THE GRAVE 11

Wikimedia Commons
The Grave - Page 11
Cromak's arrangement
Schiavonetti's Engraving 

Wikipedia Commons
The Grave - Page 17
Fuseli's arrangement
Blake's Watercolor

Fuseli - XI. A FAMILY MEETING IN HEAVEN.

Book - 11 Death's Door

In his arrangement of Blake's illustrations to Blair's The Grave, Fuseli is completing the cyclical movement. The Soul made its descent into a physical body, assumed a persona, experienced various states of consciousness, became a witness to a process which is unfolding, and began the assent to the origin. The soul was alone on its journey through life (or death according to one's perspective.) It experienced a reunion with its emanation in the previous picture, now it is reunited with the family of Immortals. The archetypal forms are being brought together instead of being expressed or dispersed in matter.

This stage of development is represented in the image for The Grave by the reunion of a family in love, respect and joy. Blake used the symbol of Brotherhood as well to indicate the condition of being joined in mutual appreciation and cooperation when the spiritual journey is reaching completion.

The Book Milton A Poem by William Blake by Kay Parkhurst Easson and Roger R Easson contains this statement about Brotherhood on page 170:
"Each member of the Brotherhood is at once individual and familial, which is to say each maintains his identity, but each by spiritual friendship unites with the Brotherhood, and with the eternal form of Brotherhood, the Starry Eight within Jesus. Brotherhood, therefore, is a mutual relationship, not a hierarchical relationship. There is no jealousy or envy among spiritual friends, no desire to surpass or eclipse the reputation of a predecessor. Rather, there is mutual communication, each to each, and mutual support for the eternal perspectives inherent in each."

Milton, Plate 21 [23], (E 116)
"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!

And Ololon said, Let us descend also, and let us give            
Ourselves to death in Ulro among the Transgressors.
Is Virtue a Punisher? O no! how is this wondrous thing?
This World beneath, unseen before: this refuge from the wars
Of Great Eternity! unnatural refuge! unknown by us till now!
Or are these the pangs of repentance? let us enter into them  

Then the Divine Family said. Six Thousand Years are now
Accomplish'd in this World of Sorrow; Miltons Angel knew
The Universal Dictate; and you also feel this Dictate.
And now you know this World of Sorrow, and feel Pity. Obey
The Dictate! Watch over this World, and with your brooding wings,
Renew it to Eternal Life: Lo! I am with you alway
But you cannot renew Milton he goes to Eternal Death

So spake the Family Divine as One Man even Jesus
Uniting in One with Ololon & the appearance of One Man
Jesus the Saviour appeard coming in the Clouds of Ololon!"       

Jerusalem, Plate 34 [38], (E 179]
"but mild the Saviour follow'd him,   
Displaying the Eternal Vision! the Divine Similitude!
In loves and tears of brothers, sisters, sons, fathers, and friends
Which if Man ceases to behold, he ceases to exist:

Saying. Albion! Our wars are wars of life, & wounds of love,
With intellectual spears, & long winged arrows of thought:       
Mutual in one anothers love and wrath all renewing
We live as One Man; for contracting our infinite senses
We behold multitude; or expanding: we behold as one,
As One Man all the Universal Family; and that One Man
We call Jesus the Christ: and he in us, and we in him,        
Live in perfect harmony in Eden the land of life,
Giving, recieving, and forgiving each others trespasses.
He is the Good shepherd, he is the Lord and master:
He is the Shepherd of Albion, he is all in all,
In Eden: in the garden of God: and in heavenly Jerusalem.        
If we have offended, forgive us, take not vengeance against us.

Thus speaking; the Divine Family follow Albion:
I see them in the Vision of God upon my pleasant valleys."

Four Zoas, Night I, Page 21, (E 310) 
"Then those in Great Eternity met in the Council of God
As one Man for contracting their Exalted Senses
They behold Multitude or Expanding they behold as one
As One Man all the Universal family & that one Man      
They call Jesus the Christ & they in him & he in them            
Live in Perfect harmony in Eden the land of life
Consulting as One Man above the Mountain of Snowdon Sublime"

Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 133, (E 401)
"In families we see our shadows born. & thence we know | Ephesians
That Man subsists by Brotherhood & Universal Love     |    iii c.
We fall on one anothers necks more closely we embrace |   10 v   

Not for ourselves but for the Eternal family we live
Man liveth not by Self alone but in his brothers face            
Each shall behold the Eternal Father & love & joy abound

So spoke the Eternal at the Feast they embracd the New born Man
Calling him Brother image of the Eternal Father. they sat down
At the immortal tables sounding loud their instruments of joy
Calling the Morning into Beulah the Eternal Man rejoicd"

---

Matthew 12
[46] While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.
[47] Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
[48] But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
[49] And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
[50] For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
.

