DESIGN 3 - ORC

For each of the eight images in the Large Book of Designs, I will republish an earlier post to shed light on how the picture fits into Blake's overall myth of Creation, Fall and Apocalypse.

3) Orc 

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Friday, May 28, 2010

FIERY ORC

None of Blake's characters is more complex or contradictory than is Orc. You may remember him as the first son of Los and Enitharmon who so aroused his father's jealousy that he was taken to a mountainside and chained to a rock. Los as prophecy was jealous of Orc as revolution. However Rintrah (just wrath), Palamabron (pity), Theomorton (frustrate desire), and Bromion (logic) are also identified as Los's first four sons which Damon explains as representing an analysis of Orc. (A Blake Dictionary, Page 309)

Orc's body became so enrooted to the rock that when his parents later tried to release him, they were unable to do so. As this passage notes he was the embodiment of the 'fires of Eternal Youth'.

Milton, Plate 29 [31], (E 127)
"But Rintrah & Palamabron govern over Day & Night
In Allamanda & Entuthon Benython where Souls wail:
Where Orc incessant howls burning in fires of Eternal Youth,
Within the vegetated mortal Nerves; for every Man born is joined
Within into One mighty Polypus, and this Polypus is Orc."




In this picture Orc is both the chained youth in the cruciform position and the figure enclosed underground in a fetal position. Orc has taken on his function as revolution which must be controlled. The potential for revolution which has erupted in the colonies and threatened Europe was expressed by Orc in the book America. Revolution which had been attractive to Blake in theory became repulsive to him when he saw it in actual practice in France.



 
America, PLATE 8, (E 54)
"The terror answerd: I am Orc, wreath'd round the accursed tree:
The times are ended; shadows pass the morning gins to break;
The fiery joy, that Urizen perverted to ten commands,
What night he led the starry hosts thro' the wide wilderness:
That stony law I stamp to dust: and scatter religion abroad
To the four winds as a torn book, & none shall gather the leaves;
But they shall rot on desart sands, & consume in bottomless deeps;
To make the desarts blossom, & the deeps shrink to their fountains,
And to renew the fiery joy, and burst the stony roof.
That pale religious letchery, seeking Virginity,
May find it in a harlot, and in coarse-clad honesty
The undefil'd tho' ravish'd in her cradle night and morn:
For every thing that lives is holy, life delights in life;
Because the soul of sweet delight can never be defil'd.
Fires inwrap the earthly globe, yet man is not consumd;
Amidst the lustful fires he walks: his feet become like brass,
His knees and thighs like silver, & his breast and head like gold.
And Satan is the Spectre of Orc & Orc is the generate Luvah"


As the generate form of Luvah (emotion) which came into being as a result of the fall, Orc came under the dominion of Urizen the great lawgiver. As the dragon form, 'red Orc' is supressed energy seeking release. Suffering under the restraints of Urizen's system Orc explodes into revolution.

Milton Percival in William Blake's Circle of Destiny gives us this insight: "But, though the rational mind fears the fiery form of Orc, the imaginative mind knows that it is not evil, but rather an indictment of evil, a revelation of the mistaken character of the authority which has brought it into being. Orc is the personification of a deathless phenomenon, the spirit of revolution that arises when energy is repressed."

Urizen diverts Orc's energy into false religion, the Tree of Mystery, whereon Orc becomes the serpent and subsequently enters the state of Satan.

Four Zoas, Night viii, (E 380)
"The State namd Satan never can be redeemd in all Eternity
But when Luvah in Orc became a Serpent he des[c]ended into
That State calld Satan"

In the apocalypse Orc reverts to his eternal form Luvah and joins Jesus in ushering in the new age.

_________

As always we can see the psyche of Blake being dealt with in his characters. Forces within seek expression in Blake's life; prophecy or imagination cannot let revolution take over dominance. The energy or revolution is a valuable asset but unfortunately cannot be released at will. Reason, the conventional, conservative force may be able to control revolution, but to do so revolution's energy must be diverted in another direction since it can't be eliminated. This may lead to deeper degrees of error, since error given the freedom to act, will go to the extreme. Revolution is not permanent; it either subsides or or leads to a breaking up of the cycle and the initiation of a new paradigm.

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DESIGN 2 - URIZEN

For each of the eight images in the Large Book of Designs, I will republish an earlier post to shed light on how the picture fits into Blake's overall myth of Creation, Fall and Apocalypse.

2) Urizen Falling 

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Sunday, June 10, 2012

BEGINNING OF SEPARATION

Library of Congress Book of Urizen Plate 9

Blake's Book of Urizen recounts events related to the book of Genesis as a traumatic splitting of the original unity to form self-conscious entities who make a world of alienation, oppression, uncertainty. Pierre Berger in William Blake: Poet and Mystic describes in his own terms a scenario for the first division which leads automatically to a second division. The roles of Urizen and Los have been defined; the mental wars will ensue.

