MILTON/OLOLON/LOS

 First posted Sept 2019

New York Public Library
Milton
Plate 43

Essays for S. Foster Damon edited by Alvin H. Rosenfeld includes a chapter by Harold Fisch titled Blake's Miltonic Moment. On page 44 Fisch associates the spiritual event in Blake's life in which he grasped the fullness of the living presence of the Imagination within him that was mediated to him through Milton. We read:

"Los...is the spirit of prophecy which spoke through Elijah and Ezekiel; and if with him the biblical dimension is introduced in its fullness in Blake's poetry, it should be added that it is Milton who presides over this transformation. Milton is the inspired biblical poet of an age of faith who had wedded poetry to the inspiration of the Bible. And so Los becomes the spirit of biblical poetry; with his arrival of Eden and Jerusalem become major symbols. The new phase of Blake's poetry beginning with the later additions of The Four Zoas and reaching its fullness in Milton and Jerusalem is thus in a most particular degree biblical, and the agent of the transformation is Milton. We can watch the actual dynamics of the process, Los, busy creating the world and governing it through time to its predestined conclusion, looks around for a means of redeeming the enchained Orc (that is the stifled spirit of revolution). In Plate 20 of Milton that means is discovered:

Milton, Plate 20, (E 115)
'He recollected an old Prophecy in Eden recorded,
And often sung to the loud harp at the immortal feasts
That Milton of the Land of Albion should up ascend
Forwards from Ulro from the Vale of Felpham; and set free
Orc from his Chain of Jealousy'

Here the epiphany is precisely located and its nature defined. Milton is the prophet of England-Albion, but his arrival is prophesied in Eden, that is it is biblically motivated and directed. The transforming moment occurs, we are told, in the Vale of Felpham, that is between 1800 and 1803, and its outcome will be the freeing of Orc from his Chain, that is to say, the giving of new direction to the perverted spirit of Revolution now disclosed to be the ugliness of the Napoleonic era in France and the parallel manifestation in the England of Pitt and George III.

The fundamental value of Milton's spiritual achievement to Blake then was that he enabled him to relate the temporal, political reality to the biblical."    

That reconciliation of his use of imagination in interpreting biblical history with using imagination to understand of the revolutionary events of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries became for Blake the key to entering a new stage of spiritual development. He associated his breakthrough with having assimilated the progress Milton had made in freeing himself from the constraints imposed by his religious and political affiliations. Blake represented his transformation as having occurred through Milton entering his foot. The implication is that Blake's imagination was enlarged not through some grand revelation but through a humble response resulting from living with Milton's physical experiences and mental achievements.

Plate 43 represents the culmination of Blake's incorporating what Milton gave him. Blake is pictured not with his mentor Milton but with Los 'in that fierce glowing fire.'

Letters, To Thomas Butts, Enclosed Poem, (E 721)
"Then Los appeard in all his power
In the Sun he appeard descending before
My face in fierce flames in my double sight
Twas outward a Sun: inward Los in his might" 

Blake's Imagination was not longer clouded by doubt or fear; the prophetic voice which spoke through Ezekiel spoke through him as well.  

Ezekiel 8
[1] And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell there upon me.
[2] Then I beheld, and lo a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of his loins even downward, fire; and from his loins even upward, as the appearance of brightness, as the colour of amber.
[3] And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.
[4] And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the vision that I saw in the plain.

Milton, Plate 21, [23] (E 115)
"And down descended into Udan-Adan; it was night:
And Satan sat sleeping upon his Couch in Udan-Adan:
His Spectre slept, his Shadow woke; when one sleeps th'other wakes

But Milton entering my Foot; I saw in the nether
Regions of the Imagination; also all men on Earth,              
And all in Heaven, saw in the nether regions of the Imagination
In Ulro beneath Beulah, the vast breach of Miltons descent.
But I knew not that it was Milton, for man cannot know
What passes in his members till periods of Space & Time
Reveal the secrets of Eternity: for more extensive              
Than any other earthly things, are Mans earthly lineaments.

And all this Vegetable World appeard on my left Foot,
As a bright sandal formd immortal of precious stones & gold:
I stooped down & bound it on to walk forward thro' Eternity.
...
Seven mornings Los heard them, as the poor bird within the shell

Hears its impatient parent bird; and Enitharmon heard them:
But saw them not, for the blue Mundane Shell inclosd them in.   

And they lamented that they had in wrath & fury & fire
Driven Milton into the Ulro; for now they knew too late
That it was Milton the Awakener: they had not heard the Bard,
Whose song calld Milton to the attempt; and Los heard these laments.
He heard them call in prayer all the Divine Family;             
And he beheld the Cloud of Milton stretching over Europe.

But all the Family Divine collected as Four Suns
In the Four Points of heaven East, West & North & South
Enlarging and enlarging till their Disks approachd each other;
And when they touch'd closed together Southward in One Sun      
Over Ololon: and as One Man, who weeps over his brother,
In a dark tomb, so all the Family Divine. wept over Ololon.

Saying, Milton goes to Eternal Death! so saying, they groan'd in spirit
And were troubled! and again the Divine Family groaned in spirit!"

Milton, Plate 22 [24], (E 116)
"Tho driven away with the Seven Starry Ones into the Ulro
Yet the Divine Vision remains Every-where For-ever. Amen.
And Ololon lamented for Milton with a great lamentation.