---

SOUL & BODY

Preliminary Sketch  Illustrations for Blair's The Grave

In his book William Blake: Poet and Mystic Pierre Berger writes of the relationship of the soul and body as Blake understood it. This quote from page 107 begins with a few lines of a poem Blake included in a letter to Thomas Butts. (E 712)
 

"Each herb and each tree, 
Mountain, hill, earth and sea. 
Cloud, Meteor and Star, 
Are Men Seen Afar 

Such an interpretation is only natural to a man for whom nothing 
existed except the human spirit. Every object must also be a spirit 
like himself. Consequently, all things everywhere are human.
The visible world is but the outward sign of bodies hiding 
a soul. And even this last assertion could not satisfy Blake, since 
to him, body and soul were not distinct things. The body is a part 
of the soul made visible, the expression of the soul to our our external 
senses. There is no separation of one from the other. The parting of 
soul and body is not the putting off of an old garment which can be 
utterly destroyed: it is the soul's release from its visible part, or, 
better still, its ceasing to be visible. The body was not only a prison  
in which the soul was enclosed and from which it now escapes; it 
was rather a product of the soul, as the cocoon is a product of the 
silkworm, an emanation from the soul, created by and attached to 
the soul, like a kind of vegetable growth, in order to give it a material 
visibility, and also for other and profounder reasons which will be 
explained later. Thus all material objects are bodies created by the 
souls which they at once display and hide, and in which they seem 
to be enclosed. This theory, while resembling the metempsychosis 
of the ancients, differs in some respects from it. For them, body and 
soul had an independent existence, the soul passing into the 
bodies of plants and animals, according to its tendencies in this 
life. But neither the animal nor the plant was an integral part 
of it. Blake, like the ancient Indians, held that the soul not merely 
decides what body it shall enter, but actually creates a body for itself, 
and perhaps passes in this way through a series of existences. He 
does not clearly say how this creation is worked : sometimes, indeed, 
he even adopts the common expression, and speaks of a soul imprisoned 
in its body of clay, and actually represents in pictures the 
separation and reunion of the soul and the body. But he never loses 
sight of his essential idea of the body as a part of the spirit made 
visible. 
...
Consequently, we are everywhere surrounded by spirits. We only 
see the visible part of them and are satisfied with that because we 
are men of simple, vision, living in the world of matter, which is 
illusion." 

. 

THE GRAVE 10

British Museum
The Grave - Page 10
Cromak's arrangement
Schiavonetti's Engraving

The Grave - Page 10
Fuseli's arrangement
Blake's Watercolor

Fuseli - X. THE RE-UNION OF SOUL AND BODY.
"The Body springs from the grave, the Soul descends from an opening cloud; they rush together with inconceivable energy; they meet, never again to part!"

Book - 10 The Soul Exploring the Recesses of the Grave

The tendency of our minds is to process information dualistically. When we think of the Soul of man, which is spiritual, we set it in opposition to the body, which is material. Blake was unwilling to separate the soul from the body. He postulated both a material body which was mortal, and a spiritual body which was eternal.

Perhaps this picture was chosen to follow the picture of the dry bones being given new life in order to indicate that the spiritual body enjoys a reunion with the eternal Soul as a significant step in the process of mending the broken world. Throughout his poetry Blake emphasized the bringing together of disparate parts as the ultimate reconciliation which resolves the fractured body into an inclusive unified wholeness.

The world was created by dividing light from darkness, the heavens from the earth, the waters from the dry land, the living from the non-living. When time ends the divisions are reversed. There is a great return and reunification where the dispersed particulars coalesce as a Human Form Divine.

Jerusalem, Plate 99, (E 258) 
"All Human Forms identified even Tree Metal Earth & Stone. all
Human Forms identified, living going forth & returning wearied
Into the Planetary lives of Years Months Days & Hours reposing
And then Awaking into his Bosom in the Life of Immortality.

And I heard the Name of their Emanations they are named Jerusalem

                  The End of The Song
                     of Jerusalem"

Marriage of Heaven & Hell, Plate 4, (E 34)
  "But the following Contraries to these are True
  1 Man has no Body distinct from his Soul for that calld Body is
a portion of Soul discernd by the five Senses. the chief inlets
of Soul in this age
  2. Energy is the only life and is from the Body and Reason is
the bound or outward circumference of Energy.
  3 Energy is Eternal Delight"

Annotations to Swedenborg, (E 603)
 "Thought without affection makes a distinction between Love
& Wisdom as it does between body & Spirit" 

Jerusalem, Plate 77, (E 232) 
"I know of no other
Christianity and of no other Gospel than the liberty both of body
& mind to exercise the Divine Arts of Imagination.   
  Imagination the real & eternal World of which this Vegetable
Universe is but a faint shadow & in which we shall live in our
Eternal or Imaginative Bodies, when these Vegetable Mortal Bodies
are no more." 

