furnaces;
Drawing Jerusalem in anguish of maternal love,
Eastward a pillar of a cloud with Vala upon the mountains
Howling in pain, redounding from the arms of Beulahs Daughters,
Out from the Furnaces of Los above the head of Los.              
A pillar of smoke writhing afar into Non-Entity, redounding
Till the cloud reaches afar outstretch'd among the Starry Wheels
Which revolve heavily in the mighty Void above the Furnaces

O what avail the loves & tears of Beulahs lovely Daughters
They hold the Immortal Form in gentle bands & tender tears       
But all within is open'd into the deeps of Entuthon Benython
A dark and unknown night, indefinite, unmeasurable, without end.
Abstract Philosophy warring in enmity against Imagination
(Which is the Divine Body of the Lord Jesus. blessed for ever).
And there Jerusalem wanders with Vala upon the mountains,        
Attracted by the revolutions of those Wheels the Cloud of smoke
Immense, and Jerusalem & Vala weeping in the Cloud
Wander away into the Chaotic Void, lamenting with her Shadow
Among the Daughters of Albion, among the Starry Wheels;
Lamenting for her children, for the sons & daughters of Albion   

Los heard her lamentations in the deeps afar! his tears fall
Incessant before the Furnaces, and his Emanation divided in pain,
Eastward toward the Starry Wheels. But Westward, a black Horror,

Notes on Plate 5

Plate 3 of Jerusalem

Contents


Text
Picture
Notes
This is to take up space.


Text
PLATE 3 SHEEP GOATS To the Public

After my three years slumber on the banks of the Ocean,
I again display my Giant forms to the Public:
My former Giants & Fairies having reciev'd the highest reward possible:
the [love] and friendship of those with whom to be connected, is to be blessed:
I cannot doubt that this more consolidated & extended Work, will be as kindly recieved The Enthusiasm of the following Poem, the Author hopes no Reader will think presumptuousness or arrogance when he is reminded that the Ancients acknowledge their love to their Deities, to the full as Enthusiastically as I have who Acknowledge mine for my Saviour and Lord, for they were wholly absorb'd in their Gods.] I also hope the Reader will be with me, wholly One in Jesus our Lord, who is the God [of Fire] and Lord [of Love] to whom the Ancients look'd and saw his day afar off, with trembling & amazement. The Spirit of Jesus is continual forgiveness of Sin: he who waits to be righteous before he enters into the Saviours kingdom, the Divine Body; will never enter there. I am perhaps the most sinful of men! I pretend not to holiness! yet I pretend to love, to see, to converse with daily, as man with man, & the more to have an interest in the Friend of Sinners. Therefore [Dear] Reader, [forgive] what you do not approve, & [love] me for this energetic exertion of my talent. Reader! [lover] of books! [lover] of heaven, And of that God from whom [all books are given,] Who in mysterious Sinais awful cave To Man the wond'rous art of writing gave, Again he speaks in thunder and in fire! Thunder of Thought, & flames of fierce desire: Even from the depths of Hell his voice I hear, Within the unfathomd caverns of my Ear. Therefore I print; nor vain my types shall be: Heaven, Earth & Hell, henceforth shall live in harmony
.....................................
Pictures
Here's Plate 3 of Jerusalem
courtesy of
From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division


We who dwell on Earth can do nothing of ourselves, everything is conducted by Spirits, no less than Digestion or Sleep.
I consider'd a Monotonous Cadence like that used by Milton & Shakspeare & all writers of English Blank Verse, derived from the modern bondage of Rhyming; to be a necessary and indispensible part of Verse. But I soon found that in the mouth of a true Orator
such monotony was not only awkward, but as much a bondage as rhyme itself. I therefore have produced a variety in every line, both of cadences & number of syllables. Every word and every letter is studied and put into its fit place: the terrific numbers are reserved for the terrific parts--the mild & gentle, for the mild & gentle parts, and the prosaic, for inferior parts: all are necessary to each other. Poetry Fetter'd, Fetters the Human Race! Nations are Destroy'd, or Flourish, in proportion as Their Poetry Painting and Music, are Destroy'd or Flourish! The Primeval State of Man, was Wisdom, Art, and Science.






Notes
we need some notes here.