While Los heard indistinct in fear, what time I bound my sandals
On; to walk forward thro' Eternity, Los descended to me:        
And Los behind me stood; a terrible flaming Sun: just close
Behind my back; I turned round in terror, and behold.
Los stood in that fierce glowing fire; & he also  stoop'd down
And bound my sandals on in Udan-Adan; trembling I stood
Exceedingly with fear & terror, standing in the Vale            
Of Lambeth: but he kissed me and wishd me health.
And I became One  Man  with  him  arising in my strength:
Twas too late now to recede. Los had enterd into my soul:

His terrors now posses'd me whole! I arose in fury & strength." 

DESCENT

 

'The Descent of Man into the Vale of Death: 'But Hope Rekindled, Only to Illume the Shades of Death, and Light Her to the Tomb'

Blake Archive
Robert Blair's The Grave

All that Blake wrote was a exploration of his own psyche and an invitation to us to look within ourselves. Blake knew that individuals are not consciously aware of the motivations that drive them to choose death rather than life, devolution rather than evolution. He was motivated to look at the forces within himself which struggled with one another instead of cooperating to produce a healthy wholeness. He wrote in order to expose the unseen to the light of consciousness.

To accomplish such a feat one must enter the repository of the dark secrets, shattering fears, and rejected sinfullness which one conceals from others and from  oneself. One must descend from the light of day into hidden passages where one encounters the unknown.  

  

In William Blake's Circle of Destiny, Milton O Percival, wrote of the process through which Blake made his readers familiar with the stages on the journey through which individuals travel as they experience life: 

Page 219

"The Course of experience, which is at once the course of error and the process by which Satan is revealed and regeneration is accomplished, is in the hands of Los and Enitharmon.

Page 228

The struggle between the masculine and the feminine contraries - the struggle between mind and emotions, between reason and sense, between Spectre and Emanation, betweeen the inner and the outer in every sense - constitutes a trial by fire, a spiritual purgation. In Blake's fires, as in the fires of alchemy, the feminine cotrary is purified first. If man fell by woman, it is by woman that he is redeemed. The feminine emotions, driven to desperation by the increasing severity of the rational mind turn from vengence to forgiveness in their own defense. In The Four Zoas Enitharmon's change of heart seems to be brought about by the suffering of the bound Orc and her own fear of a God of Mystery... [T]he emotions have been driven by the doubting rational mind into such narrow and cruel forms, such perversions of their true nature, that a sudden conversion is induced...Redeemed from error's power, the female unites herself again with her masculine contrary." 

Jerusalem, Plate 7, (E 149)

"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!"

Jerusalem, Plate 7, (E 150) 

"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! 
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." 

Jerusalem, Plate 9, (E 152)

"Every Emanative joy forbidden as a Crime:
And the Emanations buried alive in the earth with pomp of religion:          
Inspiration deny'd; Genius forbidden by laws of punishment:
I saw terrified; I took the sighs & tears, & bitter groans:
I lifted them into my Furnaces; to form the spiritual sword.
That lays open the hidden heart: I drew forth the pang
Of sorrow red hot: I workd it on my resolute anvil:              
I heated it in the flames of Hand, & Hyle, & Coban
Nine times; Gwendolen & Cambel & Gwineverra
Are melted into the gold, the silver, the liquid ruby,
The crysolite, the topaz, the jacinth, & every precious stone,
Loud roar my Furnaces and loud my hammer is heard:               
I labour day and night, I behold the soft affections
Condense beneath my hammer into forms of cruelty
But still I labour in hope, tho' still my tears flow down.
That he who will not defend Truth, may be compelld to defend
A Lie: that he may be snared and caught and snared and taken     
That Enthusiasm and Life may not cease: arise Spectre arise!

Thus they contended among the Furnaces with groans & tears;
Groaning the Spectre heavd the bellows, obeying Los's frowns;
Till the Spaces of Erin were perfected in the furnaces
Of affliction, and Los drew them forth, compelling the harsh Spectre.         
Plate 10
Into the Furnaces & into the valleys of the Anvils of Death
And into the mountains of the Anvils & of the heavy Hammers
Till he should bring the Sons & Daughters of Jerusalem to be
The Sons & Daughters of Los that he might protect them from
Albions dread Spectres; storming, loud, thunderous & mighty      

The Bellows & the Hammers move compell'd by Los's hand."

EMBODIED FORMS

Yale Center for British Art

Jerusalem

Plate 36 [40]

David Erdman, on page 315 of the Illuminated Blake, sees William (Los) and Catherine (Enitharmon) "working in Line and color." The poet's writing arm is free while his painting arm is creating. He walks the line which connects him with Enitharmon who reaches for the fruit of the vine. 

Jerusalem, Plate 36 [40], (E 183) 

"(I call them by their English names: English, the rough basement.
Los built the stubborn structure of the Language, acting against
Albions melancholy, who must else have been a Dumb despair.) "  

There is a dialog which is enacted between the inner self which is solely experienced deep within one's own mentality, and the surface of the mind that is revealed through the outer world. We tend to give more attention to what the world is telling us than to what we are being told by the thoughts which originate within our minds.

We are given the opportunity to bring forth the image of truth which exists within. It can be revealed in the body which lives in the outer world. Within us is "Lovely terrible Los wonder of Eternity" who must modulate his fires by expressing them through Imagination. 

Cooperation between Los, the dynamic interior, and Enitharmon, who can give form to thought, is required if the mental images are to receive life in matter. Two of the sources of dissension in the world (Urizen and Orc) are drawn from war and become objects of "love & not hate". 

Transformation of the outer world results from "the immortal works Of Los Assimilating to those forms Embodied & Lovely." 