Milton, Plate 35 [39], (E 135)
"O how the Starry Eight rejoic'd to see Ololon descended!
And now that a wide road was open to Eternity,               

By Ololons descent thro Beulah to Los & Enitharmon,

For mighty were the multitudes of Ololon, vast the extent
Of their great sway, reaching from Ulro to Eternity
Surrounding the Mundane Shell outside in its Caverns
And through Beulah. and all silent forbore to contend            
With Ololon for they saw the Lord in the Clouds of Ololon

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"

Romans 8
[16] The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
[17] And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
[18] For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
[19] For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
...
[38] For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
[39] Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

First John 3
[1] Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
[2] Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
.

THE GRAVE 9

British Museum
The Grave - Page 9
Cromak's arrangement
Schiavonetti's Engraving 

Wikipedia Commons

The Grave - Page 9 

Fuseli's arrangement 

Blake's Watercolor

Fuseli - IX. THE SKELETON RE-ANIMATED.

"When the dread trumpet sounds, the slumb'ring dust, Not unattentive to the call, awakes";
while the world in flames typifies the renovation of all things, the end of Time, and the beginning of Eternity.

Book - 9 The Day of Judgment

When time ends the trumpet sounds, calling to life the dry bones which occupy the graves. Blake called upon many metaphors to represent the states of consciousness through which man passes. Man could live with consciousness of the Eternal throughout his life on earth but instead he is 'asleep', or he 'lives within the cave' of his own mind, or he mistakes the 'garment for the man', or he lives within a prison chained by the 'mind-forg'd manacles'. In the picture for page 9 of The Grave the vestiges of human life have been reduced to the dry bones of a skeleton.

The trumpet sounds to announce the possibility of abandoning the traps which man has created for himself to avoid an expanded consciousness which to him is unknown, undefined, uncomfortable, and unending. Eternity does not begin when a man dies to mortal life. For an individual it begins when he becomes able to behold a dimension to which he has been blind. Then the 'dry bones' will be reassembled, clothed in a spiritual mind and body, and made fit for a new life outside of present limitations. 

Vision of Last Judgment, (E 558)

"Hell is opend beneath her Seat on the Left hand. beneath her
feet is a flaming Cavern in which is seen the Great Red Dragon
with Seven heads & ten Horns  he has Satans book
of Accusations lying on the rock open before him  he is bound
in chains by Two strong demons they are Gog & Magog who have
been compelld to subdue their Master Ezekiel  with
their Hammer & Tongs about to new Create the Seven Headed
Kingdoms.  The Graves beneath are opend & the Dead awake & obey
the call of the Trumpet those on the Right hand awake in joy
those on the Left in Horror. beneath the Dragons Cavern a
Skeleton begins to Animate starting into life at the Trumpets
sound while the Wicked contend with each other on the brink of 
perdition."

America, Plate 6, (E 53)
"The morning comes, the night decays, the watchmen leave their stations;
The grave is burst, the spices shed, the linen wrapped up;
The bones of death, the cov'ring clay, the sinews shrunk & dry'd.
Reviving shake, inspiring move, breathing! awakening!
Spring like redeemed captives when their bonds & bars are burst;" 

Song of Los, Plate 7, (E 69)
"Then the thunders of Urizen bellow'd aloud
From his woven darkness above.                                   

Orc raging in European darkness
Arose like a pillar of fire above the Alps
Like a serpent of fiery flame!
       The sullen Earth
       Shrunk!                                                   

Forth from the dead dust rattling bones to bones
Join: shaking convuls'd the shivring clay breathes
And all flesh naked stands: Fathers and Friends;
Mothers & Infants; Kings & Warriors:

The Grave shrieks with delight, & shakes   
Her hollow womb, & clasps the solid stem:
Her bosom swells with wild desire:
And milk & blood & glandous wine

In rivers rush & shout & dance,
On mountain, dale and plain.                                  
The SONG of LOS is Ended.
     Urizen Wept."

Milton, Plate, 19 [21], (E 112) 
"Silent they met, and silent strove among the streams, of Arnon
Even to Mahanaim, when with cold hand Urizen stoop'd down
And took up water from the river Jordan: pouring on
To Miltons brain the icy fluid from his broad cold palm.
But Milton took of the red clay of Succoth, moulding it with care
Between his palms: and filling up the furrows of many years
Beginning at the feet of Urizen, and on the bones
Creating new flesh on the Demon cold, and building him,
As with new clay a Human form in the Valley of Beth Peor."