Plate 92



Plate 82 (courtesy of Yale copy of Jerusalem, found at Yale Center for British Art)

Beginning near the end of Plate 91 we read:

"Terrified Los sat to behold trembling & weeping & howling [1]

I care not whether a Man is Good or Evil; all that I care
Is whether he is a Wise Man or a Fool. Go! put off Holiness
And put on Intellect: or my thundrous Hammer [2] shall drive thee

To wrath which thou condemnest: till thou obey my voice
So Los terrified cries: trembling & weeping & howling! Beholding

Plate 92:

What do I see? The Briton Saxon Roman Norman amalgamating
In my Furnaces into One Nation the English: & taking refuge
In the Loins of Albion.
The Canaanite united with the fugitive Hebrew, whom she
divided into Twelve, & sold into Egypt[3]
Then scatterd the Egyptian & Hebrew to the four Winds!
This sinful Nation Created in our Furnaces & Looms is Albion
*******************************************
So Los spoke. Enitharmon answerd in great terror in Lambeths Vale:
The Poets Song draws to its period & Enitharmon is no more.
For if he be that Albion I can never weave him in my Looms[4]
But when he touches the first fibrous thread, like filmy dew
My Looms will be no more & I annihilate vanish for ever
Then thou wilt Create another Female according to thy Will.
*******************************************
Los answerd swift as the shuttle of gold. Sexes must vanish &
cease To be, when Albion arises from his dread repose O lovely
Enitharmon: When all their Crimes, their Punishments their Accusations of Sin:
All their Jealousies Revenges. Murders. hidings of Cruelty in Deceit
Appear only in the Outward Spheres of Visionary Space and Time.
In the shadows of Possibility by Mutual Forgiveness forevermore
And in the Vision & in the Prophecy, that we may Foresee & Avoid
The terrors of Creation & Redemption & Judgment.
Beholding them Displayd in the Emanative Visions of Canaan in Jerusalem & in
Shiloh And in the Shadows of Remembrance, & in the Chaos of the Spectre Amalek,
Edom, Egypt, Moab, Ammon, Ashur, Philistea, around Jerusalem
(Erdman 252) -
Where the Druids reard their Rocky Circles to make permanent
Remembrance Of Sin. & the Tree of Good & Evil sprang from the Rocky Circle &
Snake Of the Druid, along the Valley of Rephaim from Camberwell to Golgotha
And framed the Mundane Shell Cavernous in Length Bredth & Highth"

*******************************************

[1] Los had been listening to the horrid words of the Spectre, recorded earlier (in Plate 91)

[2] The hammer is "metaphorically connected to the beating of the human heart.

[3] Here Blake has made an obvious reference to the Book of Exodus.

[4] The loom is Enitharmon’s equivalent of Los’ hammer; he was a blacksmith; she was a weaver.

Blake's Priests

"The first priest was the first knave
who met the first fool."
Voltaire may or may not have said that.
As far as we know Blake did't say it, but it aptly expressed the feelings of both men. The two had very little else in common.

(As for Voltaire word came that in a visit to England he had been very positively impressed with the Quakers: they didn't have 'hireling priests'.

Blake was born a dissenter; dissenters didn't have priests, but when he came to the age of reason he understood that 'priest' is a generic word embracing all faiths. To propagate (and perhaps live by??) the Law made one a priest in Blake's book. A priest by any name was still a priest, waving the law at people and financially profiting thereby.

Jesus also had problems with priests; the four gospels are full of accounts of that. Eventually the priests killed him.

Perhaps the first thing Blake said about priests is found in Plate 11 of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell:
"The ancient Poets animated all sensible objects with Gods or Geniuses, calling them by the names and adorning them with the properties of woods, rivers, mountains, lakes, cities, nations, and whatever their enlarged & numerous senses could percieve.

And particularly they studied the genius of each city & country, placing it under its mental deity.

Till a system was formed, which some took advantage of & enslav'd the vulgar by attempting to realize or abstract the mental deities from their objects; thus began Priesthood.

Choosing forms of worship from poetic tales.

And a length they pronounc'd that the Gods had order'd such things.Thus men forgot that All deities reside in the human breast."