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 98, (E 370) 

"O Lovely terrible Los wonder of Eternity O Los my defence & guide
Thy works are all my joy. & in thy fires my soul delights
If mild they burn in just proportion & in secret night
And silence build their day in shadow of soft clouds & dews
Then I can sigh forth on the winds of Golgonooza piteous forms  
That vanish again into my bosom   but if thou my Los
Wilt in sweet moderated fury. fabricate forms sublime    
Such as the piteous spectres may assimilate themselves into
They shall be ransoms for our Souls that we may live
So Enitharmon spoke & Los his hands divine inspired began 
To modulate his fires studious the loud roaring flames
He vanquishd with the strength of Art bending their iron points
And drawing them forth delighted upon the winds of Golgonooza 
From out the ranks of Urizens war & from the fiery lake
Of Orc bending down as the binder of the Sheaves follows   
The reaper in both arms embracing the furious raging flames
Los drew them forth out of the deeps planting his right foot firm
Upon the Iron crag of Urizen thence springing up aloft
Into the heavens of Enitharmon in a mighty circle
And first he drew a line upon the walls of shining heaven    
And Enitharmon tincturd it with beams of blushing love
It remaind permanent a lovely form inspird divinely human
Dividing into just proportions Los unwearied labourd
The immortal lines upon the heavens till with sighs of love
Sweet Enitharmon mild Entrancd breathd forth upon the wind   
The spectrous dead Weeping the Spectres viewd the immortal works
Of Los Assimilating to those forms Embodied & Lovely
In youth & beauty in the arms of Enitharmon mild reposing
First Rintrah & then Palamabron drawn from out the ranks of war
In infant innocence reposd on Enitharmons bosom     
Orc was comforted in the deeps his soul revivd in them
As the Eldest brother is the fathers image So Orc became 
As Los a father to his brethren & he joyd in the dark lake
Tho bound with chains of Jealousy & in scales of iron & brass
But Los loved them & refusd to Sacrifice their infant limbs   
And Enitharmons smiles & tears prevaild over self protection
They rather chose to meet Eternal death than to destroy
The offspring of their Care & Pity Urthonas spectre was comforted
But Tharmas most rejoicd in hope of Enions return
For he beheld new Female forms born forth upon the air    
Who wove soft silken veils of covering in sweet rapturd trance
Mortal & not as Enitharmon without a covering veil
First his immortal spirit drew Urizens Shadow away 
From out the ranks of war separating him in sunder
Leaving his Spectrous form which could not be drawn away     
Then he divided Thiriel the Eldest of Urizens sons
Urizen became Rintrah Thiriel became Palamabron
Thus dividing the powers of Every Warrior
Startled was Los he found his Enemy Urizen now
In his hands. he wonderd that he felt love & not hate     
His whole soul loved him he beheld him an infant
Lovely breathd from Enitharmon he trembled within himself
         End of The Seventh Night "   

---

First Corinthians12

[1] Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
[2] Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
[3] Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
[4] Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
[5] And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
[6] And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
[7] But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
[8] For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
[9] To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
[10] To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
[11] But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
[12] For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
[13] For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
[14] For the body is not one member, but many.
[15] If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
[16] And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
[17] If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
[18] But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
[19] And if they were all one member, where were the body?
[20] But now are they many members, yet but one body.
[21] And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
[22] Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
[23] And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
[24] For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:
[25] That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
[26] And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
[27] Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
[28] And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
[29] Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
[30] Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

[31] But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

   

PROPHET OF ETERNITY

There are events that take place in the outer world which we observe through our senses and interpret through our reason. Blake, however, looks at the inner dimension which determines the activity underlying the outer events. For this reason Blake gave each of the Zoas a name and personality in both the inner and outer worlds. Frye refers to these as their Eternal names, and their Time names:

Luvah = Orc

Urizen = Satan

Tharmas = Covering Cherub

Urthona = Los 

When Los acts as the Prophet of Eternity he is acting for Urthona to accomplish Eternal endeavors.

Binding of Urizen.

Book of Urizen, Plate 5, (E 94)

2: Upfolding his Fibres together
To a Form of impregnable strength
Los astonish'd and terrified, built                 
Furnaces; he formed an Anvil
A  Hammer of adamant then began
The binding of Urizen day and night

3: Circling round the dark Demon, with howlings
Dismay & sharp blightings; the Prophet               
Of Eternity beat on his iron links

4: And first from those infinite fires
The light that flow'd down on the winds
lie siez'd; beating incessant, condensing
The subtil particles in an Orb.                    

5: Roaring indignant the bright sparks
Endur'd the vast Hammer; but unwearied
Los beat on the Anvil; till glorious
An immense Orb of fire be fram'd"

Directing Satan to his "own station."

Milton, Plate 7, (E 101) 

Loud as the wind of Beulah that unroots the rocks & hills        
Palamabron call'd! and Los & Satan came before him
And Palamabron shew'd the horses & the servants. Satan wept,
And mildly cursing Palamabron, him accus'd of crimes
Himself had wrought. Los trembled; Satans blandishments almost 
Perswaded the Prophet of Eternity that Palamabron
Was Satans enemy, & that the Gnomes being Palamabron's friends
Were leagued together against Satan thro' ancient enmity.
What could Los do? how could be judge, when Satans self, believ'd
That he had not oppres'd the horses of the Harrow, nor the servants.  

So Los said, Henceforth Palamabron, let each his own station
Keep: nor in pity false, nor in officious brotherhood, where
None needs, be active. Mean time Palamabrons horses.
Rag'd with thick flames redundant, & the Harrow maddend with fury.
Trembling Palamabron stood, the strongest of Demons trembled:  
Curbing his living creatures; many of the strongest Gnomes,
They bit in their wild fury, who also maddend like wildest beasts

Mark well my words; they are of your eternal salvation 

Disrupting the "Eternal Hatred" and the "chain of sorrows" initiated by Urizen. 