From William Blake: Poet and Mystic, Page 102-3:

"It would be of little use were we to count the individual cells that make up the human body. Not one of them is conscious of its individuality; but all share equally in the complete knowledge of our existence, and all combine in us to make one. But suppose one of these cells to become conscious of its own existence, and to say, 'I exist, independently of the body as a whole.' This thought would be the beginning of a separate creation, the formation of a personality, the first fall of man from unity. Must not something analogous occur when the newly conceived being begins to live a conscious life even in its mother's womb? In such wise came the first fall from Eternity, the first separation of something from the Divine whole, the phenomenon of creation, which, at bottom, is only a division. One of the thoughts of God separated itself from Him, as it is written in the Gospel of St. John: this Thought became the Word, which has been with Him from the beginning, and before the beginning, the word which was God. "Et verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat verbum" And the word became the Fiat, and had its echo in Eternity: the created universe was its emanation.

Blake says no more than this, though he may say it differently. According to him, there was a spirit who separated himself from Eternity, from that infinite Unity constituted by the Spirit of Universal Man, both All and One, and who thus became a personality different from the Eternals, who are one though many. In separating from them, he created a kind of abstract void between them and himself: he wrenched himself away from them, diminishing both himself and the Eternal Infinite at the same instant.
...
Thus began the existence of Urizen, the firstborn of Eternity, who plays so great a part in the works of Blake. We shall have to study him in many shapes; but for us now he is only the first conscious being, disembodied still, but nevertheless the first creation, the first " I " as distinguished from the All, the Ancient of Days.

The first existence of a separate personality is pregnant with consequences. We have now two distinct beings : Eternity and Urizen. But the birth of Urizen marks a definite moment in Eternity. There is therefore a date, the beginning of something. And as, in the Bible, the first great act of creation marks the first day, so the breaking away of the first personality from the great " All " marks the beginning of time. Time is created simply by the birth of a separate Will. His name, in Blake's great mythical system, is Los. From henceforward the history of Urizen will belong no more to Eternity, but to Time. It will be Los's task, therefore, to separate this new-born personality from the Eternals. He is the smith who will bind Urizen in the chain of Days and Years."

Book of Urizen, Plate 5, (E 73)
" 8. And Los round the dark globe of Urizen,
Kept watch for Eternals to confine,
The obscure separation alone;                                 
For Eternity stood wide apart,
Plate 6
As the stars are apart from the earth

9. Los wept howling around the dark Demon:
And cursing his lot; for in anguish,
Urizen was rent from his side;
And a fathomless void for his feet;
And intense fires for his dwelling.

10. But Urizen laid in a stony sleep
Unorganiz'd, rent from Eternity 

11. The Eternals said: What is this? Death
Urizen is a clod of clay."      

DESIGN 1 - ALBION

For each of the eight images in the Large Book of Designs, I will republish an earlier post to shed light on how the picture fits into Blake's overall myth of Creation, Fall and Apocalypse.
 
1) Albion Rose
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Friday, August 30, 2013

ONE BODY

Courtesy of Wikimedia
Illustration to Blair's The Grave
Descent of Man into the Vale of Death

Blake is convinced that humans are not separate entities but portions of one body. Because man is a member of the one body (Albion), his every act is influenced by those with whom be interacts, and his acts impinge upon all others. If he becomes a punisher, he punishes himself as well as all of humanity. Every member of the body is responsible for caring of every other member. Only by doing so can the body provide for each member. Each member is harmed by the selfishness of another because all are necessary for the body to function optimally.     

Jerusalem, Plate 47, (E 196) 
"Hark! the mingling cries of Luvah with the Sons of Albion
Hark! & Record the terrible wonder! that the Punisher
Mingles with his Victims Spectre, enslaved and tormented         
To him whom he has murderd, bound in vengeance & enmity
Shudder not, but Write, & the hand of God will assist you!
Therefore I write Albions last words. Hope is banish'd from me."

Jerusalem, Plate 45 [31], (E 194)
"What shall I [Los] do! what could I do, if I could find these Criminals
I could not dare to take vengeance; for all things are so constructed
And builded by the Divine hand, that the sinner shall always escape,
And he who takes vengeance alone is the criminal of Providence;
If I should dare to lay my finger on a grain of sand
In way of vengeance; I punish the already punishd: O whom
Should I pity if I pity not the sinner who is gone astray!
O Albion, if thou takest vengeance; if thou revengest thy wrongs
Thou art for ever lost! What can I do to hinder the Sons
Of Albion from taking vengeance? or how shall I them perswade.
PLATE 48
These were his [Albion's] last words, and the merciful Saviour in his arms
Reciev'd him, in the arms of tender mercy and repos'd
The pale limbs of his Eternal Individuality
Upon the Rock of Ages."

Jerusalem, PLATE 31 [35], (E 177)
"Then the Divine hand found the Two Limits, Satan and Adam,
In Albions bosom: for in every Human bosom those Limits stand.
And the Divine voice came from the Furnaces, as multitudes without
Number! the voices of the innumerable multitudes of Eternity.
And the appearance of a Man was seen in the Furnaces;            
Saving those who have sinned from the punishment of the Law,
(In pity of the punisher whose state is eternal death,)
And keeping them from Sin by the mild counsels of his love.

Albion goes to Eternal Death: In Me all Eternity.
Must pass thro' condemnation, and awake beyond the Grave!
No individual can keep these Laws, for they are death
To every energy of man, and forbid the springs of life;
Albion hath enterd the State Satan! Be permanent O State!
And be thou for ever accursed! that Albion may arise again:
And be thou created into a State! I go forth to Create           
States: to deliver Individuals evermore! Amen.
So spoke the voice from the Furnaces, descending into Non-Entity
[To Govern the Evil by Good: and States abolish Systems.]"

