Pilgrim's Dream
"As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I came upon a certain place, where there was a den—and I laid down in that place to sleep. And as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and, behold—I saw a man clothed with rags, standing with his face turned away from his own house, with a Book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back. I looked, and saw him open the Book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled! And not being able to contain himself any longer—he broke out with a lamentable cry, saying, 'What shall I do?'"
Blake portrays three level in his image:
Blake knew that listening to one's dreams was a way of getting in touch with the aspects of the psyche which are not ordinarily accessable. When Blake illustrated Pilgrim's Progress which was written as a sequence of episodes in Bunyan's dream, he reached into his unconscious to make known what may have been opaque in Bunyan's allegory. Bunyan did not focus on the dream state itself but in Blake's first illustration he revealed that the dreamer is subject to levels of consciousness different from those of waking experience.
"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." Songs and ballads, (E 486)"The Land of Dreams Awake awake my little Boy Thou wast thy Mothers only joy Why dost thou weep in thy gentle sleep Awake thy Father does thee keep O what Land is the Land of Dreams What are its Mountains & what are its Streams O Father I saw my Mother there Among the Lillies by waters fair Among the Lambs clothed in white She walkd with her Thomas in sweet delight I wept for joy like a dove I mourn O when shall I again return Dear Child I also by pleasant Streams Have wanderd all Night in the Land of Dreams But tho calm & warm the Waters wide I could not get to the other side Father O Father what do we here In this Land of unbelief & fear The Land of Dreams is better far Above the light of the Morning Star"
In Dark Figures in the Desired Country, Gerda Norvig makes this statement about the healing powers which are called forth when one engages in the process of individuation:
"Blake seems to be giving here graphic expression to a common psychological rule that goes beyond Bunyan's: the rule that active differentiation of the contents of the dark side of the self precedes spiritual assistance, but also literally creates a space for the healing powers of the psyche to move into as they well up from archetypal dimensions recognized as existing deep in the background of our mental landscape." (Page 148)
Damon, A Blake Dictionary
"The Lion is commonly known as the protector of the Lamb...the Lion's warth is particulrly directed against the wolves who prey upon the flocks....
The Lion is spiritual wrath, inspired by pity...while the Tyger's blind warth is purely emotional." (Page 242)
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