Jerusalem, Plate 53, (E 336)

"The voice of Los compelld he labourd round the Furnaces

And thus began the binding of Urizen day & night in fear         
Circling round the dark Demon with howlings dismay & sharp blightings
The Prophet of Eternity beat on his iron links & links of brass
And as he beat round the hurtling Demon. terrified at the Shapes
Enslavd humanity put on he became what he beheld
Raging against Tharmas his God & uttering                        
Ambiguous words blasphemous filld with envy firm resolvd
On hate Eternal in his vast disdain he labourd beating
The Links of fate link after link an endless chain of sorrows" 

---

Damon states "Prophets are not foretellers of future facts; they are revealers of eternal truths." Blake accepted the role of prophet when he took on his Great Task of opening the Eternal Worlds to our immortal Eyes, for which I am forever grateful. He was following his hero Los who acted for Urthona who "never manifests in time" but dwells in the subconscious asserting his influence. 

Jerusalem, Plate 5, (E 147) 

"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,"

Four Zoas, Night I, Page 9, (E 305)

"His [Los'] head beamd light & in his vigorous voice was prophecy
He could controll the times & seasons, & the days & years"

Milton, Plate 24 [26], (E 121) 

"Los is by mortals nam'd Time Enitharmon is nam'd Space
But they depict him bald & aged who is in eternal youth
All powerful and his locks flourish like the brows of morning    
He is the Spirit of Prophecy the ever apparent Elias
Time is the mercy of Eternity; without Times swiftness
Which is the swiftest of all things: all were eternal torment:
All the Gods of the Kingdoms of Earth labour in Los's Halls.
Every one is a fallen Son of the Spirit of Prophecy             
He is the Fourth Zoa, that stood around the Throne Divine. 

Jerusalem, Plate 39 [44], (E 187) 

"And feeling the damps of death they with one accord delegated Los
Conjuring him by the Highest that he should Watch over them
Till Jesus shall appear: & they gave their power to Los       
Naming him the Spirit of Prophecy, calling him Elijah" 

---

Revelation 20

[1] And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
[2] And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
[3] And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum 

The Angel Michael Binding Satan 

("He Cast him into the Bottomless Pit, and Shut him up") 

 

 

SWEET & LOVELY

 Wikipedia Commons

Song of Los 

Plate 5

Blake could have written nature poetry, like Wordsworth's, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, and occasionally he did. But like his character Enion he found it impossible to neglect the contrary nature of our world which is dark and dirty. 

 Milton, Plate 31 [34], (E 131)

"Thou percievest the Flowers put forth their precious Odours!
And none can tell how from so small a center comes such sweets
Forgetting that within that Center Eternity expands
Its ever during doors, that Og & Anak fiercely guard.
First eer the morning breaks joy opens in the flowery bosoms     
Joy even to tears, which the Sun rising dries; first the Wild Thyme
And Meadow-sweet downy & soft waving among the reeds.
Light springing on the air lead the sweet Dance: they wake
The Honeysuckle sleeping on the Oak: the flaunting beauty
Revels along upon the wind; the White-thorn lovely May           
Opens her many lovely eyes: listening the Rose still sleeps   
None dare to wake her. soon she bursts her crimson curtaind bed
And comes forth in the majesty of beauty; every Flower:
The Pink, the Jessamine, the Wall-flower, the Carnation
The Jonquil, the mild Lilly opes her heavens! every Tree,        
And Flower & Herb soon fill the air with an innumerable Dance
Yet all in order sweet & lovely, Men are sick with Love!
Such is a Vision of the lamentation of Beulah over Ololon"

Four Zoas, Night II , Page 35, (E 325)

"What is the price of Experience do men buy it for a song
Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No it is bought with the price
Of all that a man hath his house his wife his children
Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy
And in the witherd field where the farmer plows for bread in vain

It is an easy thing to triumph in the summers sun
And in the vintage & to sing on the waggon loaded with corn
It is an easy thing to talk of patience to the afflicted
To speak the laws of prudence to the houseless wanderer

PAGE 36
To listen to the hungry ravens cry in wintry season
When the red blood is filld with wine & with the marrow of lambs

It is an easy thing to laugh at wrathful elements
To hear the dog howl at the wintry door, the ox in the slaughter house moan
To see a god on every wind & a blessing on every blast           
To hear sounds of love in the thunder storm that destroys our enemies house
To rejoice in the blight that covers his field, & the sickness that cuts off his children
While our olive & vine sing & laugh round our door & our children bring fruits & flowers

Then the groan & the dolor are quite forgotten & the slave grinding at the mill
And the captive in chains & the poor in the prison, & the soldier in the field
When the shatterd bone hath laid him groaning among the happier dead

It is an easy thing to rejoice in the tents of prosperity
Thus could I sing & thus rejoice, but it is not so with me!"
 

 

Two Great Lights

First posted  Dec 2012

In Genesis 1:16 we read about the 'two great lights'.  Blake used the Sun and the Moon and inserted into them a world of meanings

[16] And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
[17] And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
[18] And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
[19] And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 

Like all natural phenomena Blake used the Sun and the Moon to express many things. He found two kinds of Sun, a natural sun and an eternal Sun:

(Erdman 465-6)
"What it will be Questiond When the Sun rises do you not  see a round Disk of fire somewhat like a Guinea O no no I see an Innumerable company of the Heavenly host crying Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty"
From Auguries of Innocence (Erdman 490)
"If the sun and moon should doubt,
they'd immediately go out."

