The Cave

 First posted Feb 2013

The Cave is often considered a place where consciousness is submerged as for example Plato’s Cave:

                    "The Allegory of the Cave

Plato realized that the general run of humankind can think, and speak, etc.,
without (so far as they acknowledge) any awareness of his realm of Forms.
The allegory of the cave is supposed to explain this.

In the allegory, Plato likened people untutored in the Theory of Forms to
prisoners chained in a cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can see is
the wall of the cave. Behind them burns a fire. Between the fire and the
prisoners there is a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk. The
puppeteers, who are behind the prisoners, hold up puppets that cast
shadows on the wall of the cave. The prisoners are unable to see these
puppets, the real objects, that pass behind them. What the prisoners see
and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects that they do not see.
Such prisoners would mistake appearance for reality. They would think the
things they see on the wall (the shadows) were real; they would know nothing
of the real causes of the shadows."

(From Great Dialogues of Plato (Warmington and Rouse, eds.) New York,
Signet Classics: 1999. p. 316.)

---

The Cave appears often in Genesis:

Genesis 19:30
And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his
two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar:
and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.

Genesis 23:9
That he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is
in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it
me for a possession of a buryingplace amongs you.

Genesis 23:11
Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is herein, I give
it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead.

Genesis 23:17
And the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre,
the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the
field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure.

Genesis 23:19
And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of
Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 23:20
And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for
a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.

Genesis 25:9
And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the
field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;
And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my
people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the
Hittite,

Genesis 49:30
In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the
land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite
for a possession of a buryingplace.

Genesis 49:32
The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the
children of Heth.

Genesis 50:13
For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave
of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a
possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

---

The most prominent Cave in Genesis is the one Abraham bought for his wife.

Scattered through the corpus of Blake's images are many showing a cave.
Virtually all of them reflect the import of Plato's Cave.

There is a continuous contrary in life which Blake memorializes incessantly.  For example in Plate 14 of the Marriage of Heaven and Hell we read that:
" If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would
appear to man as it is: infinite. For man has closed himself up,
till he sees all things thro' narrow chinks of his cavern."

A bit later he wrote this account of an angel's description of
our fate (Erdman 41):
"So he took me thro' a stable & thro' a church and down into
the church vault at the end of which was a mill: thro' the mill
we went, and came to a cove; down the winding cavern we
groped our tedious way."

According to Kathleen Raine:
"A great part of The Four Zoas tells of the exploration of the "Caverns of the Grave, and the 'dens', of spiritual darkness, by which he means this present world."

Beside his biblical sources Blake was indebted (among other things) to Greek myths. Here is his study of The Cave of the Nymphs:

The Cave is in the upper 
right and in the center a
stairway going up into
Eternity.

Look also at this post.

MILTON & LARK

New York Public Library

Milton

Plate 36

Blake makes a dramatic reversal in his imagery on Plate 31 of Milton. From the laboring of Los, the howling of Orc, the trembling of Enitharmon and the weeping of Beulah, he goes directly to the Nightingale singing the song of spring. With her song she brings a message of hope and joy and love expresed by a chior of birds and a chorus of flowers.

The moment of vision arrives as a flash of lightining delivered by a messenger, or by an angel in the form a lark, arriving after consultation with the Twenty-seven Churches. This moment of vision was what Blake was seeking. He had brought together the wisdom to which he had access, sought the guidance of providence, and listened for a message in response. Blake perceived that by renovating his own psyche, Milton would become restored to completeness. Together he and Milton could forgive each other, themselves and God for any errors that had led to suffering. 

Milton, Plate 31 [34],(E 130)

"Corporeal Strife      

In Los's Halls continual labouring in the Furnaces of Golgonooza
Orc howls on the Atlantic: Enitharmon trembles: All Beulah weeps

Thou hearest the Nightingale begin the Song of Spring;
The Lark sitting upon his earthy bed: just as the morn
Appears; listens silent; then springing from the waving Corn-field! loud
He leads the Choir of Day! trill, trill, trill, trill,
Mounting upon the wings of light into the Great Expanse:
Reecchoing against the lovely blue & shining heavenly Shell:
His little throat labours with inspiration; every feather
On throat & breast & wings vibrates with the effluence Divine    
All Nature listens silent to him & the awful Sun
Stands still upon the Mountain looking on this little Bird
With eyes of soft humility, & wonder love & awe.
Then loud from their green covert all the Birds begin their Song
The Thrush, the Linnet & the Goldfinch, Robin & the Wren         
Awake the Sun from his sweet reverie upon the Mountain:
The Nightingale again assays his song, & thro the day,
And thro the night warbles luxuriant; every Bird of Song
Attending his loud harmony with admiration & love.
This is a Vision of the lamentation of Beulah over Ololon!       

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

Such is a Vision of the lamentation of Beulah over Ololon" 

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

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

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

The Wild Thyme is Los's Messenger to Eden, a mighty Demon
Terrible deadly & poisonous his presence in Ulro dark            
Therefore he appears only a small Root creeping in grass
Covering over the Rock of Odours his bright purple mantle
Beside the Fount above the Larks nest in Golgonooza
Luvah slept here in death & here is Luvahs empty Tomb
Ololon sat beside this Fountain on the Rock of Odours.           

Just at the place to where the Lark mounts, is a Crystal Gate
It is the enterance of the First Heaven named Luther: for
The Lark is Los's Messenger thro the Twenty-seven Churches
That the Seven Eyes of God who walk even to Satans Seat
Thro all the Twenty-seven Heavens may not slumber nor sleep      

But the Larks Nest is at the Gate of Los, at the eastern
Gate of wide Golgonooza & the Lark is Los's Messenger
PLATE 36 [40], (E 136)

When on the highest lift of his light pinions he arrives
At that bright Gate, another Lark meets him & back to back
They touch their pinions tip tip: and each descend
To their respective Earths & there all night consult with Angels
Of Providence & with the Eyes of God all night in slumbers       
Inspired: & at the dawn of day send out another Lark
Into another Heaven to carry news upon his wings
Thus are the Messengers dispatchd till they reach the Earth again
In the East Gate of Golgonooza, & the Twenty-eighth bright
Lark. met the Female Ololon descending into my Garden            
Thus it appears to Mortal eyes & those of the Ulro Heavens
But not thus to Immortals, the Lark is a mighty, Angel.

For Ololon step'd into the Polypus within the Mundane Shell
They could not step into Vegetable Worlds without becoming
The enemies of Humanity except in a Female Form          
And as One Female, Ololon and all its mighty Hosts
Appear'd: a Virgin of twelve years nor time nor space was
To the perception of the Virgin Ololon but as the
Flash of lightning but more  quick the Virgin in my Garden
Before my Cottage stood for the Satanic Space is delusion"   

Milton, Plate 21 [23], (E 115)
"I saw in the nether
Regions of the Imagination; also all men on Earth, 
And all in Heaven, saw in the nether regions of the Imagination
In Ulro beneath Beulah, the vast breach of Miltons descent.
But I knew not that it was Milton, for man cannot know
What passes in his members till periods of Space & Time
Reveal the secrets of Eternity: for more extensive    
Than any other earthly things, are Mans earthly lineaments.
And all this Vegetable World appeard on my left Foot,
As a bright sandal formd immortal of precious stones & gold:
I stooped down & bound it on to walk forward thro' Eternity.