Four Zoas, Night III, Page 44 (E 329)
"But from the Dolorous Groan one like a shadow of smoke appeard
And human bones rattling together in the smoke & stamping        
The nether Abyss & gnasshing in fierce despair. panting in sobs
Thick short incessant bursting sobbing. deep despairing stamping struggling

Struggling to utter the voice of Man struggling to take the features of Man. Struggling   
To take the limbs of Man at length emerging from the smoke
Of Urizen dashed in pieces from his precipitant fall"  

Four Zoas, Night 7, PAGE 73, (E 350) 
"And laughter sat beneath the Oaks & innocence sported round
Upon the green plains & sweet friendship met in palaces
And books & instruments of song & pictures of delight
Where are they whelmd beneath these ruins in horrible destruction   
And if Eternal falling I repose on the dark bosom              
Of winds & waters or thence fall into a Void where air
Is not down falling thro immensity ever & ever
I lose my powers weakend every revolution till a death
Shuts up my powers then a seed in the vast womb of darkness
I dwell in dim oblivion. brooding over me the Enormous worlds    
Reorganize me shooting forth in bones & flesh & blood
I am regenerated to fall or rise at will or to remain
A labourer of ages a dire discontent a living woe
Wandring in vain. Here will I fix my foot & here rebuild
Here Mountains of Brass promise much riches in their dreadful bosoms  

So he began to dig form[ing] of gold silver & iron 
And brass vast instruments to measure out the immense & fix
The whole into another world better suited to obey
His will where none should dare oppose his will himself being King
Of All & all futurity be bound in his vast chain" 

Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 122, (E 391)
"Where shall we take our stand to view the infinite & unbounded
Or where are human feet for Lo our eyes are in the heavens 

He ceasd for rivn link from link the bursting Universe explodes
All things reversd flew from their centers rattling bones
To bones join, shaking convulsd the shivering clay breathes
Each speck of dust to the Earths center nestles round & round
In pangs of an Eternal Birth in torment & awe & fear             
All spirits deceasd let loose from reptile prisons come in shoals
Wild furies from the tygers brain & from the lions Eyes    
And from the ox & ass come moping terrors. from the Eagle
And raven numerous as the leaves of Autumn   every species
Flock to the trumpet muttring over the sides of the grave & crying   
In the fierce wind round heaving rocks & mountains filld with groans
On rifted rocks suspended in the air by inward fires
Many a woful company & many on clouds & waters
Fathers & friends Mothers & Infants Kings & Warriors
Priests & chaind Captives met together in a horrible fear        
And every one of the dead appears as he had livd before"

Poetical Sketches, Contemplation, (E 442)
"Like a triumph, season follows season, while the airy
music fills the world with joyful sounds."  I answered, "Heavenly
goddess!  I am wrapped in mortality, my flesh is a prison, my
bones the bars of death, Misery builds over our cottage roofs,
and Discontent runs like a brook.  Even in childhood, Sorrow
slept with me in my cradle; he followed me up and down in the
house when I grew up; he was my school-fellow: thus he was in my
steps and in my play, till he became to me as my brother.  I
walked through dreary places with him, and in church-yards; and I
oft found myself sitting by Sorrow on a tomb-stone!"

---

Ezekiel 37
[1] The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
[2] And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
[3] And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
[4] Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
[5] Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
[6] And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD
...
[11] Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
[12] Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
[13] And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
[14] And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
.

THE GRAVE 8

British Museum
The Grave - Page 8
Cromak's arrangement
Schiavonetti's Engraving 

University of Adelaide
The Grave - Page 8
Fuseli's arrangement
Blake's Watercolor

Fuseli - VIII. THE COUNSELLOR, KING, WARRIOR, MOTHER, AND CHILD. 
"All are equal in the Grave. Wisdom, Power, Valour, Beauty, and Innocence, at the hour of death, alike are impotent and unavailing."

Book - 8 The Descent of Man into the Vale of Death


Pictured above are the eternal unchanging forms of which individuals are manifestations. Man passes through states in which he undergoes changes without altering the Eternal archetype which he represents.

Blake see permanence in two entities: man's individual Soul or Identity, and the archetypal forms which exist as patterns inhabiting Eternity. Blake's Zoas and Emanations are archetypes in Eternity. When the Soul of man (which is permanent or immortal) enters a body (which is temporal and mortal) it assumes a particular archetypal appearance which travels through states in the temporal world.

So Jung can designate Four Functions which are parallel to the Four Zoas of Blake. An individual exemplifies the function which dominates his mental activities. This is not the Identity of the man but the garment in which he is clothed in worldly life. A man, as an Identity, travels through life clothed in his archetypal garment passing through states which are temporal.

The Soul being permanent, is not changed by passing through states but has the opportunity in time & space to be enriched and enhanced by journeying through experience. Eternity is not changed by the Soul leaving and returning but is perfected or completed by the multitude of.alternatives engendered by experience.

