Blake seeks to provide the Golden String which can lead us through the labyrinth of our experience or his own poetry.

Friday, November 23, 2018

Myth in Blake 7

At this point Blake, in a later revision, made his first obvious attempt to Christianize his myth. The Daughters of Beulah in their "Wars of Eternal Death" give what is probably the most straight forward, impartial account of the Fall.

Four Zoas, Night I, Page 22 [20], (E 313) 
 "The Daughters of Beulah beheld the Emanation they pitied 
They wept before the Inner gates of Enitharmons bosom 
And of her fine wrought brain & of her bowels within her loins 
Three gates within Glorious & bright open into Beulah 
From Enitharmons inward parts but the bright female terror 
Refusd to open the bright gates she closd and barrd them fast 
Lest Los should enter into Beulah thro her beautiful gates 

The Emanation stood before the Gates of Enitharmon 
Weeping. the Daughters of Beulah silent in the Porches 
Spread her a couch unknown to Enitharmon here reposd 
Jerusalem in slumbers soft lulld into silent rest 
Terrific ragd the Eternal Wheels of intellect terrific ragd 
The living creatures of the wheels in the Wars of Eternal life 
But perverse rolld the wheels of Urizen & Luvah back reversd 
Downwards & outwards consuming in the wars of Eternal Death"

As Night ii begins, the Fallen Man, on the point of falling asleep, commissions Urizen as his regent. Urizen soars with pride but immediately falls into the fearful fantasies of the future which dominate all of his attempts at creation. He casts Luvah into the furnaces of affliction and proceeds to build the Mundane Shell, giving Blake a chance to expatiate at great length on how wrongly the world is made.
British Museum
Small Book of Designs 
Plate 14
Tharmas and Luvah are now thoroughly fallen and estranged from their emanations, and Urizen's turn comes in Night iii. Ahania, Urizen's emanation, reacts to his fearful aggressions with her own vision of the Fall and the infuriated Urizen casts her out and promptly falls himself like Humpty Dumpty, an eloquent comment on the fate of all the 'strong' who in fear cast out the 'weak'. With the fall of Reason,Tharmas rises to power from the depths of the sea, although he is mentally incompetent in the extreme. He commissions Los to create endlessly and futilly:

Four Zoas, Night IV, Page 48, (E 332)
"Renew these ruin'd souls of Men thro' Earth, Sea, Air & Fire, 
To waste in endless corruption, renew thou, I will destroy."

Los proceeds to bind Urizen with the chains of time and space in the parody of Creation which we have already studied in The Book of Urizen, but "terrified at the shapes enslav'd humanity put on, he became what he beheld". (The second extended Christian interpolation occurs in the midst of this story.)

Los begins Night v with a sort of St. Vitus' Dance to "put on the shape of enslav'd humanity", a convulsion which Enitharmon shares, leading to the birth of Orc, a manifestation of Luvah, who at this point represents fallen human feeling. Immediately:

Four Zoas, Night V, Page 58, (E 339)
"The Enormous Demons woke and howl'd around the new born King, Crying 
Luvah, King of Love, thou art the King of rage & death"

As in The Book of Urizen Orc is bound in the Chain of Jealousy, but his tormented cries awaken Urizen, who concludes Night v with the “Woes of Urizen". His suffering has brought him to a point of self-recognition; he has come to himself in a way reminiscent of the prodigal son's moment of truth: "I will arise", which Blake took directly from the story in Luke. Urizen thus shows himself to be human. Unfortunately it's only a temporary lapse, for in Night vi he explores his dens, faces all the brokenness and horror of a ruined universe and as his solution comes up with the "Net of Religion". Since pure political tyranny won't work, he turns to a form of religious control.

We come to the climax of this epic in Night vii when Urizen has approached Orc's prison and induced him to climb the Tree of Mystery, turning into a serpent. This sets the stage for the Genesis account of the Fall, which Blake sees as the beginning of the Return. Enitharmon, attracted by the cries of her son, Orc, comes down to the Tree of Mystery, where she meets the Spectre of Urthona. The Spectre closely corresponds to Jung's 'shadow', and like a skilled analyst Blake brings about the reconciliation of shadow and anima on the way to wholeness .

From the union of Spectre and Enitharmon two things ensue. The Good News is that Los begins to get himself together with his Spectre and his Emanation. From this integration comes forth Jerusalem and from Jerusalem will proceed the Lamb. The Bad News is the immediate birth of Rahab, the most sinister female of Blake's pantheon. She personifies all the evils of deceit, treachery, and hateful female pride that most appalled Blake about life. Blake's Rahab is the same character whom John of Patmos called Mystery, the Whore of Babylon; Blake eventually gives Rahab these names--and several others as well.
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