Vision of Last Judgment, (E 565)
"In Hell all is Self
Righteousness there is no such thing there as Forgiveness of Sin
he who does Forgive Sin is Crucified as an Abettor of Criminals.
& he who performs Works of Mercy in Any shape whatever is punishd
& if possible destroyd not thro Envy  or Hatred or Malice but
thro Self Righteousness that thinks it does God service which God
is Satan"

Love, mercy, forgiveness, generosity, kindness, and gratitude: when these are the measure which is given, they will be the measure which is returned.

Romans 2
[4] For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function,
[5] so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
[6] Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;
[7] if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching;
[8] he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
[9] Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;  

Luke 6
[35] But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish.
[36] Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
[37] "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;
[38] give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back."  

LARGE BOOK OF DESIGNS

National Gallery

                     WB inv 1780                           
"Albion rose from where he labourd at the Mill with Slaves
Giving himself for the Nations he danc'd the dance of

Eternal Death"

After Blake collected a group of images from works he had already printed to comprise the Small Book of Designs for Ozias Humphry, he composed another group known as the Large Book of Designs. The order which Blake intended these images to follow is unknown. I have chosen an order that follows the pattern of disintegration of the whole person in a series of stages. The final image introduces the possibility of reversing the process by increasing consciousness.   

1) Albion Rose
2) Urizen Falling
3) Orc
4) Oothoon Chained
5) Accusers
6) Bromion, Oothoon,Theotormon
7) Thiralatha
8) Preaching to the inhabitants of Britain

GREY MONK

Wikipedia Commons Gates of Paradise: For the Sexes  Plate 14 Does thy God O Priest take such vengeance as this?

David Erdman recognized that Blake was not unscathed by the brush with possible imprisonment and death which became his lot when his opposition to military action was expressed against the Dragoon who was ensconced in his garden. Erdman specifies changes in the way that Blake felt free to express himself after he came so close to losing his own liberty. Blake became more careful about expressing publicly what his prophetic vision revealed to him.

In Prophet Against Empire David V Erdman wrote on Page 414:

"The most immediate poetic record of Blake's mental suffering in time of trial, however, is the plaintive notebook ballad partly incorporated into the preface of the third chapter of Jerusalem and partly transcribed into another manuscript as The Grey Monk. The story of a tortured pacifist who will not recant is associated with Blake's trial by the fact that the Gothic courtroom of Chichester was known to have been the chancel of the Grey Friars convent church. The monk's martyrdom is that of the honest man who has written against war and empire and whose writings were found out. He has been accused of sedition, jailed by 'War' personified (the fourfold Scofield?) and has been temporarily allowed (on bail) to visit the mother of his children (Blake's only children being his 'Giants and Fairies')".

Jerusalem, Plate 52, (E 201)
" I saw a Monk of Charlemaine     
Arise before my sight 
  I talkd with the Grey Monk as we stood 
In beams of infernal light

  Gibbon arose with a lash of steel      
And Voltaire with a wracking wheel
  The Schools in clouds of learning rolld   
Arose with War in iron & gold.

  Thou lazy Monk they sound afar            
In vain condemning glorious War             
  And in your Cell you shall ever dwell     
Rise War & bind him in his Cell.

  The blood. red ran from the Grey Monks side
His hands & feet were wounded wide
  His body bent, his arms & knees          
Like to the roots of ancient trees

  When Satan first the black bow bent
And the Moral Law from the Gospel rent
  He forgd the Law into a Sword
And spilld the blood of mercys Lord.
     
  Titus! Constantine!  Charlemaine!               
  O Voltaire! Rousseau! Gibbon! Vain
 Your Grecian Mocks & Roman Sword  
Against this image of his Lord!

  For a Tear is an Intellectual thing;     
And a Sigh is the Sword of an Angel King
  And the bitter groan of a Martyrs woe 
Is an Arrow from the Almighties Bow!"

Songs and Ballads, (E 489)
"The Grey Monk 

I die I die the Mother said
My Children die for lack of Bread      
What more has the merciless Tyrant said
The Monk sat down on the Stony Bed     

The blood red ran from the Grey Monks side 
His hands & feet were wounded wide
His Body bent his arms & knees
Like to the roots of ancient trees

His eye was dry no tear could flow
A hollow groan first spoke his woe 
He trembled & shudderd upon the Bed            
At length with a feeble cry he said

When God commanded this hand to write
In the studious hours of deep midnight
He told me the writing I wrote should prove      
The Bane of all that on Earth I lovd             

My Brother starvd between two Walls
His Childrens Cry my Soul appalls
I mockd at the wrack & griding chain              
My bent body mocks their torturing pain           

Thy Father drew his sword in the North
With his thousands strong he marched forth 
Thy Brother has armd himself in Steel      
To avenge the wrongs thy Children feel     

But vain the Sword & vain the Bow 
They never can work Wars overthrow
The Hermits Prayer & the Widows tear
Alone can free the World from fear

For a Tear is an Intellectual Thing         
And a Sigh is the Sword of an Angel King 
And the bitter groan of the Martyrs woe  
Is an Arrow from the Almighties Bow

The hand of Vengeance found the Bed      
To which the Purple Tyrant fled
The iron hand crushd the Tyrants head 
And became a Tyrant in his stead"  

Prophet Against Empire, Page 415:  

"To write against War has nevertheless been his duty as a soldier of Christ, and he is ready to endure the tortures of the 'wrack & gitding chain' for the sake of his 'Brother,' the poor man, 'starved between two walls' (that is to say in the street) and the poor man's children, whose cry ever 'my Soul appalls.'