Letters, To Hayley, (E 705)
 "I hear his [brother Robert's] advice & even now write from his
Dictate--Forgive me for expressing to you my Enthusiasm which I
wish all to  partake of Since it is to me a Source of Immortal
Joy even in this world by it  I am the companion of Angels.  May
you continue to be so more & more & to  be more & more perswaded. 
that every Mortal loss is an Immortal Gain.  The  Ruins of Time
builds Mansions in Eternity.--I have also sent A Proof of 
Pericles for your Remarks thanking you for the kindness with
which you  Express them & feeling heartily your Grief with a
brothers Sympathy 
I remain Dear Sir Your humble Servant
WILLIAM BLAKE"

Letters, To Butts, (E 728)
 "Accept of my thanks for your kind & heartening Letter You
have Faith in the Endeavours of Me your weak brother & fellow
Disciple. how great must be your faith in our Divine Master.  You
are to me a Lesson of Humility while you Exalt me by such
distinguishing commendations.  I know that you see certain merits
in me which by Gods Grace shall be made fully apparent & perfect
in Eternity. in the mean time I must not bury the Talents in the
Earth but do my endeavour to live to the Glory of our Lord &
Saviour & I am also grateful to the kind hand that endeavours to
lift me out of despondency even if it lifts me too high--"

Descriptive Catalogue, Number III, (E 532)
"The characters of Chaucer's Pilgrims are the characters
which compose all ages and nations: as one age falls, another
rises, different to mortal sight, but to immortals only the same;
for we see the same characters repeated again and again, in
animals, vegetables, minerals, and in men; nothing new occurs in
identical existence; Accident ever varies, Substance can
never suffer change nor decay.
  Of Chaucer's characters, as described in his Canterbury
Tales, some of the names or titles are altered by time, but the
characters themselves for ever remain unaltered, and 
consequently they are the
physiognomies or lineaments of universal human life, beyond which
Nature never steps.  Names alter, things never alter."

Descriptive Catalogue, Number III, (E 535)
"The principal figure in the next groupe, is the Good 
Parson; an Apostle, a real Messenger of Heaven, sent in every 
age for its light and its warmth.  This man is beloved and 
venerated by all, and neglected by all: He serves all, and is 
served by none; he is, according to Christ's definition, the 
greatest of his age.  Yet he is a Poor Parson of a town.  Read 
Chaucer's description of the Good Parson, and bow the head and 
the knee to him, who, in every age sends us such a burning and a 
shining light.  Search O ye rich and powerful, for these men and 
obey their counsel, then shall the golden age return: But 
alas! you will not easily distinguish him from the Friar or the 
Pardoner, they also are "full solemn men," and their counsel, you 
will continue to follow."

Descriptive Catalogue, Number III, (E 536)
"Thus the reader will observe, that
Chaucer makes every one of his characters perfect in his kind,
every one is an Antique Statue; the image of a class, and not of
an imperfect individual."

Milton, Plate 32 [35], (E 132)
"Calling the Human Imagination: which is the Divine Vision & Fruition
In which Man liveth eternally: madness & blasphemy, against      
Its own Qualities, which are Servants of Humanity, not Gods or Lords[.]
Distinguish therefore States from Individuals in those States.
States Change: but Individual Identities never change nor cease:
You cannot go to Eternal Death in that which can never Die."

Vision of Last Judgment, Page 76, (E 556)
"These States Exist now Man Passes on but States
remain for Ever he passes thro them like a traveller who may as
well suppose that the places he has passed thro exist no more as
a Man may suppose that the States he has passd thro exist no more
Every Thing is Eternal
[PAGE 79] In Eternity one Thing never Changes into
another Thing Each Identity is Eternal consequently Apuleius's
Golden Ass & Ovids Metamorphosis & others of the like kind are
Fable yet they contain Vision in a Sublime degree being derived
from real Vision in More Ancient Writings[.] Lots Wife
being Changed into Pillar of Salt alludes to the Mortal Body
being renderd a Permanent Statue but not Changed or Transformed
into Another Identity while it retains its own Individuality.  A
Man can never become Ass nor Horse some are born with shapes of
Men who may be both but Eternal Identity is one thing & Corporeal
Vegetation is another thing Changing Water into Wine by Jesus &
into Blood by Moses relates to Vegetable Nature also" 

Vision of Last Judgment , Page 69, (E 555)
"The Nature of Visionary Fancy or Imagination is very little
Known & the Eternal nature & permanence of its ever Existent
Images is considerd as less permanent than the things of
Vegetative & Generative Nature yet the Oak dies as well as the
Lettuce but Its Eternal Image & Individuality never dies. but
renews by its seed. just  the Imaginative Image returns 
the seed of Contemplative Thought the Writings of the Prophets
illustrate these conceptions of the Visionary Fancy by their
various sublime & Divine Images as seen in the Worlds of Vision"

.

