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

Friday, February 12, 2021

POET'S WORK

British Museum
Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts

Blake took seriously his work as a poet because he worked from the depths of his being - his Imagination. Although he did not claim authorship of his poems he claimed responsibility for the infinite care that he took in presenting them to the public. The moment of conception was the work of Providence; it came from what Eternally Exists. The execution of a poem or image was in the hands, ears and eyes of the artist. Although it may take years or centuries for the work to reach its audience, attention to the minute detail was necessary to convey the Imaginative content which originally inspired it.

Milton, Plate 28 [30], (E 127)
"Each has its Guard. each Moment Minute Hour Day Month & Year. All are the work of Fairy hands of the Four Elements The Guard are Angels of Providence on duty evermore Every Time less than a pulsation of the artery Is equal in its period & value to Six Thousand Years. PLATE 29 [31] For in this Period the Poets Work is Done: and all the Great Events of Time start forth & are concievd in such a Period Within a Moment: a Pulsation of the Artery."

Jerusalem, Plate 3, (E 145) "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 Of the Measure, in which the following Poem is written We who dwell on Earth can do nothing of ourselves, every thing is conducted by Spirits, no less than Digestion or Sleep. [to Note the last words of Jesus, <Greek>E*do*O*n *mo*i *p*a*s*a *e*zo*u*s*i*a *e*n o*u*r*a*n*o k*a*i *e*p*i *g*e*s </Greek>] When this Verse was first dictated to me 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."
Laocoon, (E 274)
"Without Unceasing Practise nothing can be done 

Practise is Art     If you leave off you are Lost

A Poet a Painter a Musician an Architect: the Man 
Or Woman who is not one of these is not a Christian 
You must leave Fathers & Mothers & Houses & Lands 
     if they stand in the way of ART"

Vision of Last Judgment, (E 554)
"The Last Judgment is not Fable or Allegory but Vision Fable or Allegory are a totally distinct & inferior kind of Poetry. Vision or Imagination is a Representation of what Eternally Exists. Really & Unchangeably. Fable or Allegory is Formd by the Daughters of Memory. Imagination is Surrounded by the daughters of Inspiration who in the aggregate are calld Jerusalem" ... (E 559) "these three Persons represent Poetry Painting & Music the three Powers <in Man> of conversing with Paradise which the flood did not Sweep away" ... (E 560) "as Poetry admits not a Letter that is Insignificant so Painting admits not a Grain of Sand or a Blade of Grass <Insignificant> much less an Insignificant Blur or Mark>" ... (E 665) "I cannot think that Real Poets have any competition None are greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven it is so in Poetry" 
 
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