In continuing to write, Blake does of course defy the rack and chains. Yet their marks are ever upon this ballad, for he mutes 'Seditious Monk', to 'Thou lazy Monk' before transferring it to the public text of Jerusalem."

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CHICHESTER 4

British Museum Jerusalem PLATE 26

   SUCH VISIONS HAVE APPEARD TO ME 
     AS I MY ORDERD RACE HAVE RUN 
      JERUSALEM IS NAMED LIBERTY 
       AMONG THE SONS OF ALBION

HAND                                      JERUSALEM

To come before the machinery of the law under the threat of imprisonment, focuses the attention on one's vulnerability. Blake was not immune to the feeling that he had been unjustly accused and might be unjustly punished. He knew of several good and just men who had spent time in prison: among them the apostles Peter and Paul, Fox, Bunyan, Milton, Paine and his publisher friend Joseph Johnson. Being a prophet and a poet Blake reacted by incorporating his experiences and his emotional reactions to his precarious situation into his poetry. When we read the names 'Skofeld and Kox' in Jerusalem we know that Blake was not referring just to two men who accused him, but to the organization of government which can deprive a man of his liberty. He may lose his freedom by being sent to prison, or by being forced to endure the insecurity of anxiety, suspicion, hostility, and isolation through being the accused. Blake's own acquaintance with the troubles of man formed the framework of his prophetic poetry and impelled him to look for a way for man to escape from his predicament.
 
The predicament of man facing the troubles of his outer world was not the only difficulty.  The clash with the law and its implications revealed to Blake painful fractures in his own psyche which he realized would plague him continually if he could not arrive at a spiritual solution. 

---

The accusers and judges whom Blake encountered at his trial became for a time more real to him than the world of spirit and imagination which was his milieu. They were able to divide his psyche so that he could not distinguish his projections from his identity which was his true self.

If he could not gain release from being captive to his own faulty reasoning by gentle means, he would try to enlist their energies to use against them. By this means he only succeeded in resorting to using the weapons of war to oppose what was essentially a mental not a physical fight.  

---

Condensed from Plates 7,8 and 9 of Jerusalem:

"Scofiel, Kox, Kotope, & Bowen
To separate a Law of Sin

Los answer'd
I know that Albion hath divided me

Thou art my Pride & Self-righteousness: I have found thee out:   
Thou art reveald before me

but now I am living

strike thou alternate with me: labour obedient
Hand & Hyle & Koban: Skofeld, Kox  &  Kotope, labour mightily
In the Wars of Babel & Shinar,"

---

Jerusalem, Plate 7, (E 150)
"Vala comes from the Furnace in a cloud, but wretched Luvah
Is howling in the Furnaces, in flames among Albions Spectres,
To prepare the Spectre of Albion to reign over thee O Los, 
Forming the Spectres of Albion according to his rage:
To prepare the Spectre sons of Adam, who is Scofield: the Ninth
Of Albions sons, & the father of all his brethren in the Shadowy
Generation. Cambel & Gwendolen wove webs of war & of
Religion, to involve all Albions sons, and when they had         
Involv'd Eight; their webs roll'd outwards into darkness
And Scofield the Ninth remaind on the outside of the Eight
And Kox, Kotope, & Bowen, One in him, a Fourfold Wonder
Involv'd the Eight--Such are the Generations of the Giant Albion,
To separate a Law of Sin, to punish thee in thy members.         

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 

Jerusalem, Plate 8, (E 151)
"Thou art my Pride & Self-righteousness: I have found thee out:   
Thou art reveald before me in all thy magnitude & power
Thy Uncircumcised pretences to Chastity must be cut in sunder!
Thy holy wrath & deep deceit cannot avail against me
Nor shalt thou ever assume the triple-form of Albions Spectre
For I am one of the living: dare not to mock my inspired fury 
If thou wast cast forth from my life! if I was dead upon the mountains 
Thou mightest be pitied & lovd: but now I am living; unless
Thou abstain ravening I will create an eternal Hell for thee.
Take thou this Hammer & in patience heave the thundering Bellows
Take thou these Tongs: strike thou alternate with me: labour obedient
Hand & Hyle & Koban: Skofeld, Kox  &  Kotope, labour mightily
In the Wars of Babel & Shinar, all their Emanations were
Condensd. Hand has absorbd all his Brethren in his might
All the infant Loves & Graces were lost, for the mighty Hand
Plate 9
Condens'd his Emanations into hard opake substances;
And his infant thoughts & desires, into cold, dark, cliffs of death.
His hammer of gold he siezd; and his anvil of adamant.
He siez'd the bars of condens'd thoughts, to forge them:
Into the sword of war: into the bow and arrow:                   
Into the thundering cannon and into the murdering gun
I saw the limbs form'd for exercise, contemn'd: & the beauty of
Eternity, look'd upon as deformity & loveliness as a dry tree:
I saw disease forming a Body of Death around the Lamb
Of God, to destroy Jerusalem, & to devour the body of Albion     
By war and stratagem to win the labour of the husbandman:

---

The infection represented by the processes of becoming involved in the system of anger, fear, retribution and condemnation is not easily limited. It spreads to those who observe it, and as they attempt to flee from its consequences, they take it with them.

