CHOICE

Yale Center for British Art

Jerusalem

Plate 84

We tend to think of crises as rare events which occur, are solved and can be forgotten. But as we look back over our lifetimes from the perspective of world events, we see a series of recurring crises with solutions which prove to be temporary. In Blake's lifetime he was affected by numerous crises going on in his personal life, his city and country, and around the world.

Each crisis presents a choice. Blake's poetry was his response. He knew that if we are not conscious of the nature of our circumstances, the solution would escape us. 

Northrop Frye understood what Blake was saying better than I. In Fearful Symmetry on Page 391 he wrote:

"The redeemable Luvah of Jerusalem approaching the crisis of vision is of course not Blake himself, who got past it long ago, but England. The Los, Luvah, and Satan of the great struggle, then, are in this case Jesus, Albion, and Satan. The England Blake is addressing is Albion in a fallen or sleeping state in the World of Generation which is Luvah's world: that is, Albion at present is Luvah. The function of Jerusalem is to recreate the vision of the Jesus of action, the divine man whose impact miraculously increased the bodily and mental powers of those who saw what he was, in order to bring the impact directly to bear on the English public. This occurs at a time when both English civilization and one of its artists have reached the point we described as imaginative puberty. England has to choose weather to turn its green and pleasant land into Jerusalem or a howling waste of Satanic mills, and Blake is practically the only Englishman who can express the fact that the choice is now before England and is still a choice. Jerusalem is Blake's contribution to the struggle between the prophet and the profiteer for the soul of England, Armageddon: it is the burning-glass focusing the the rays of a fiery city on London in the hope of kindling an answering flame." 

Jerusalem, Plate 83, (E 243)
"Our Father Albions land: O it was a lovely land! & the Daughters of Beulah
Walked up and down in its green mountains: but Hand is fled
Away: & mighty Hyle: & after them Jerusalem is gone: Awake
Plate 84
Highgates heights & Hampsteads, to Poplar Hackney & Bow:
To Islington & Paddington & the Brook of Albions River
We builded Jerusalem as a City & a Temple; from Lambeth
We began our Foundations; lovely Lambeth! O lovely Hills
Of Camberwell, we shall behold you no more in glory & pride    
For Jerusalem lies in ruins & the Furnaces of Los are builded there
You are now shrunk up to a narrow Rock in the midst of the Sea
But here we build Babylon on Euphrates, compelld to build
And to inhabit, our Little-ones to clothe in armour of the gold
Of Jerusalems Cherubims & to forge them swords of her Altars   
I see London blind & age-bent begging thro the Streets
Of Babylon, led by a child. his tears run down his beard
The voice of Wandering Reuben ecchoes from street to street
In all the Cities of the Nations Paris Madrid Amsterdam
The Corner of Broad Street weeps; Poland Street languishes     
To Great Queen Street & Lincolns Inn, all is distress & woe."

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 87, (E 369)

"But I have thee my [Counterpart Vegetating] miraculous
These Spectres have no [Counter(parts)] therefore they ravin
Without the food of life Let us Create them Coun[terparts]
For without a Created body the Spectre is Eternal Death

Los trembling answerd Now I feel the weight of stern repentance
Tremble not so my Enitharmon at the awful gates    
Of thy poor broken Heart I see thee like a shadow withering
As on the outside of Existence but look! behold! take comfort!
Turn inwardly thine Eyes & there behold the Lamb of God
Clothed in Luvahs robes of blood descending to redeem
O Spectre of Urthona take comfort O Enitharmon   
Couldst thou but cease from terror & trembling & affright
When I appear before thee in forgiveness of ancient injuries  
Why shouldst thou remember & be afraid. I surely have died in pain
Often enough to convince thy jealousy & fear & terror
Come hither be patient let us converse together because  
I also tremble at myself & at all my former life"

BIOGRAPHY 4

                                    Four Zoas 

Page 5

Four Zoas, Night 1, PAGE 5, (E 302)
"In Eden,Females sleep the winter in soft silken veils 
Woven by their own hands to hide them in the darksom grave
But Males immortal live renewd by female deaths.     in soft
Delight they die & they revive in spring with music & songs
Enion said Farewell I die     I hide. from thy searching eyes    

So saying--From her bosom weaving soft in Sinewy threads
A tabernacle for Jerusalem she sat among the Rocks  
Singing her lamentation. Tharmas groand among his Clouds
Weeping, then bending from his Clouds he stoopd his innocent head 
And stretching out his holy hand in the vast Deep sublime        
Turnd round the circle of Destiny with tears & bitter sighs
And said.     Return O Wanderer when the Day of Clouds is oer

So saying he sunk down into the sea a pale white corse
In torment he sunk down & flowd among her filmy Woof  
His Spectre issuing from his feet in flames of fire
In gnawing pain drawn out by her lovd fingers every nerve 
She counted. every vein & lacteal threading them among
Her woof of terror. Terrified & drinking tears of woe
Shuddring she wove--nine days & nights Sleepless her food was tears
Wondring she saw her woof begin to animate. & not  
As Garments woven subservient to her hands but having a will
Of its own perverse & wayward Enion lovd & wept