Back in Plate 9 we read"As the catterpiller chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys. (Erdman 37)

In Plate 5 of Visions of the Daughters of Albion:"The doors of marriage are open, and the Priests in rustling scales Rush into reptile coverts, hiding from the fires of Orc" (Erdman 49)

Or read A Little Boy Lost, Song 50 of Songs of Experience at Erdman 28 (that's a wow!) and on and on it goes. In Jerusalem, plate 69 at Erdman 223:

"Embraces are Comminglings: from the Head even to the Feet: And not a pompous High Priest entering by a Secret Place."

****************************************************

The zoa, Urizen, was the form with which Blake explicated the defiencies of priesthood. The priest of necessity puts himself in place of God, violating the first Commandment: "Thou shalt have no other Gods before me"

"PRELUDIUM TO THE [FIRST] BOOK OF URIZEN
Of the primeval Priests assum'd power,
When Eternals spurn'd back his religion;
And gave him a place in the north,
Obscure, shadowy, void, solitary"(Erdman 70).
Blake hated priests, and he hated what Urizen represented to him in his myth (his System).

The Elect are the priests (discussed in Blake's Milton).
Speaking of the Daughters of Albion:
"the Elect cannot be Redeemed, but Created continually
By Offering & Atonement in the cruelties of Moral Law" (Erdman 98).

Blake organized Mankind into three categories:
The Elect, the Redeemed, and the Reprobate. The Elect were the Priests:
"And the Three Classes of Men.....The first,
the Elect from before the foundation of the World;
The second, the Redeemed.
The Reprobate & form'd to destruction from the Mothers' womb" Erdman 100).

hypertext

The founders of automated computing systems considered hypertext a basic component of the efficient navigation of massive information systems. Hypertext, most simply, is the presentation of information in a non-linear form. Conceptually, hypertext is a method of thought that could be applied to a variety of media; practically, though, hypertext is still confined to the electronic realm. As hypertext use is expanding with the growing World Wide Web, it is gaining universal acceptance as a usable electronic medium with a dramatic effect on the experiences of reading and writing.

In the past five years, electronic writing has also been revolutionized by the advent of weblogs. As a new form of writing that opens web publishing to a general writing public, weblogs have popularized freedom of expression with the same speed that Napster popularized free music. By distorting the boundaries between the reader and writer, the fixed and non-fixed text, and the spatial and sequential relation between the text and other texts, hypertext is dramatically changing the experience of reading and

blake-death

For Blake the word, death had many meanings:

1. Physical death:

Quoting Damon p. 99:

"Death of the physical body is the shedding of the shell (garment, robe) which the soul, or spiritual body has grown for protection in this world. It's the return of the soul to Eternity. It is an episode of life, a state through which one passes, awakening to Eternal life (J 4:1-2)".

Blake indicated the nature of physical death, particularly of his brother, Robert's death in a letter (9) to Hayley he wrote:

"Thirteen years ago. I lost a brother & with his spirit

I converse daily & hourly in the spirit. & See him in my

        remembrance in the  regions of my  imagination.  I hear his

        advice & even now write from his  Dictate--"

For Blake Eternal Death, itself seemed to have many meanings:

Among other things it seems to concern ulro and the Spectre. Looking at The Four Zoas we read:

"There is from Great Eternity a mild & pleasant rest
Namd Beulah a Soft Moony Universe feminine lovely
Pure mild & Gentle given in Mercy to those who sleep
Eternally. Created by the Lamb of God around
On all sides within & without the Universal Man
The Daughters of Beulah follow sleepers in all their Dreams
Creating Spaces lest they fall into Eternal Death               

The Circle of Destiny complete they gave to it a Space
And namd the Space Ulro & brooded over it in care & love
They said The Spectre is in every man insane & most
Deformd     Thro the three heavens descending in fury & fire
We meet it with our Songs & loving blandishments & give         
To it a form of vegetation But this Spectre of Tharmas
Is Eternal Death What shall we do O God pity & help"

(The Four Zoas [Nt 1], 5.42; E303)  

Elsewhere in the Four Zoas (4Z Night 1; Erdman 303) he reported this conversation between Los and Satan:

"Satan was going to reply, but Los roll'd his loud thunders.

Anger me not! thou canst not drive the Harrow in pitys paths.
Thy Work is Eternal Death, with Mills & Ovens & Cauldrons.
Trouble me no more. thou canst not have Eternal Life

So Los spoke! Satan trembling obeyd weeping along the way.
Mark well my words, they are of your eternal Salvation"

Satan and the Spectre of course are synonymous.