Penseroso and L' Allegro Plate 3

 From  MILTON'S L'ALLEGRO III
 Blake states: 
"The Great Sun is represented clothed in Flames 
Surrounded by the Clouds in their Liveries, in their 
various Offices at the Eastern Gate. beneath in Small 
Figures Milton walking by Elms on Hillocks green The 
Plowman. The Milkmaid The Mower whetting his Scythe. 
& The Shepherd & his Lass under a Hawthorn in the Dale"

The Great Sun is the Spiritual Sun, the source of light not measured in wavelengths and frequencies. The spiritual sun is the source of true existence which partakes of the eternal and infinite energy of life. It announces its presence by increased clarity of perception expressed in truth, mercy and grace.

Blake used the Lark as the symbol of the messenger of Los; he uses the symbol of the sun as Los himself as both the message and the source of the message. In this picture Blake uses scale as one of the means to distinguish between the natural world and the Eternal world. 

In the third illustration to L'Allegro Blake follows the text he is illustrating but changes the emphasis by using most of the page to present the sun at his eastern gate. The occupants of the mundane world, including Milton, appear at the bottom of the page as small easily overlooked figures. 

Four levels of existence can be distinguished in the image. The pastoral level of this earth is represented in the strip at the bottom of the page. Surrounding the sun is the level of Beulah as dominated by the feminine. Within the disc of the sun is the fiery transformative level. The primary figure which overlaps the other three layers is the Great Sun in his Human or Divine form.

 

RED ORC

New York Public Library

Europe

Plate 14

This is the final plate of Europe showing the flames of Orc behind Los who is rescuing his daughters from the conflagration.

Milton Percival, on page 210 of William Blake's Circle of Destiny states:

"A cold and selfish world, without the principal of change, is the goal of Urizen's endeavor.

The fire force which prevents this eventuality is personified in Orc...Under the repression of a religion of rationalism, such as the unregenerate Los creates, the emotions become a dark and tormenting fire with both the will and the power to destroy the forces that harass them. Luvah appears in the fiery form of Orc. With his birth the Generative world begins - the Generative world out of which regeneration is to come...Every time a religion, a philosophy, or a created form of any sort is demolished, human passion, as symbolized by Orc, provides the destructive power...

As the principle of revolt in the fallen world, Orc is the 'evil' of the orthodox, struggling with the passivity and the negation which they impose...In him is all the anguish of self-righteous man in a struggle with his own self-righteousness. His is the torment of a man who believes himself a sinner and his God the principle of wrath against which he revolts, only to see himself in his revolt as a blasphemer against his God. He is that something in man which endures the torment, the cause of which he cannot define because it is hidden deep within himself."

---

Europe, Plate 14, (E 66)

"Arise and please the horrent fiend with your melodious songs.
Still all your thunders golden hoofd, & bind your horses black.
Orc! smile upon my children!
Smile son of my afflictions.                                     
Arise O Orc and give our mountains joy of thy red light.

She ceas'd, for All were forth at sport beneath the solemn moon 
Waking the stars of Urizen with their immortal songs,
That nature felt thro' all her pores the enormous revelry,
Till morning ope'd the eastern gate.                             
Then every one fled to his station, & Enitharmon wept.

But terrible Orc, when he beheld the morning in the east,
Plate 15
Shot from the heights of Enitharmon;                
And in the vineyards of red France appear'd the light of his  fury.

The sun glow'd fiery red!
The furious terrors flew around!
On golden chariots raging, with red wheels dropping with blood;  
The Lions lash their wrathful tails!
The Tigers couch upon the prey & suck the ruddy tide:
And Enitharmon groans & cries in anguish and dismay.

Then Los arose his head he reard in snaky thunders clad:
And with a cry that shook all nature to the utmost pole,         
Call'd all his sons to the strife of blood.
                 FINIS"

MAN & TIME

Here is a perspective on Blake included in J. B. Priestley's long study on time from multiple points of view over extended periods. In his book Man & Time, J. B.Priestley postulates three categories of time:

Page 292

"I propose to call these three times  -  time One, time Two and time Three. To follow some therorists and call time Two 'eternity,' a term rich in associations, would only mislead and confuse many readers...So let us make do with times One, Two and Three, remembering that we live in all three of them at once, though we may not enjoy,so to speak, equal portions of them.

As visible creatures on earth we are ruled by time One...Our brains have developed through eons into marvelous instruments of time-One attention.

...Our relation through the brain with time One tends to be practical and economic, good for our matter-handling business, which helps to explain why we are great time-One people and mostly try not to believe in anything else.

..our  minds cannot be entirely contained within time One.

..Now in time Two, where the dreams belong, there is no distinction between the possibilities which are actualized and those which are not..The alternative possibilities, together with the choice between them, cannot exist in time One."

Page 298

"Because imagination appears to be free of the limitations we place on time One, we think of it as being outside Time. It is there, however, that the nothings begin. We might do better if we thought of it belonging to a different Time order, to another time...imaginative creation seems to imply not a second time order, contemplative and detached from action, but a third, in which purpose and action are joined together and there seems to be an almost magical release of creative energy.

If there is a part of the mind or a state of consciousness that is outside of the dominion of time One and time Two but is governed by a time Three, then that is where the imagination has its home and does its work. And it may be that there imagination is not something escaping from reality but is itself reality, while the world we construct from our time-One experience is regarded there is something artificial, abstract, thin, and hollow.