Nine days she labourd at her work. & nine dark sleepless nights
But on the tenth trembling morn the Circle of Destiny Complete 
Round rolld the Sea Englobing in a watry Globe self balancd

A Frowning Continent appeard Where Enion in the Desart
Terrified in her own Creation      viewing her woven shadow
Sat in a dread intoxication of Repentance & Contrition 

There is from Great Eternity a mild & pleasant rest
Namd Beulah a Soft Moony Universe feminine lovely 
Pure mild & Gentle given in Mercy to those who sleep
Eternally. Created by the Lamb of God around
On all sides within & without the Universal Man
The Daughters of Beulah follow sleepers in all their Dreams
Creating Spaces lest they fall into Eternal Death                

The Circle of Destiny complete they gave to it a Space
And namd the Space Ulro & brooded over it in care & love
They said The Spectre is in every man insane & most
Deformd     Thro the three heavens descending in fury & fire
We meet it with our Songs & loving blandishments & give          
To it a form of vegetation But this Spectre of Tharmas
Is Eternal Death What shall we do O God pity & help    
So spoke they & closd the Gate of the Tongue in trembling fear 

What have I done! said Enion accursed wretch! What deed. 
Is this a deed of Love I know what I have done. I know
Too late now to repent. Love is changd to deadly Hate  
A [ll] life is blotted out & I alone remain possessd with Fears
I see the Shadow of the dead within my Soul wandering
In darkness & solitude forming Seas of Doubt & rocks of Repentance 
Already are my Eyes reverted. all that I behold                  
Within my Soul has lost its splendor & a brooding Fear
Shadows me oer & drives me outward to a world of woe
So waild she trembling before her own Created Phantasm" 

BIOGRAPHY 4 - From Chapter 1 of Larry's book Ram Horn'd With Gold.

Four Zoas
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood... (Ephesians 6:12)         The study of anyone's life from a distance of two centuries requires a lot of reading between the lines. In Blake's case we fortunately have a detailed spiritual journal reflecting the most critical years of his life. It exists in the form of an epic poem that he worked on for many years but never finished. Northrup Frye called 'The Four Zoas' "the greatest abortive masterpiece in English literature". Anyone who takes the trouble to read it three times is likely to agree with Frye; the first two readings may mystify more than enlighten.

       Once you know the man and his language, the poem takes on a fascinating personal dimension; it records the journey of a soul from darkness to light. Scholars tell us that Blake wrote, revised, cancelled, renewed, rewrote 4Z. The historical interpreters fancy that they can see the European military scene changing from line to line. But two centuries later the personal dimension, universalized into the metaphysical, is more gripping.

       In the prophetic poems between MHH and 4Z (called the Lambeth Books) we see Blake's spiritual capital running out. Even his secular critics observed the flagging of his vision and his enthusiasm during the period. He was struggling with the forces of darkness; moreover he was aware of the nature of the struggle, and he used the Ephesian epigram accordingly at the beginning of the poem.

       In 4Z Blake tells how the universal man lost Eden and fell into sleep and division and how his many selves struggled in the "torments of love and jealousy". But in the midst of these torments something happened, the selves worked through their trials, man awoke, and Eden returned. Here we have a personal adventure which is an expression of the history of mankind.

       In the first six nights we see a spiritual genius grappling with the Fall. Blake reflected in excruciating detail on the nature of fallenness. Why and how is mankind and the individual psyche so horribly messed up? The question haunts every spiritual genius and afflicts us all in varying degrees. Then in the midst of this darkness we see something strange: there are sudden glimmerings of light for a line or two, and we begin to realize that this may not be hell but purgatory. Few writers have more magnificently described the light shining among the people who walked in darkness. The really fascinating thing about 4Z is that right in the middle of it the writer suddenly changes into a new man. The exact moment is recorded in the action, and then the poem becomes a testament of faith.

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 131, (E 400)  

"As when the wind sweeps over a Corn field the noise of souls 
Thro all the immense borne down by Clouds swagging in autumnal heat
Muttering along from heaven to heaven hoarse roll the human forms
Beneath thick clouds dreadful lightnings burst & thunders roll
Down pour the torrent Floods of heaven on all the human harvest
Then Urizen sitting at his repose on beds in the bright South 
Cried Times are Ended he Exulted he arose in joy he exulted
He pourd his light & all his Sons & daughters pourd their light
To exhale the spirits of Luvah & Vala thro the atmosphere
And Luvah & Vala saw the Light their spirits were Exhald
In all their ancient innocence the floods depart the clouds 
Dissipate or sink into the Seas of Tharmas   Luvah sat
Above in the bright heavens in peace. the Spirits of Men beneath 
Cried out to be deliverd & the Spirit of Luvah wept
Over the human harvest & over Vala the sweet wanderer"

 Milton, Plate 35 [39]  

"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 4Z Blake described the Moment of Grace in terms that closely 

resemble those of Jungian psychology: Shadow and Anima (Blake 

calls them spectre and emanation) are integrated into the Self. But without

question Blake described here a personal spiritual event of the greatest

importance. It was the moment when the divided selves found

themselves reconciled into a new being under a new Lord; it marked

a radical alteration of consciousness.