 Milton (plate 14) has 5 occurences of the words (3 capitalized 

and 2 lower case.  Here's one:

"And Milton said, I go to Eternal Death!"

If you get the picture Milton, in Heaven, choses the path the 

Savior trod; he encarnated; he came down from Heaven into

Earth and for a similar purpose.  But here the meaning of
Eternal seems very clearly mortal life.

There are many other instances of the words in Milton.

Turning to Jerusalem Blake makes it pretty clear in Plate 4:

"Of the Sleep of Ulro! and of the passage through
Eternal Death! and of the awaking to Eternal Life." 

It would be very worthwhile to read this plate carefully.

The last occurrence of Eternal Death in Jerusalem occurs in 

Plate 98 lines 21-24:

"Driving outward the Body of Death in an Eternal Death &
     Resurrection  
Awaking it to Life among the Flowers of Beulah rejoicing in Unity
In the Four Senses in the Outline the Circumference & Form, for
     ever
In Forgiveness of Sins which is Self Annihilation." (E257)

(I wonder if he was thinking of Romans 7 when he spoke of the 

Body of Death.  The forgiveness of sins is Self Annihilation, the 

end of mortal life                                                 

All of Thel

All the Thel Pics

These pictures came from the Digital Collections of the Library of Congress. The url is http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=rbc3&fileName=rbc0001_2003rosen1798Apage.db&recNum=0 Blake's first large poem (not so large) was Thel. It consisted of 6 Plates with two
introductory pictures (called in Erdman's Illuminated Blake Plates i and ii:
Much can be said about all of them

You may view all these plates in The William Blake Archive. Having done that select Thel which will offer you 8 currently available copies. Click on any one, then if you see 'compare' click on it; you may see all 8 copies. They vary in several ways.

**********************************************************************************

Thel's Motto

The Book of Thel is a poem by William Blake, dated 1789 .... It is illustrated by his own plates, and is relatively short and easy to understand, compared to his later prophetic books....it consists of eight plates executed in illuminated printing. Fifteen copies of the original print of 1789-1793 are known. Two copies bearing a watermark of 1815 are more elaborately colored than the others. The silver rod and golden bowl can be interpreted as Blake's rejection of the conventional church (Church of England), in fact of all churches. ----- The eagle knows only the sky and must ask the mole to gain knowledge about the pit; likewise, Thel knows only innocence and eternity and must be endowed mortality if she wants to learn about the ways of the mortal beings on Earth. (Wikipedia) THEL'S Motto, "Does the Eagle know what is in the pit? Or wilt thou go ask the Mole: Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod? Or Love in a golden bowl?" An enigmatic quatrain, and one that opens more questions than it answers. The Eagle, from above, has a theoretical knowledge of the "pit" (i.e., worldly experience) which he sees from afar, but it is the blind mole who, even though he is blind, really experiences life in the pit. Which, therefore, of the two forms of knowledge, theoretical and experienced, is better?

The last two lines question whether Wisdom and Love really are, or should be, contained within physical form and moral experience: aren't they best left as untainted spiritual essences, uncorrupted by Experience? The "silver rod" is presumably intended as a phallic reference, whereas the "golden bowl" (the flesh) is not necessarily phallic."

This from William Blake: A Helpfile

In an excellent post on Romanticism the writer offers several meanings for Thel's Motto; here's one of them:

"One reading would be that it asserts a kind of environmentalism, that the mole knows about the pit better than the eagle because it’s the mole’s habitat.".

Read in toto much light is cast on Thel's Motto.

In “The Book of Thel:” An Analysis of Death as a Progenitor of Fear there are many more important ideas re Thel's Motto

******************************************************************************
In plate ii, the Title page, there appears to be no script associated with it.

Using the 'Works compare' various things may be seen in various copies.

All of them show Thel, beside the trunk of a bending tree, looking at an embrace of a naked man and a clothed woman. Erdman tells us they are in two blossoms of the anemone pulsatilla, opened by the wind.

Another anemone bud, unopened, stands at Thel's feet.

The three buds (two opened represent Desire, while the unopened one represents Restraint.

in microcosm that's the story of Thel; she observed Experience, but thought better of it and returned to Har.