Jerusalem, Plate 32 [26], (E 178)
"The Seven Nations fled before him they became what they beheld
Hand, Hyle & Coban fled: they became what they beheld            
Gwantock & Peachy hid in Damascus beneath Mount Lebanon
Brereton & Slade in Egypt. Hutton & Skofeld & Kox
Fled over Chaldea in terror in pains in every nerve
Kotope & Bowen became what they beheld, fleeing over the Earth
And the Twelve Female Emanations fled with them agonizing.

Jerusalem, Plate 46 [32], (E 195)
"Los was all astonishment & terror: he trembled sitting on the Stone
Of London: but the interiors of Albions fibres & nerves were hidden
From Los; astonishd be beheld only the petrified surfaces:    
And saw his Furnaces in ruins, for Los is the Demon of the Furnaces;
He saw also the Four Points of Albion reversd inwards
He siezd his Hammer & Tongs, his iron Poker & his Bellows,
Upon the valleys of Middlesex, Shouting loud for aid Divine.

In stern defiance came from Albions bosom Hand, Hyle, Koban,     
Gwantok, Peachy, Brertun, Slaid, Huttn, Skofeld, Kock, Kotope 
Bowen: Albions Sons: they bore him a golden couch into the porch
And on the Couch reposd his limbs, trembling from the bloody field. 
Rearing their Druid Patriarchal rocky Temples around his limbs."

---

This passage seems to consider the difficulty of attempting to correct the inner reaction to solving the problem of anger and judgement. However, without simultaneously giving love and not hate to the poor souls whom one find unacceptable, the task is impossible. 

Jerusalem, Plate 67, (E 220)
"Hiding Albions Sons within the Veil, closing Jerusalems
Sons without; to feed with their Souls the Spectres of Albion
Ashamed to give Love openly to the piteous & merciful Man
Counting him an imbecile mockery: but the Warrior           
They adore: & his revenge cherish with the blood of the Innocent
They drink up Dan & Gad, to feed with milk Skofeld & Kotope
They strip off Josephs Coat & dip it in the blood of battle"

---

When one's perspective is changed and one views Albion's land from above, it is seen as a shadow, and the sons of Albion have no substance. External appearances are illusions but seem real when you enter into the shadowy image they present. Looking within yourself you find your own heaven and earth through your visionary imagination.
If one is unable to distinguish between the spiritual realities and their corporeal shadows, one is in the grip of th false reasoning power or Satan.

Milton, Plate 14 [15], (E 108)
"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."

Jerusalem, Plate 71, (E 224) 
"And above Albions Land was seen the Heavenly Canaan
As the Substance is to the Shadow: and above Albions Twelve Sons
Were seen Jerusalems Sons: and all the Twelve Tribes spreading
Over Albion. 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:
The Circumference is Within: Without, is formed the Selfish Center
And the Circumference still expands going forward to Eternity.
And the Center has Eternal States! these States we now explore.

And these the Names of Albions Twelve Sons, & of his Twelve Daughters
With their Districts. Hand dwelt in Selsey & had Sussex & Surrey
And Kent & Middlesex: all their Rivers & their Hills, of flocks & herds:
Their Villages Towns Cities Sea-Ports Temples sublime Cathedrals;
All were his Friends & their Sons & Daughters intermarry in Beulah
For all are Men in Eternity. Rivers Mountains Cities Villages,
All are Human & when you enter into their Bosoms you walk
In Heavens & Earths; as in your own Bosom you bear your Heaven
And Earth, & all you behold, tho it appears Without it is Within
In your Imagination of which this World of Mortality is but a Shadow."

Jerusalem, Plate 90, (E 250)
"And his Maternal Humanity must be put off Eternally
Lest the Sexual Generation swallow up Regeneration
Come Lord Jesus take on thee the Satanic Body of Holiness

So Los cried in the Valleys of Middlesex in the Spirit of Prophecy
While in Selfhood Hand & Hyle & Bowen & Skofeld appropriate    
The Divine Names: seeking to Vegetate the Divine Vision
In a corporeal & ever dying Vegetation & Corruption
Mingling with Luvah in One. they become One Great Satan"

---

CHICHESTER 3

Wikipedia Commons
Jerusalem
Plate 1, Unique print in Fitzwilliam Museum

Jerusalem, Plate 1, (E 144)
[Frontispiece]  
[Above the archway:]

"There is a Void, outside of Existence, which if enterd into
Englobes itself & becomes a Womb, such was Albions Couch
A pleasant Shadow of Repose calld Albions lovely Land

His Sublime & Pathos become Two Rocks fixd in the Earth
His Reason his Spectrous Power, covers them above                
Jerusalem his Emanation is a Stone laying beneath
O [Albion behold Pitying] behold the Vision of Albiont

[On right side of archway:]

Half Friendship is the bitterest Enmity said Los
As he enterd the Door of Death for Albions sake Inspired
The long sufferings of God are not for ever there is a Judgment 

[On left side, in reversed writing:]

Every Thing has its Vermin O Spectre of the Sleeping Dead!"