...I prefer another explanation of these dreams...as glimpse of the future already shaped but still pliable, yielding...to will and action...There is an idea not unlike this in Blake's Jerusalem , in which Los (the name is Sol reversed) can be taken as the symbolic figure of Time:

"All things acted on Earth are seen in the bright Sculptures of
Los's Halls & every Age renews its powers from these Works
With every pathetic story possible to happen from Hate or
Wayward Love & every sorrow & distress is carved here
Every Affinity of Parents Marriages & Friendships are here       
In all their various combinations wrought with wondrous Art
All that can happen to Man in his pilgrimage of seventy years"
Jerusalem, Plate 16, (E 161)

Page 300

"we could say that ego and its field of consciousness belong to time One, the unconscious to time Two,the superconscious to time There. But we must remember there are no separate compartments  and exact divisions, and that we live, even here and now, in all three times."

Priestley captioned this picture:

"One of William Blake's drawings for his Jerusalem. In the center, Los stands between life and death. On the right, the moon and the stars preside over the dark entrance to the Serpent Temple (the pathway of experience); on the left the sun of Time is carried back to eternity."  

British Museum

Jerusalem

Plate 100

 

 

ALBION'S ANGUISH

 First posted Jan 2010

This post follows the thread in these two posts related to Plate 62 of Jerusalem:

ALBION & LOS
SEVEN EYES OF GOD

Perhaps Plate 62 of Jerusalem is an attempted summation of Blake's myth up to that point. Putting all of the Old Testament and New Testament allusions in the text, as well as connecting the picture to text on Plate 33 that falls much earlier in the story, points toward an amalgamation of various threads.

COLORED IMAGE: Jerusalem, Plate 62, Albion and Los

Library of Congress

In the Illumination on Plate 62, we have an example of how Blake presents the explicit and implicit simultaneously. The explicit is invariably the lessor of his communications. Although the seven spots direct us to the Eyes of God, there is a suggestion of twelve spots. The implied twelve suggests the Zodiac and other instances of twelve entities for which we may seek associations. 

The picture itself goes beyond the stated imagery of the text on either Plate 62 or Plate 33. In the introduction to William Blake's Circle of Destiny, Percival presents the overall theme of his book: that when the long cycle comes to an end, it renews (repeats) itself if error is not cast off, or it reaches the Last Judgment which ends all temporal things. Percival sees Blake presenting the whole of the cycle: from the undifferentiated status of Eternity to the Apocalypse where time ends - in all its aspects of politics, science, history, sociology, psychology and religion.

Through the images incorporated in this picture of Albion, Blake may be suggesting a turning point in cosmic events. The ouroboros (seen as a snake around Albion's head) as a representation of cyclical experience reminds us that Albion may break the cycle or repeat it. The peacock feathers surrounding the head remind us that this is a point of transition. The Eyes of God tell us that Albion is under the protection of the Eternals though he has not returned from the world of time. The twelve eyes point to the Zodiac, another image of cyclical movement. (Percival is able to correlate the stages traversed in Blake's myth with passage through the signs of the Zodiac in Chapter VIII of his book.)

Using alchemical symbolism, Percival makes this observation: "The feminine mercury passes from black to white through an intermediate stage in which all the colors assert themselves. The symbol of this stage is the peacock's tail. The appearance of this symbol is a good omen; it means that the fire is doing its work, that death is awakening into life, or, as Paracelsus puts it alchemically, 'it showeth the workings of the philosopher's mercury on the vulgar mercury."' (Page 206)

Just as Blake wanted us to think of the events of the Old and New Testaments as we read the words of the text, in the illumination he is calling to our minds the seven days of creation, the twelve tribes of Israel, and whatever associations with the numbers seven and twelve which we may have from our reading of history, literature and numerology. The feet, cold to the point of blue death, are surrounded by the fires of destruction and redemption. And what about how Albion grasps the stone tenaciously? The face of fear, anguish and confusion suggests an agonizing decision making process like that undergone by Jesus in the Garden.

Jerusalem, Plate 33 [37], (E 179)
"And One stood forth from the Divine Family &,said    

I feel my Spectre rising upon me! Albion! arouze thyself!
Why dost thou thunder with frozen Spectrous wrath against us?
The Spectre is, in Giant Man; insane, and most deform'd.
Thou wilt certainly provoke my Spectre against thine in fury!    
He has a Sepulcher hewn out of a Rock ready for thee:
And a Death of Eight thousand years forg'd by thyself, upon
The point of his Spear! if thou persistest to forbid with Laws
Our Emanations, and to attack our secret supreme delights

So Los spoke: But when he saw blue death in Albions feet,   
Again he join'd the Divine Body, following merciful;
While Albion fled more indignant! revengeful covering"

Blake bombards us with images, as he makes us ask the question, "Which direction will Albion choose?"

Thanks to Jim and Mark for ideas included in this post.

 

COLOUR PRINTING

williamblake.org
Elohim Creating Adam

Ever the artist and the inventor, Blake embarked on the project in 1795 of developing a new technique and a fresh method of communicating his thoughts. In addition to creating his illuminated books which combined his engraved poetry and illuminations in book form, he worked out a method to make larger images suitable for display on walls. These would not use his small printing press to print from engraved copper plates but would make prints from paintings on mill board transferred to sheets of paper. Working quickly he could make up to three pictures from one painting on the mill board.

In his illuminated books his images were supplemented by words. In his large colour prints the image itself would convey his symbolic thought by implication. Blake chose designs with which his audience may be familiar from reading the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, or Shakespeare or Milton. The individual pictures recalled specific stories which contributed to his own concepts of the relationship of God and Man. For Blake Man was bound to God by an indelible cord, but the relationship between the two was constantly developing. The Large Colour Printed Drawings convey stages in the tense process of evolving spiritual consciousness.

Scholars have not definitively described how Blake made his Large Coloured Printed Drawings but many have attempted to understand his process which involved layering, pigments, binders and fixatives.