There's a figure within the second O; Erdman says it's a shepherd with a crook like Thel's.
There are many other objects that need to be analyzed.
************************************************************************************* Here is Plate 1:

I  The daughters of Mne Seraphim led
round their sunny flocks,
All but the youngest; she in paleness
sought the secret air.
To fade away like morning beauty from
her mortal day:
Down by the river of Adona her soft
voice is heard:
And thus her gentle lamentation falls
like morning dew.

O life of this our spring! why fades
the lotus of the water?
Why fade these children of the spring?
born but to smile & fall.
Ah! Thel is like a watry bow. and like
a parting cloud.
Like a reflection in a glass. like
shadows in the water.
Like dreams of infants.
like a smile upon an infants face,
Like the doves voice, like transient day, like music in
the air;
Ah! gentle may I lay me down, and gentle rest my head.
And gentle sleep the sleep of death. and gentle hear
the voice Of him that walketh in the garden in the evening time.

The Lilly of the valley breathing in the humble grass
Answer'd the lovely maid and said; I am a watry weed,
nd I am very small, and love to dwell in lowly vales;
So weak, the gilded butterfly scarce perches on my head.
Yet I am visited from heaven and he that smiles on all.
Walks in the valley. and each morn over me spreads his hand
Saying, rejoice thou humble grass, thou new-born lilly flower,
Thou gentle maid of silent valleys. and of modest brooks;
For thou shalt be clothed in light, and fed with morning manna:
Till summers heat melts thee beside the fountains and the springs
To flourish in eternal vales: then why should Thel complain
******************************************************************
Here is Plate 2:
Why should the mistress of the vales of Har, utter a
sigh.
She ceasd & smild in tears, then sat down in her
silver shrine.
Thel answerd. O thou little virgin of the peaceful
valley.
Giving to those that cannot crave, the voiceless,
the o'ertired.                                                 t Thy breath doth nourish the innocent lamb, he smells
thy milky garments,                                                 He crops thy flowers. while thou sittest smiling in his face, Wiping his mild and meekin mouth from all contagious
taints. Thy wine doth purify the golden honey, thy
perfume,
Which thou dost scatter on every little blade of
grass that springs

Revives the milked cow, & tames the fire-breathing steed.
But Thel is like a faint cloud kindled at the rising sun:
I vanish from my pearly throne, and who shall find my place.
Queen of the vales the Lilly answerd, ask the tender cloud,
And it shall tell thee why it glitters in the morning sky,
And why it scatters its bright beauty thro' the humid air.
Descend O little cloud & hover before the eyes of Thel.
The Cloud descended, and the Lilly bowd her modest head:
And went to mind her numerous charge among the verdant grass.

Plate 3 is made up almost entirely with text:
PLATE 3                        II.  O little Cloud the virgin said, I charge thee tell to me, Why thou complainest not when in one hour thou fade away: Then we shall seek thee but not find; ah Thel is like to thee. I pass away. yet I complain, and no one hears my voice.  The Cloud then shew'd his golden bead & his bright form emerg'd,  Hovering and glittering on the air before the face of Thel. O virgin know'st thou not. our steeds drink of the golden springs Where Luvah doth renew his horses: look'st thou on my youth,    And fearest thou because I vanish and am seen no more. Nothing remains; O maid I tell thee, when I pass away,            It is to tenfold life, to love, to peace, and raptures holy: Unseen descending, weigh my light wings upon balmy flowers; And court the fair eyed dew. to take me to her shining tent; The weeping virgin, trembling kneels before the risen sun, Till we arise link'd in a golden band, and never part;            But walk united, bearing food to all our tender flowers  Dost thou O little Cloud? I fear that I am not like thee; For I walk through the vales of Har. and smell the sweetest flowers; But I feed not the little flowers: I hear the warbling birds, But I feed not the warbling birds. they fly and seek their food;  But Thel delights in these no more because I fade away, And all shall say, without a use this shining woman liv'd, Or did she only live. to be at death the food of worms.  The Cloud reclind upon his airy throne and answer'd thus. Then if thou art the food of worms. O virgin of the skies,        How great thy use. how great thy blessing; every thing that Lives not alone, nor for itself: fear not and I will call The weak worm from its lowly bed, and thou shalt hear its voice. Come forth worm of the silent valley, to thy pensive queen.  The helpless worm arose, and sat upon the Lillys leaf,            And the bright Cloud saild on, to find his partner in the vale.