Blake named his opponents in his trial as Sons of Albion. They included the accusers, the prosecuting witnesses, the prosecutors and judges in the case. Of the twelve named Sons of Albion the first three may be familiar enemies :

Hand
Hyle
Coban
The other nine each played a part in Blake's prosecution:
Skofeld
Kox
Bowen
Gwantok,
Peachy,
Brertun,
Slaid,
Huttn
Kotope

The twelve Sons of Albion parallel the twelve sons of Israel whose descendants formed the twelve tribes of the Hebrews. These are the divisions of Albion whom we see at work in the natural world. When Blake came under attack by the mechanism of the legal system, he became more aware that there were within himself the same fragmenting forces which attempted to attack him, to find him guilty, to punish and destroy him. Although these forces might be projected outward and cause him trouble in the natural world, if they remained within his psyche (his Heaven) they could destroy his inner peace. In Jerusalem he kept returning to the names of those who opposed him, not to place blame on them and exonerate himself, but to work on his own inner life which made him susceptible to acting out the harmful behaviors which his opponents represented.

To learn to deal with these Sons of Albion, and these 'Sons of Blake' can be seen as a theme of Jerusalem.

 Jerusalem Plate 4, (E 146)
"But the perturbed Man away turns down the valleys dark;
[Saying. We are not One: we are Many, thou most simulative]
Phantom of the over heated brain! shadow of immortality!
Seeking to keep my soul a victim to thy Love! which binds        
Man the enemy of man into deceitful friendships:
Jerusalem is not! her daughters are indefinite:
By demonstration, man alone can live, and not by faith.
My mountains are my own, and I will keep them to myself!
The Malvern and the Cheviot, the Wolds Plinlimmon & Snowdon  
Are mine. here will I build my Laws of Moral Virtue!
Humanity shall be no more: but war & princedom & victory!

So spoke Albion in jealous fears, hiding his Emanation
Upon the Thames and Medway, rivers of Beulah: dissembling
His jealousy before the throne divine, darkening, cold!          
Plate 5
The banks of the Thames are clouded! the ancient porches of Albion are
Darken'd! they are drawn thro' unbounded space, scatter'd upon
The Void in incoherent despair! Cambridge & Oxford & London,
Are driven among the starry Wheels, rent away and dissipated,
In Chasms & Abysses of sorrow, enlarg'd without dimension, terrible.    
Albions mountains run with blood, the cries of war & of tumult
Resound into the unbounded night, every Human perfection
Of mountain & river & city, are small & wither'd & darken'd
Cam is a little stream! Ely is almost swallowd up!
Lincoln & Norwich stand trembling on the brink of Udan-Adan!     
Wales and Scotland shrink themselves to the west and to the north!
Mourning for fear of the warriors in the Vale of Entuthon-Benython
Jerusalem is scatterd abroad like a cloud of smoke thro' non-entity:
Moab & Ammon & Amalek & Canaan & Egypt & Aram
Recieve her little-ones for sacrifices and the delights of cruelty   

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,
While I write of the building of Golgonooza, & of the terrors of Entuthon:
Of Hand & Hyle & Coban, of Kwantok, Peachey, Brereton, Slayd & Hutton:
Of the terrible sons & daughters of Albion. and their Generations.

Scofield! Kox, Kotope and Bowen, revolve most mightily upon
The Furnace of Los: before the eastern gate bending their fury.
They war, to destroy the Furnaces, to desolate Golgonooza:
And to devour the Sleeping  Humanity  of  Albion  in  rage  & hunger."   
 

CHICHESTER 2

British Museum
Jerusalem
Plate 51
Another copy identifies the figure on the right as Skofeld

 
In the previous post the move of William and Catherine Blake to Felpham was presented as in its most positive light. The stresses and pressures of the political and economic situations which existed in London would be left behind. They would leave a crowded city for the fresh and appealing countryside. Blake would have the support of an appreciative patron who would give him opportunities for profitable work. However in three years time Blake had concluded that his association with Hayley made it more difficult for him to engage in the pursuit of visionary art and poetry which he felt led to do.

The plans to leave Felpham were already made when a minor incident with major repercussions occurred in the garden of Blake's cottage. Blake tried to expel from the garden a Dragoon whom he found in the garden. Words let to actions which led to accusations against Blake. For five months Blake awaited trial for assault and sedition. Blake returned to Sussex from London to be tried on January 11, 1804 at the Chichester Guildhouse. Hayley had hired the barrister Samuel Rose to defend Blake. Witnesses for the defense testified that Blake had not said the seditious words, "Damn the King." After a trial lasting into the night, Blake was acquitted by the jury.