An early description of Blake's tempera technique by Frederick Tatham:

"Blake, when he wanted to make his prints in oil, took a common thick millboard, and drew in some strong ink or colour his design on it strong and thick. He then painted on it in such oil colours and in such a fashion that they would blur well. He painted roughly and quickly, so that no colour would have time to dry. He then took a print of that on paper, and this impression he coloured up in water-colours, repainting his outline on the millboard when he wanted to take another print...he could vary slightly each impression; and each having a sort of accidental look, he could branch out so as to make each one different."

Bruce MacEvoy on his website wrote that Blake's Large Color Printed Drawings were:

"likely made by creating a strong line drawing in ink on a large firm sheet of absorbent millboard, then roughly painting the areas within this outline with an oily paint (sometimes mixed with chalk). Sheets of paper were pressed against this plate before the paint had dried, transferring the colored image to the paper with a fresco like mottling and unevenness (visible at the top of the image). Once dried, these prints were lightly coated with a glue sizing, then further colored with watercolors, and the black outlines clarified and elaborated with pen and ink. This method of making prints was much faster and simpler than cutting a large copper plate; it also introduced random textural and color variations in each print, and allowed changes in the coloring or design as the paints on the millboard were refreshed for new prints."

Milton, Plate 29 [31], (E 128)

"The River rises above his banks to wash the Woof:                
He takes it in his arms: be passes it in strength thro his current
The veil of human miseries is woven over the Ocean
From the Atlantic to the Great South Sea, the Erythrean.

Such is the World of Los the labour of six thousand years.
Thus Nature is a Vision of the Science of the Elohim.            

                 End of the First Book." 

Jerusalem, Plate 73, (E 228) 

"Where Luvahs World of Opakeness grew to a period: It
Became a Limit, a Rocky hardness without form & void
Accumulating without end: here Los. who is of the Elohim
Opens the Furnaces of affliction in the Emanation                
Fixing The Sexual into an ever-prolific Generation
Naming the Limit of Opakeness Satan & the Limit of Contraction
Adam, who is Peleg & Joktan: & Esau & Jacob: & Saul & David

Voltaire insinuates that these Limits are the cruel work of God
Mocking the Remover of Limits & the Resurrection of the Dead     
Setting up Kings in wrath: in holiness of Natural Religion
Which Los with his mighty Hammer demolishes time on time
In miracles & wonders in the Four-fold Desart of Albion
Permanently Creating to be in Time Reveald & Demolishd" 

 

BLAKE & STRINGS 2

 Wikipedia Commons

Book of Urizen

Plate 24

To Blake the symbol of the Bow and Arrows had multiple applications. He saw that the image well represented his own experience. The poem which he composed while walking to see friends in Lavant while he was living at Felpham, made use explicitly of both bowstring and arrows. He represented his mind by the bows and his thoughts as the arrows. Apparently he had been struggling to determine how to balance claims that various friends and family members placed on him. After reviewing a long list of complaints he received the insight that his individual experience fit into the pattern which applies to every individual. The mind is capable of discerning four different ways of responding the data which it receives. Every experience has the potential for becoming visionary if one is not satisfied with single vision, duality, or ordinary interpretation there is another option; he may invite the imagination to allow him entry into a visionary state.

Blake's bows and arrows

 

Letters, To Butts, (E 720)

     "With happiness stretchd across the hills
     In a cloud that dewy sweetness distills
     With a blue sky spread over with wings
     And a mild sun that mounts & sings
     With trees & fields full of Fairy elves 5
     And little devils who fight for themselves
     Remembring the Verses that Hayley sung

     When my heart knockd against the root of my tongue
     With Angels planted in Hawthorn bowers
     And God himself in the passing hours
     With Silver Angels across my way
     And Golden Demons that none can stay
     With my Father hovering upon the wind
     And my Brother Robert just behind
     And my Brother John the evil one
     In a black cloud making his mone
     Tho dead they appear upon my path
     Notwithstanding my terrible wrath
     They beg they intreat they drop their tears
     Filld full of hopes filld full of fears
     With a thousand Angels upon the Wind
     Pouring disconsolate from behind
     To drive them off & before my way
     A frowning Thistle implores my stay
     What to others a trifle appears
     Fills me full of smiles or tears
     For double the vision my Eyes do see
     And a double vision is always with me
     With my inward Eye 'tis an old Man grey
     With my outward a Thistle across my way
     "If thou goest back the thistle said
     Thou art to endless woe betrayd
     For here does Theotormon lower
     And here is Enitharmons bower
     And Los the terrible thus hath sworn
     Because thou backward dost return
     Poverty Envy old age & fear
     Shall bring thy Wife upon a bier
     And Butts shall give what Fuseli gave
     A dark black Rock & a gloomy Cave."

     I struck the Thistle with my foot
     And broke him up from his delving root
     "Must the duties of life each other cross"
     "Must every joy be dung & dross"
     "Must my dear Butts feel cold neglect"
     "Because I give Hayley his due respect'
     "Must Flaxman look upon me as wild"
     "And all my friends be with doubts beguild'
     "Must my Wife live in my Sisters bane"
     "Or my sister survive on my Loves pain'
     "The curses of Los the terrible shade"
     "And his dismal terrors make me afraid"

     So I spoke & struck in my wrath
     The old man weltering upon my path
     Then Los appeard in all his power
     In the Sun he appeard descending before
     My face in fierce flames in my double sight
     Twas outward a Sun: inward Los in his might

     "My hands are labourd day & night"
     "And Ease comes never in my sight"
     "My Wife has no indulgence given"
     "Except what comes to her from heaven"
     "We eat little we drink less"
     "This Earth breeds not our happiness"
     "Another Sun feeds our lifes streams"
     "We are not warmed with thy beams"
     "Thou measurest not the Time to me"
     "Nor yet the Space that I do see"
     "My Mind is not with thy light arrayd"
     "Thy terrors shall not make me afraid"