THE GRAVE 7

British Museum
The Grave - Page 7
Cromak's arrangement
Schiavonetti's Engraving

University of Adelaide
The Grave - Page 7
Fuseli's arrangement
Blake's Watercolor

Blake presents the incarnation as the act of the Soul becoming immersed in the body. Pictured here is the Soul entering mortal life or Eternal Death as Blake calls it. Blake's mind had the agility to shift perspectives in order to present the truth he perceived. He envisioned here man's soul leaving behind the vehicle which has been its home, in order to expose itself to states which must be explored in order to apprehend truth. Blake gives us an image to contemplate with our conscious minds for the purpose of inviting us to explore the Recesses of the Grave which are present in the unconscious mind.
 

The idea that man is created with a mind which is capable of apprehending the numinous is not original with Blake. The ancients expressed this idea in terms of their own cultures and religions although they lacked the terminology of of depth psychology. 

Blake was clear in his idea that the Soul is the Eternal aspect of the individual. Since Blake was adept at distinguishing the material world (the world of time and space), from the spiritual world (the world of the eternal and infinite), he focused attention on relating the one to the other.
 

The natural world and the spiritual world are linked by the Soul's activity in both places. There is an analog to what appears outside the body to what occurs within. If spiritual truth is quashed in the outer world, the work of the Soul within the psyche is diminished.

The outer world cannot be healed of hatred, vengeance, accusation, and self-aggrandizing if these attitudes maintain control in the inner world. The work goes on simultaneously: mending the external links which join mankind in mutual respect and assistance, and knitting together the internal divisions which set off competitions for the control of our inner attitudes. If we are consumed with protecting our prejudices, defenses, and personal righteousness, the battle for truth, justice and compassion is already lost.
 

Fuseli - VII. THE SOUL EXPLORING THE RECESSES OF THE GRAVE
Book -7 The Death of The Good Old Man

Jerusalem, Plate 4, (E 146)
"Of the Sleep of Ulro! and of the passage through
Eternal Death! and of the awaking to Eternal Life.

This theme calls me in sleep night after night, & ev'ry morn
Awakes me at sun-rise, then I see the Saviour over me
Spreading his beams of love, & dictating the words of this mild song.  

Awake! awake O sleeper of the land of shadows, wake! expand!
I am in you and you in me, mutual in love divine:" 

Milton, Plate 32 [35], (E 132)
"And thou O Milton art a State about to be Created
Called Eternal Annihilation that none but the Living shall
Dare to enter: & they shall enter triumphant over Death
And Hell & the Grave! States that are not, but ah! Seem to be.

Judge then of thy Own Self: thy Eternal Lineaments explore       
What is Eternal & what Changeable? & what Annihilable!

The Imagination is not a State: it is the Human Existence itself
Affection or Love becomes a State, when divided from Imagination
The Memory is a State always, & the Reason is a State
Created to be Annihilated & a new Ratio Created                  
Whatever can be Created can be Annihilated Forms cannot
The Oak is cut down by the Ax, the Lamb falls by the Knife
But their Forms Eternal Exist, For-ever. Amen Halle[l]ujah

Thus they converse with the Dead watching round the Couch of Death.
For God himself enters Death's Door always with those that enter 
And lays down in the Grave with them, in Visions of Eternity
Till they awake & see Jesus & the Linen Clothes lying
That the Females had Woven for them, & the Gates of their Fathers House" 

Milton, Plate 14 [15], (E 109)
"The Seven Angels of the Presence wept over Miltons Shadow!
Plate 15 [17]
As when a man dreams, he reflects not that his body sleeps,
Else he would wake; so seem'd he entering his Shadow: but
With him the Spirits of the Seven Angels of the Presence
Entering; they gave him still perceptions of his Sleeping Body;
Which now arose and walk'd with them in Eden, as an Eighth   
Image Divine tho' darken'd; and tho walking as one walks
In sleep; and the Seven comforted and supported him.

Like as a Polypus that vegetates beneath the deep!
They saw his Shadow vegetated underneath the Couch
Of death: for when he enterd into his Shadow: Himself:           
His real and immortal Self: was as appeard to those
Who dwell in immortality, as One sleeping on a couch
Of gold; and those in immortality gave forth their Emanations
Like Females of sweet beauty, to guard round him & to feed
His lips with food of Eden in his cold and dim repose!           

But to himself he seemd a wanderer lost in dreary night.

Onwards his Shadow kept its course among the Spectres; call'd
Satan, but swift as lightning passing them, startled the shades
Of Hell beheld him in a trail of light as of a comet
That travels into Chaos: so Milton went guarded within." 

Milton, Plate 40 [46], (E 141)
"Obey thou the Words of the Inspired Man
All that can be annihilated must be annihilated 

That the Children of Jerusalem may be saved from slavery
There is a Negation, & there is a Contrary
The Negation must be destroyd to redeem the Contraries
The Negation is the Spectre; the Reasoning Power in Man
This is a false Body: an Incrustation over my Immortal           
Spirit; a Selfhood, which must be put off & annihilated alway
To cleanse the Face of my Spirit by Self-examination."