PLATE 4 Then Thel astonish'd view'd the
Worm upon its dewy bed.
Art thou a Worm? image of weakness. art
thou but a Worm?
I see thee like an infant wrapped in
the Lillys  leaf:
Ah weep not little voice, thou can'st
not speak.
but thou can'st weep;
Is this a Worm? I see thee lay helpless
& naked: weeping,
And none to answer, none to cherish
thee with mothers smiles.
The Clod of Clay heard the Worms voice,
& raisd her pitying head;
She bowd over the weeping infant, and
her life exhal'd
In milky fondness, then on Thel she
fix'd her humble eyes.
O beauty of the vales of Har. we live
not for ourselves,
Thou seest me the meanest thing, and so
I am indeed;
My bosom of itself is cold. and of itself is dark,

        

PLATE 5 But he that loves the lowly, pours his
oil upon my head.
And kisses me, and binds his nuptial bands around my breast.
And says; Thou mother of my children,
I have loved thee.And I have given thee a crown that
none can take away
But how this is sweet maid, I know not, and I cannot know, I ponder, and I cannot ponder; yet
I live and love.
The daughter of beauty wip'd her pitying tears with her whiteveil,
And said. Alas! I knew not this, and therefore did I weep:
That God would love a Worm I knew, and punish the evil foot
That wilful, bruis'd its helpless form: but that he cherish'd
it
With milk and oil, I never knew; and therefore did I weep,
And I complaind in the mild air, because I fade away,
And lay me down in thy cold bed, and leave my shining lot.

Queen of the vales, the matron Clay answerd; I heard thy sighs.
And all thy moans flew o'er my roof. but I have call'd them down:
Wilt thou O Queen enter my house. 'tis given thee to enter,
And to return; fear nothing. enter with thy virgin feet.

*********************************************
Notes:
Whose speaking here? Why the Clod of Clay! Plate 5 takes up right where Plate 6 ended.Blake spoke of the Clod of Clay later in The Clod and the Pebble. We learn in the Bible that man is made in the image of God, and made of the earth.

The image shows Thel sitting among the flowers with folded arms looking down at two young figures: a woman and an infant. Who might they be? Why the Clod of Clay and the Worm.
(For Blake the Worm was a very significant metaphor. At Gates of Paradise
we read: "I have said to the Worm, Thou art my mother & my sister")

"Thel, with her skirt wide..watches the naked matron and the naked infant with outflung arms...who face each other with nothing to fear---
to apply words which the matron uses to encourage Thel herself."
(Erdman, The Illuminated Blake, page 39)

Plate 6
PLATE 6:

The eternal gates terrific porter lifted the northern bar:
Thel enter'd in & saw the secrets of the land unknown;
She saw the couches of the dead, & where the fibrous roots
Of every heart on earth infixes deep its restless twists:
A land of sorrows & of tears where never smile was seen.

She wanderd in the land of clouds thro' valleys dark, listning
Dolours & lamentations: waiting oft beside a dewy grave
She stood in silence. listning to the voices of the ground,
Till to her own grave plot she came, & there she sat down.
And heard this voice of sorrow breathed from the hollow pit.

Why cannot the Ear be closed to its own destruction?
Or the glistning Eye to the poison of a smile!
Why are Eyelids stord with arrows ready drawn,
Where a thousand fighting men in ambush lie?
Or an Eye of gifts & graces, show'ring fruits & coined gold!
Why a Tongue impress'd with honey from every wind?
Why an Ear, a whirlpool fierce to draw creations in?
Why a Nostril wide inhaling terror trembling & affright.
Why a tender curb upon the youthful burning boy!
Why a little curtain of flesh on the bed of our desire?

The Virgin started from her seat, & with a shriek.
Fled back unhinderd till she came into the vales of Har

The End (Page 6 of Erdman)

***************************************************************
Notes:
The northern bar: From the beginning of time Eternity and
Time are the primary divisions of kinds of reality. Materalists
have considered Reality to be in Time, while spiritually minded
people consider that the primary Reality resides in Eternity.

