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

Friday, December 11, 2020

READING WITCUTT 3

New York Public Library
Milton
Plate 41 

Witcutt's fourth chapter, 'The Birth of the Functions', gives attention to how the functions or Zoas operate within the psyche. We see how the Zoas are paired and how the Emanation and Spectre of each, fits into a pattern which applies to each of the four. The splitting of the Emanation from man is experienced by each of the Zoas, leading to the origin of their Spectres. The autonomous behavior of the fractional parts of the Zoas is the subject to much of Blake's analysis.

From Witcutt's Blake: A Psychological Study:

 Page 44

"Jung opposes thought to feeling, and intuition to sensation. A man or dominant thought represses feeling to the lowest place of the unconscious mind, and the intuitive does the same for sensation. Thought and feeling , and intuition and sensation therefore stand at opposite poles from one another. Since each of the Zoas has a Spectre, therefore, one may expect that the Spectre is either closely connected with or is the opposing function; that Orc's Spectre, for instance, is Urizen.
...
The Spectres and Emanations are thus the connecting links between the Zoas, a fact which is important in the development of their ultimate reintegration. For a man split up into his components (as most of us are) is an incomplete or disintegrated man; therefore the connecting links between the disintegrated parts of his personality are valuable. The Spectres and Emanations are therefor essential characters in Blake's epics, which deal with nothing less than the story of the soul, its disintegration through sin and ultimate regeneration.
...
Ahania, the Emanation of Urizen, is feeling looked at by thought.
Vala, the Emanation of Luvah, is thought looked at by feeling.
Enitharmon , the Emanation of Los, is sensation looked at by intuition.
Enion, the Emanation of Tharmas, is intuition looked at by sensation." 
 

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 82, (E 358)
[Spoken by Shadow of Enitharmon]
"Urizen grew up in the plains of Beulah Many Sons And many daughters flourishd round the holy Tent of Man Till he forgot Eternity delighted in his sweet joy Among his family his flocks & herds & tents & pastures But Luvah close conferrd with Urizen in darksom night To bind the father & enslave the brethren Nought he knew Of sweet Eternity the blood flowd round the holy tent & rivn From its hinges uttering its final groan all Beulah fell In dark confusion mean time Los was born & Enitharmon But how I know not then forgetfulness quite wrapd me up A period nor do I more remember till I stood Beside Los in the Cavern dark enslavd to vegetative forms According to the Will of Luvah who assumed the Place Of the Eternal Man & smote him. But thou Spectre dark Maist find a way to punish Vala in thy fiery South To bring her down subjected to the rage of my fierce boy" Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 84, (E 359) "The Spectre said. Thou lovely Vision this delightful Tree Is given us for a Shelter from the tempests of Void & Solid Till once again the morn of ages shall renew upon us To reunite in those mild fields of happy Eternity Where thou & I in undivided Essence walkd about Imbodied. thou my garden of delight & I the spirit in the garden Mutual there we dwelt in one anothers joy revolving Days of Eternity with Tharmas mild & Luvah sweet melodious Upon our waters. This thou well rememberest listen I will tell What thou forgettest. They in us & we in them alternate Livd Drinking the joys of Universal Manhood. One dread morn Listen O vision of Delight One dread morn of goary blood The manhood was divided for the gentle passions making way Thro the infinite labyrinths of the heart & thro the nostrils issuing In odorous stupefaction stood before the Eyes of Man A female bright." Jerusalem, Plate 88, (E 246) "Los answerd sighing like the Bellows of his Furnaces I care not! the swing of my Hammer shall measure the starry round. When in Eternity Man converses with Man they enter Into each others Bosom (which are Universes of delight) In mutual interchange. and first their Emanations meet Surrounded by their Children. if they embrace & comingle The Human Four-fold Forms mingle also in thunders of Intellect But if the Emanations mingle not; with storms & agitations Of earthquakes & consuming fires they roll apart in fear For Man cannot unite with Man but by their Emanations Which stand both Male & Female at the Gates of each Humanity How then can I ever again be united as Man with Man While thou my Emanation refusest my Fibres of dominion. When Souls mingle & join thro all the Fibres of Brotherhood Can there be any secret joy on Earth greater than this?" 
 

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