     When I had my Defiance given
     The Sun stood trembling in heaven
     The Moon that glowd remote below
     Became leprous & white as snow
     And every Soul of men on the Earth
     Felt affliction & sorrow & sickness & dearth
     Los flamd in my path & the Sun was hot
     With the bows of my Mind & the Arrows of Thought
     My bowstring fierce with Ardour breathes
     My arrows glow in their golden sheaves
     My brothers & father march before
     The heavens drop with human gore

     Now I a fourfold vision see
     And a fourfold vision is given to me
     Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
     And three fold in soft Beulahs night
     And twofold Always.  May God us keep
     From Single vision & Newtons sleep"

TIME/ETERNITY

Blake used Six Thousand years to represent the Time that had elapsed since creation. Before creation there was no time, only Eternity. The six thousand year period as it relates to Eternity is a moment where there is the appearance of occurrences outside of Eternity. In Time 'all things vanish and are seen no more.' In Eternity the productions of Time leave 'lineaments permanent for ever & ever.'  

To Blake inspiration occurs at the intersection between Time and Eternity. The moment of inspiration seems to have no duration because it moves outside of Time and within Eternity. We may create the image of an exchange between Time and Eternity at these pregnant points which allows a flow in either or both directions. We may invite Eternity into the Time through which we are flowing, or we may exit Time and leave behind its restraints to enjoy the expanded perception of Eternity. 

Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Plate 7, (E 35) 
"Eternity is in love with the productions of time."

Milton, PLATE 22 [24], (E 117)
"I am that Shadowy Prophet who Six Thousand Years ago    
Fell from my station in the Eternal bosom. Six Thousand Years
Are finishd. I return! both Time & Space obey my will.
I in Six Thousand Years walk up and down: for not one Moment
Of Time is lost, nor one Event of Space unpermanent
But all remain: every fabric of Six Thousand Years               
Remains permanent: tho' on the Earth where Satan
Fell, and was cut off all things vanish & are seen no more
They vanish not from me & mine, we guard them first & last
The generations of men run on in the tide of Time
But leave their destind lineaments permanent for ever & ever.    

So spoke Los as we went along to his supreme abode."

Milton, PLATE 28 [30],(E 126)
"And every Moment has a Couch of gold for soft repose,
(A Moment equals a pulsation of the artery) 
And between every two Moments stands a Daughter of Beulah
To feed the Sleepers on their Couches with maternal care."

Milton, Plate 28 [30], (E 127)
"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."

Milton, PLATE 35 [39], (E 139) 
"There is a Moment in each Day that Satan cannot find
Nor can his Watch Fiends find it, but the Industrious find
This Moment & it multiply. & when it once is found
It renovates every Moment of the Day if rightly placed[.]        
In this Moment Ololon descended to Los & Enitharmon
Unseen beyond the Mundane Shell Southward in Miltons track

Just in this Moment when the morning odours rise abroad
And first from the Wild Thyme, stands a Fountain in a rock
Of crystal flowing into two Streams, one flows thro Golgonooza   

And thro Beulah to Eden beneath Los's western Wall
The other flows thro the Aerial Void & all the Churches
Meeting again in Golgonooza beyond Satans Seat

The Wild Thyme is Los's Messenger to Eden, a mighty Demon" 

In Jerusalem we read of an opposite flow in which Eternity enters Time. We get in this passage a sense of the cost incurred when a occupant of Eternity endures the separation of entering the time/space continuum.

Jerusalem, Plate 48, (E 197)
"And this the manner of the terrible Separation
The Emanations of the grievously afflicted Friends of Albion
Concenter in one Female form an Aged pensive Woman.
Astonish'd! lovely! embracing the sublime shade: the Daughters of Beulah
Beheld her with wonder! With awful hands she took                
A Moment of Time, drawing it out with many tears & afflictions
And many sorrows: oblique across the Atlantic Vale
Which is the Vale of Rephaim dreadful from East to West,
Where the Human Harvest waves abundant in the beams of Eden
Into a Rainbow of jewels and gold, a mild Reflection from        
Albions dread Tomb. Eight thousand and five hundred years
In its extension. Every two hundred years has a door to Eden
She also took an Atom of Space, with dire pain opening it a Center
Into Beulah: trembling the Daughters of Beulah dried
Her tears. she ardent embrac'd her sorrows. occupied in labours  
Of sublime mercy in Rephaims Vale. Perusing Albions Tomb
She sat: she walk'd among the ornaments solemn mourning.
The Daughters attended her shudderings, wiping the death sweat
Los also saw her in his seventh Furnace, he also terrified
Saw the finger of God go forth upon his seventh Furnace:         
Away from the Starry Wheels to prepare Jerusalem a place.
When with a dreadful groan the Emanation mild of Albion.
Burst from his bosom in the Tomb like a pale snowy cloud,
Female and lovely, struggling to put off the Human form
Writhing in pain. The Daughters of Beulah in kind arms reciev'd  
Jerusalem: weeping over her among the Spaces of Erin,
In the Ends of Beulah, where the Dead wail night & day.

And thus Erin spoke to the Daughters of Beulah, in soft tears" 

In the image we see Los, representing time, as he crosses the boundary between Time and Eternity. He faces the expanse of the bright unknown carrying with him the illumination, the spiritual sun, which enlightened his sojourn in Time. Left behind are the moon (Luvah) which reflects what light it receives, and the star which sheds the dim light of fallen intellect (Urizen). 

Yale Center for British Art
Jerusalem
Plate 97