It is doubtful if Blake ever had full resolution of his brush with the law. He must has asked himself many questions following the incident and its consequences. Could he have avoided such a contentious confrontation with the Dragoon if he had called upon the inner Christ whom he knew? Was he the victim of some plot by those who knew that he expressed opposition to the authority of the church and the state in his prophetic writings? Is it inevitable that prophets will suffer rejection among those who oppose their judgement?

The words Jesus spoke when the people of his own village questioned his authenticity must have crossed Blake's mind when he found himself accused.

Matthew 13
[53] And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.
[54] And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?
[55] Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
[56] And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?
[57] And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house.
[58] And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

When the incident was still fresh in his mind, Blake wrote to his friend Thomas Butts describing what had happened and the consequences.

Letters, (E 732)
[To] Mr Butts, Gr  Marlborough St, London
Felpham August 16. 1803
" I go on with the remaining Subjects which you gave me
commission to Execute for you but shall not be able to send any
more before my return tho perhaps I may bring some with me
finishd.  I am at Present in a Bustle to defend myself against a
very unwarrantable warrant from a justice of Peace in
Chichester. which was taken out against me by a Private in Captn
Leathes's troop of 1st or Royal Dragoons for an assault &
Seditious words.  The wretched Man has terribly Perjurd himself
as has his Comrade for as to Sedition not one Word relating to
the King or Government was spoken by either him or me.  His
Enmity arises from my having turned him out of my Garden into
which he was invited as an assistant by a Gardener at work
therein, without my knowledge that he was so invited.  I desired
him as politely as was possible to go out of the Garden, he made
me an impertinent answer I insisted on his leaving the Garden he
refused I still persisted in desiring his departure he then
threatend to knock out my Eyes with many abominable imprecations
& with some contempt for my Person it affronted my foolish Pride
I therefore took him by the Elbows & pushed him before me till I
had got him out. there I intended to have left him. but he
turning about put himself into a Posture of Defiance threatening
& swearing at me.  I perhaps foolishly & perhaps not, stepped out
at the Gate & putting aside his blows took him again by the
Elbows & keeping his back to me pushed him forwards down the road
about fifty yards he all the while endeavouring to turn round &
strike me & raging & cursing which drew out several
neighbours. at length when I had got him to where he was
Quarterd. which was very quickly done. we were met at the Gate by
the Master of the house.  The Fox Inn, (who is [my] the
proprietor of my Cottage) & his wife & Daughter. & the Mans
Comrade. & several other people My Landlord compelld the Soldiers
to go in doors after many abusive threats [from the]
against me & my wife from the two Soldiers but not one word of
threat on account of Sedition was utterd at that time.  This
method of Revenge was Plann'd between them after they had got
together into the Stable.  This is the whole outline.  I have for
witnesses. The Gardener who is Hostler at the Fox & who Evidences
that to his knowledge no word of the remotest tendency to
Government or Sedition was utterd,--Our next door Neighbour a
Millers wife who saw me turn him before me down the road & saw &
heard all that happend at the Gate of the Inn who Evidences that
no Expression of threatening on account of Sedition was utterd in
the heat of their fury by either of the Dragoons. this was the
womans own remark & does high honour to her good sense as she
observes that whenever a quarrel happens the offence is always
repeated.  The Landlord of the Inn & His Wife & daughter will
Evidence the Same & will evidently prove the Comrade perjurd who
swore that he heard me <while> at the Gate utter Seditious words
& D--- the K--- without which perjury I could not have been
committed & I had no witness with me before the Justices who
could combat his assertion as the Gardener remaind in my Garden
all the while & he was the only person I thought necessary to
take with me.  I have been before a Bench of Justices at
Chichester this morning. but they as the Lawyer who
wrote down the Accusation told me in private are compelld by the
Military to suffer a prosecution to be enterd into altho they
must know & it is manifest that the whole is a Fabricated
Perjury.  I have been forced to find Bail.  Mr Hayley was kind
enough to come forwards & Mr Seagrave Printer at Chichester.
Mr H. in 100L & Mr S. in 50L & myself am bound in 100L for
my appearance at the Quarter Sessions which is after Michaelmass.
So I shall have the Satisfaction to see my friends in Town before
this Contemptible business comes on I say Contemptible for it
must be manifest to every one that the whole accusation is a
wilful Perjury.  Thus you see my dear Friend that I cannot leave
this place without some adventure. it has struck a consternation
thro all the Villages round.  Every Man is now afraid of speaking
to or looking at a Soldier. for the peaceable Villagers have
always been forward in expressing their kindness for us & they
express their sorrow at our departure as soon as they hear of it
Every one here is my Evidence for Peace & Good Neighbourhood &
yet such is the present state of things this foolish accusation
must be tried in Public.  Well I am content I murmur not & doubt
not that I shall recieve Justice & am only sorry for the trouble
& expense.  I have heard that my Accuser is a disgraced Sergeant
his name is John Scholfield. perhaps it will be in your power to
learn somewhat about the Man I am very ignorant of what I am
requesting of you.  I only suggest what I know you will be kind
enough to Excuse if you can learn nothing about him & what I as
well know if it is possible you will be kind enough to do in this
matter" 

Blake was eventually acquitted after five months of stress and uncertainty.   

David Erdman on Page  410 of Prophet Against Empire brought up some dilemmas Blake faced. 