___________________________

Galations 2
[19] For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
[20] I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
[21] I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Galations 2:19-21
Phillips Translation
For under the Law I "died", and now I am dead to the Law's demands so that I may live for God. As far as the Law is concerned I may consider that I died on the cross with Christ. And my present life is not that of the old "I", but the living Christ within me. The bodily life I now live, I live believing in the Son of God, who loved me and sacrificed himself for me. Consequently I refuse to stultify the grace of God by reverting to the Law. For if righteousness were possible under the Law then Christ died for nothing!
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THE GRAVE 6

Wikimedia Commons
The Grave - Page 6
Cromak's arrangement
Schiavonetti's Engraving

Wikipedia Commons
The Grave - Page 6
Fuseli's arrangement
Blake's Watercolor

 

 FUSELI  - VI. THE SOUL HOVERING OVER THE BODY.
 

BOOK - 6  The Soul Hovering Over the Body reluctantly parting with Life

This image is not about Death or the Grave; it is about Life and the Soul. The Soul is not transient but Eternal. Since the Soul is not part of the temporal world it does not lend itself to be spoken of in non-poetic language.

 

As children my brother, sister and I were taught to pray this bedtime prayer:
 

"Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
And If I die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take."
 

Then we went directly into asking God to bless all the individuals whom we loved, followed by Amen.
 

I never thought to ask my mother about sleeping and waking, about keeping or taking, about the Lord and the Soul. Although I may have been puzzled, the Soul remained undefined.
 

Although Blake declared in Marriage of Heaven and Hell that 'Man has no Body distinct from his Soul' he proceeded to write about the Soul as distinguishable.
 

I think now of the Soul as being the dimension of what I call myself, which connects me with the Infinite and Eternal. It is the permanent part of me which exists outside of time and space. No matter how deep my sleep, my Soul remains awake - ready to cast aside the garment in which my body has clothed it. The Soul is no more definable to me now than when I was a child, but it is more real because I have put aside some 'childish things' in order to prepare myself for 'seeing face to face.'
 

First Corinthians 13
[9] For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
[10] But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
[11] When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
[12] For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
 

The phrase 'reluctantly parting with the body' is contrary to Blake's thinking. I think that the body clings to the Soul, not the Soul to the body.
 

Marriage of Heaven & Hell, Plate 4, (E 34)

"But the following Contraries to these are True
  1 Man has no Body distinct from his Soul for that calld Body is
a portion of Soul discernd by the five Senses. the chief inlets
of Soul in this age
  2. Energy is the only life and is from the Body and Reason is
the bound or outward circumference of Energy.
  3 Energy is Eternal Delight" 

Songs of Innocence & of Experience, Plate 10, (E 9)
Little black boy 
"For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear
The cloud will vanish we shall hear his voice.
Saying: come out from the grove my love & care,
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice."

America, Plate 6, (E 53)
"Let the inchained soul shut up in darkness and in sighing,
Whose face has never seen a smile in thirty weary years;
Rise and look out, his chains are loose, his dungeon doors are open."

Milton, Plate 14 [15], (E 108)
"And Milton said, I go to Eternal Death! The Nations still
Follow after the detestable Gods of Priam; in pomp               
Of warlike selfhood, contradicting and blaspheming.
When will the Resurrection come; to deliver the sleeping body
From corruptibility: O when Lord Jesus wilt thou come?
Tarry no longer; for my soul lies at the gates of death.
I will arise and look forth for the morning of the grave.       
I will go down to the sepulcher to see if morning breaks!
I will go down to self annihilation and eternal death,
Lest the Last Judgment come & find me unannihilate
And I be siez'd & giv'n into the hands of my own Selfhood
The Lamb of God is seen thro' mists & shadows, hov'ring          
Over the sepulchers in clouds of Jehovah & winds of Elohim
A disk of blood, distant; & heav'ns & earth's roll dark between
What do I here before the Judgment? without my Emanation?
With the daughters of memory, & not with the daughters of inspiration[?]
I in my Selfhood am that Satan: I am that Evil One!              
He is my Spectre! in my obedience to loose him from my Hells
To claim the Hells, my Furnaces, I go to Eternal Death." 

Milton, Plate 26 [28], (E 123)
"There are Two Gates thro which all Souls descend. One Southward
From Dover Cliff to Lizard Point. the other toward the North
Caithness & rocky Durness, Pentland & John Groats House.         

The Souls descending to the Body, wail on the right hand
Of Los; & those deliverd from the Body, on the left hand
For Los against the east his force continually bends
Along the Valleys of Middlesex from Hounslow to Blackheath
Lest those Three Heavens of Beulah should the Creation destroy   
And lest they should descend before the north & south Gates
Groaning with pity, he among the wailing Souls laments." 