Thel has been living in 'Paradise' (called the 'vales of Har'),
but she wants to have a look at the other side. The 'Northern
Bar' opened the 'eternal gates' allowing Thel to 'have a look'

Blake likely had several sources for the 'northern bar', but
none better than one of his favorite English poets. The Faerie
Queene by Edmund Spenser includes these lines:

"It cited was in fruitful soul of old
And girt in with two walls on either side
The one of iron, the other of bright gold
That none might thorough breake, nor over-stride;
And double gates it had which opened wide,
By which both in and out men might pass.
The one faire and fresh, the other old and dride:"

This has been described as the northern and southern bar.

Plate 6 of Thel describes what she saw there and how she reacted.
She saw the 'the land unknown', the 'land of sorrows & of tears'
(commonly known as 'this vale of tears'), 'the land of clouds'.
Well she didn't think much of it.

Blake gave another instance of that (nymphatic) reaction in the
Sea of Time and Space; there you see the northern stairway with
one nymph vigorously climbing the stairs against the stream of
those headed for the 'sea'.

Thel came many years before the Arlington Tempera, but the idea,
the concept had not changed. In Blake's myth those in Eternity
may choose to come down into material life. In fact the story
(like the story of the Bible) concerns the Fall and the Return.
You might say that Thel chose not to fall. The rest of us are
here because we fell.

***************************************************************
Scholars see a close relationship between Thel and the Fable of
Cupid and Psyche. The influence of the Greek myth has been seen
in many of Blake's creations. In particular Irene Chayes of
Silver Springs MD wrote an essay called 'The Presence of Cupid
and Psyche, published in Blake's Visionary Forms Dramatic. She
dealt comprensively with the influence on Blake of the poem.

Among many other subjects she discussed is the relationship evident
betwen Thel and Psyche; both ventured a descent to the world and a return
to Paradise. Psyche fared better than Thel: she returned to be deified by
her lover, while Thel went back only to the lonely vals of Har.

Ideas of life, death, world, heaven, etc. fill Blake's works.
Here's a poem he wrote:

[Dedication to Blake's Illustrations to Blair's Grave, printed 1808]
TO THE QUEEN
The Door of Death is made of Gold, That Mortal Eyes cannot behold; But, when the Mortal Eyes are clos'd, And cold and pale the Limbs repos'd, The Soul awakes; and, wond'ring, sees In her mild Hand the golden Keys: The Grave is Heaven's golden Gate, And rich and poor around it wait; O Shepherdess of England's Fold, Behold this Gate of Pearl and Gold!                  
(Erdman 480)

PLATE 5 But he that loves the lowly, pours his
oil upon my head.
And kisses me, and binds his nuptial bands around my breast.
And says; Thou mother of my children,
I have loved thee.And I have given thee a crown that
none can take away
But how this is sweet maid, I know not, and I cannot know, I ponder, and I cannot ponder; yet
I live and love.
The daughter of beauty wip'd her pitying tears with her whiteveil,
And said. Alas! I knew not this, and therefore did I weep:
That God would love a Worm I knew, and punish the evil foot
That wilful, bruis'd its helpless form: but that he cherish'd
it
With milk and oil, I never knew; and therefore did I weep,
And I complaind in the mild air, because I fade away,
And lay me down in thy cold bed, and leave my shining lot.

Queen of the vales, the matron Clay answerd; I heard thy sighs.
And all thy moans flew o'er my roof. but I have call'd them down:
Wilt thou O Queen enter my house. 'tis given thee to enter,
And to return; fear nothing. enter with thy virgin feet.

*********************************************
Notes:
Whose speaking here? Why the Clod of Clay! Plate 5 takes up right where Plate 6 ended.Blake spoke of the Clod of Clay later in The Clod and the Pebble. We learn in the Bible that man is made in the image of God, and made of the earth.

The image shows Thel sitting among the flowers with folded arms looking down at two young figures: a woman and an infant. Who might they be? Why the Clod of Clay and the Worm.
(For Blake the Worm was a very significant metaphor. At Gates of Paradise
we read: "I have said to the Worm, Thou art my mother & my sister")

"Thel, with her skirt wide..watches the naked matron and the naked infant with outflung arms...who face each other with nothing to fear---
to apply words which the matron uses to encourage Thel herself."
(Erdman, The Illuminated Blake, page 39)

Thel is like an infant and the Cloud of Clay (as well as the other objects Thel is witnessing are trying to encourage Thel to choose (mortal) life; unfortunated they failed.

--
Posted By Blogger to William Blake: Religion and Psychology at 11/06/2011 09:03:00 AM