"Whatever we make of the coincidence of some of the Dragoon's charges with some of Blake's prophetic opinions, however, the trial was an ordeal for Blake. The peaceable villagers were with him, but his accusers were hurling 'arrows of darkness' at at a son of fire who did not know in actual combat, how to wield his mental sword except by sheathing it in the privacy of his manuscripts. He had, he believed, a glorious precedent: Jesus had 'omitted making a defense against Pilate'; yet he knew that to do so was to 'bear false witness.'" 

 

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CHICHESTER

British Museum
Chichester
1802

William and Catherine Blake moved from the busy city of London to the quiet village of Felpham in Sussex in Sept 1800. G.E. Bentley, Jr., in his biography of Blake, Stranger from Paradise, includes on Page 209 a portion of a letter from Blake to his friend George Cumberland:

"I have taken a cottage at Felpham on the Sea Shore of Sussex between Arundel & Chichester. Mr Hayley the Poet is soon to be my neighbor; he is now my friend: to him I owe the happy suggestion, for it was on a visit to him that I fell in love with my cottage."

The engraving of Chichester showing the ancient cathedral situated within sight of the ocean was created in 1802 as the tailpiece for a series of animal ballads written by William Hayley and published in parts by Blake.

Before the Blakes left London they sent a letter to the Flaxmans enclosing this poem:

"To my dear Friend Mrs Anna Flaxman

     This Song to the flower of Flaxmans joy
     To the blossom of hope for a sweet decoy
     Do all that you can or all that you may
     To entice him to Felpham & far away

     Away to Sweet Felpham for Heaven is there
     The Ladder of Angels descends thro the air
     On the Turret its spiral does softly descend
     Thro' the village then winds at My Cot i[t] does end

     You stand in the village & look up to heaven
     The precious stones glitter on flights seventy seven
     And My Brother is there & My Friend & Thine
     Descend & Ascend with the Bread & the Wine

     The Bread of sweet Thought & the Wine of Delight
     Feeds the Village of Felpham by day & by night
     And at his own door the blessd Hermit does stand
     Dispensing Unceasing to all the whole Land
                                              W. BLAKE

(E 708) H[ercules] B[uildings] Lambeth, 14 Sepr 1800   

After the move was complete Blake wrote to Thomas Butts praising his new surroundings:

Letters, To Thomas Butts, (E 713)
"Felpham Octr 2d 1800
 Mr Butts will I hope Excuse my not having finishd the
Portrait.  I wait for less hurried moments.  Our Cottage looks
more & more beautiful.  And tho the weather is wet, the Air is
very Mild. much Milder than it was in London
when we came away.  Chichester is a very handsom City Seven miles
from us we can get most Conveniences there.  The Country is not
so destitute of accomodations to our wants as I expected it would
be We have had but little time for viewing the Country but what
we have seen is Most Beautiful & the People are Genuine Saxons
handsomer than the people about London." 

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PARABLE OF THE SOWER

Harry Ramson Center
The University of Texas at Austin 
The Good Farmer, from the Parable of the Sower
c. 1785

Luke 8
[4] And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:
[5] A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
[6] And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.
[7] And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it.
[8] And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
[9] And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be?
[10] And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
[11] Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
[12] Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
[13] They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
[14] And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
[15] But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
[16] No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.
[17] For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.

The group of people on the left of the image are those who were unable to receive the word which Jesus offered. Each had a reason: they had other commitments; they tried to follow the way but there were other thing which needed attention; they couldn't put aside what they were already involved in.

They could not provide the soil in which the seed might grow. Only the man on the right had a place within himself which was prepared for the growth of the seed of the word. He could give it time and space to mature and become productive. As Blake pictures him he is not turned toward Jesus but looks up to the heavens because from there the inner word would be replenished.  

Luke 10
 [38] Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
[39] And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.
[40] But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
[41] And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
[42] But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

---

Milton, Plate 37 [41], (E 139)
"In the Eastern porch of Satans Universe Milton stood & said

Satan! my Spectre! I know my power thee to annihilate
And be a greater in thy place, & be thy Tabernacle               
A covering for thee to do thy will, till one greater comes
And smites me as I smote thee & becomes my covering.
Such are the Laws of thy false Heavns! but Laws of Eternity
Are not such: know thou: I come to Self Annihilation
Such are the Laws of Eternity that each shall mutually     
Annihilate himself for others good, as I for thee[.]
Thy purpose & the purpose of thy Priests & of thy Churches
Is to impress on men the fear of death; to teach
Trembling & fear, terror, constriction; abject selfishness
Mine is to teach Men to despise death & to go on            
In fearless majesty annihilating Self, laughing to scorn
Thy Laws & terrors, shaking down thy Synagogues as webs
I come to discover before Heavn & Hell the Self righteousness
In all its Hypocritic turpitude, opening to every eye
These wonders of Satans holiness shewing to the Earth     
The Idol Virtues of the Natural Heart, & Satans Seat
Explore in all its Selfish Natural Virtue & put off
In Self annihilation all that is not of God alone:
To put off Self & all I have ever & ever Amen"

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This post may make it clearer how self-annihilation can be seen as the same process as preparing the soil so that it capable of nurturing the seed or word in an honest and good heart.

 
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