Jerusalem, Plate 18, (E 161) 
"From every-one of the Four Regions of Human Majesty,
There is an Outside spread Without, & an Outside spread Within
Beyond the Outline of Identity both ways, which meet in One:
An orbed Void of doubt, despair, hunger, & thirst & sorrow.
Here the Twelve Sons of Albion, join'd in dark Assembly,         
Jealous of Jerusalems children, asham'd of her little-ones
(For Vala produc'd the Bodies. Jerusalem gave the Souls)
Became as Three Immense Wheels, turning upon one-another
Into Non-Entity, and their thunders hoarse appall the Dead
To murder their own Souls, to build a Kingdom among the Dead     

Cast! Cast ye Jerusalem forth! The Shadow of delusions!
The Harlot daughter! Mother of pity and dishonourable forgiveness
Our Father Albions sin and shame! But father now no more!
Nor sons! nor hateful peace & love, nor soft complacencies
With transgressors meeting in brotherhood around the table, 

Or in the porch or garden." 

Jerusalem, Plate 41 [46], (E 188) 

"Thou art in Error Albion, the Land of Ulro:
One Error not remov'd, will destroy a human Soul
Repose in Beulahs night, till the Error is remov'd
Reason not on both sides. Repose upon our bosoms
Till the Plow of Jehovah, and the Harrow of Shaddai
Have passed over the Dead, to awake the Dead to Judgment.
But Albion turn'd away refusing comfort."   

Jerusalem, Plate 68, (E 222)

"Once Man was occupied in intellectual pleasures & energies   
But now my soul is harrowd with grief & fear & love & desire
And now I hate & now I love & Intellect is no more:
There is no time for any thing but the torments of love & desire" 

Jerusalem, Plate 71, (E 224)

"As the Soul is to the Body, so Jerusalems Sons,
Are to the Sons of Albion: and Jerusalem is Albions Emanation
What is Above is Within, for every-thing in Eternity is translucent:"
 

Laocoon, (E 273)
"Adam is only The Natural Man & not the Soul or Imagination
The Eternal Body of Man is The IMAGINATION. God himself"
 

Jerusalem, Plate 62,(E 213)
"These are the Daughters of Vala, Mother of the Body of death

But I thy Magdalen behold thy Spiritual Risen Body
Shall Albion arise? I know he shall arise at the Last Day!
I know that in my flesh I shall see God: but Emanations
Are weak. they know not whence they are, nor whither tend.

Jesus replied. I am the Resurrection & the Life.
I Die & pass the limits of possibility, as it appears
To individual perception. Luvah must be Created                  
And Vala; for I cannot leave them in the gnawing Grave.
But will prepare a way for my banished-ones to return
Come now with me into the villages. walk thro all the cities."

BROKENLINKS (94)

June 2016

 You may have noticed a number of links on our pages have recently led nowhere. This is because the University of Georgia is no longer supporting the material by Nelson Hilton which was provided through their domain. Professor Hilton gave us access to many resources including his work on the Blake Digital Text Project. Our links on our sidebar to Blake's Contents, Blake's Index and the Concordance to Complete Works have disappeared because of the loss of links to his works.

 

I personally am most disappointed because the links Hilton provided to images in the Four Zoas are not longer available. The page images on a number of pages of the Four Zoas which I posted, no longer have images because the files they were linked to are unavailable. I can replace the images with those which the crawler picked up when the posts were published, but the images there are of lower resolution. Hilton's images allowed us to read Blake's text as he wrote and edited it, as well as view the sketches which illuminated his pages.

 

The manuscript for the Four Zoas resides in the British Library. The library provides digital imagery for a portion of the book starting at page 44. Using Professor Hilton's files for the early pages of the manuscript and the British Library's images for later pages, I published posts on 80 of the 138 pages of the Four Zoas. There is always more work to be done but there are many hands and minds who are contributing to the effort.

 

Professor Hilton graciously replied to my plea for help with a copy of his file for the 4ZS.

 

Keep watching for further developments.

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January 2018

I am happy to report that the British Library arranged for all of the images for pages of the Four Zoas to be posted at the William Blake Archive. I was concerned because the Archive does not allow copying of their images. However when I requested use of the images from the British Library they readily granted permission to download the images from the Archive and to post them to my blog. Posts which for a time had only broken links, now have pictures of the text and sketches which Blake abandoned over 200 years ago.
 

The Blake Archive provides a easily-used format and well produced images. Study of the Four Zoas should be enhanced by this addition to Blake's work which is available on the internet.

William Blake Archive

British Library Four Zoas Manuscript Page 94

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 94, (E 367)
"Tho all those fair perfections which men know only by name
In beautiful substantial forms appeard & served her
As food or drink or ornament or in delightful works
To build her bowers for the Elements brought forth abundantly    
The living soul in glorious forms & every One came forth
Walking before her Shadowy face & bowing at her feet" 

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