       Blake had shared with mankind a consciousness which had fallen through a decision for the world, and his senses constricted through turning his back upon the Divine Vision. Less guilty than most of us, he had not reached the level of spiritual blindness which characterizes true worldliness; nevertheless he was guilty. But in his brokenness he opened himself to unmerited grace, with the inevitable gracious consequences.

       In Night vii of 4Z Urizen, the ice man, the great opposer of change, effects the metamorphosis of fierce and fiery Orc, personification of change, into a serpent who crawls up the Tree of Mystery. An earlier prophet had written about a serpent and a tree at the dawn of history, and since that day the two figures have served as the basic symbols of the Fall. But Moses had used the same combined image to symbolize healing, and Jesus harked back to it in predicting his own impending exit from the world and its purpose.

       Knowledge of the full weight of meaning carried by serpent and tree alerts us to an impending climax in Blake's story. Back in Night i Los, the spirit of prophecy, the personification of creativity, was estranged from his emanation, Enitharmon. In Night v she gave birth to Orc, but Los chained him to earth with the Chain of Jealousy, a sort of reverse Oedipus myth. This left the creative selves a sorry shambles. But now in Night vii Enitharmon's shadow meets and unites with Los' spectre, and their issue is twofold, the Whore and the Lamb. The Whore will burn, and the Lamb will find a spotless bride.

       There's no way anyone can fully appreciate the joy of this moment without having participated deeply in the agony and travail which preceded it. This is but a way of saying that there's no way anyone can appreciate the salvation of the world without having first quenched the cup of the fallenness of the world. Long ago a book appeared entitled No Cross, No Crown, suggesting that we don't appreciate what God has done simply because we refuse the cup. Jesus accepted it on our behalf, and Blake did too in his way, as does every artist or prophet or saint who follows the narrow path.

       At the Moment of Grace the narrow path opens out into the limitless expanse of eternity. The last half of Night vii marks that moment in Blake's life and describes his own personal experience of Easter. Once it happened, he went on to what Kathleen Raine called the Christianizing of his myth. In Night viii he told the old, old story in the old, old terms, but the new creation had taken place in Night vii.

Four Zoas, Night vii, Page 95 [87], (E 368)  

"But if thou dost refuse Another body will be prepared

PAGE 86 
For me & thou annihilate evaporate & be no more
For thou art but a form & organ of life & of thyself
Art nothing being Created Continually by Mercy & Love divine

Los furious answerd. Spectre horrible thy words astound my Ear
With irresistible conviction I feel I am not one of those 
Who when convincd can still persist. tho furious.controllable
By Reasons power. Even I already feel a World within
Opening its gates & in it all the real substances
Of which these in the outward World are shadows which pass away
Come then into my Bosom & in thy shadowy arms bring with thee   
My lovely Enitharmon. I will quell my fury & teach
Peace to the Soul of dark revenge & repentance to Cruelty

So spoke Los & Embracing Enitharmon & the Spectre
Clouds would have folded round in Extacy & Love uniting"

Four Zoas, Night viii, Page 98 [90], (E 371) 

"Startled was Los he found his Enemy Urizen now 

In his hands. he wonderd that he felt love & not hate 

His whole soul loved him he beheld him an infant 

Lovely breathd from Enitharmon he trembled within himself"

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.

_______________________________________________

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" 

.

. 

AWAKE MY WATCHMAN [97]

British Library
Four Zoas Manuscript
Page 97

Lines from the previous and subsequent pages have been added to clarify the meaning of page 97.

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 88 [96], (E 361) 
"Tharmas laughd furious among the Banners clothd in blood
Crying As I will I rend the Nations all asunder rending
The People, vain their combinations I will scatter them  
But thou O Son whom I have crowned and inthrond thee Strong
I will preserve tho Enemies arise around thee numberless
I will command my winds & they shall scatter them or call    
Four Zoas, Night VII, PAGE 89 [97], (E 361) 
My Waters like a flood around thee fear not trust in me
And I will give thee all the ends of heaven for thy possession
In war shalt thou bear rule in blood shalt thou triumph for me
Because in times of Everlasting I was rent in sunder
And what I loved best was divided among my Enemies  
My little daughters were made captives & I saw them beaten
With whips along the sultry sands. I heard those whom I lovd 
Crying in secret tents at night & in the morn compelld
To labour & behold my heart sunk down beneath
In sighs & sobbings all dividing till I was divided          
In twain & lo my Crystal form that lived in my bosom
Followd her daughters to the fields of blood they left me naked
Alone & they refusd to return from the fields of the mighty
Therefore I will reward them as they have rewarded me
I will divide them in my anger & thou O my King  
Shalt gather them from out their graves & put thy fetter on them
And bind them to thee that my crystal form may come to me

So cried the Demon of the Waters in the Clouds of Los
Outstretchd upon the hills lay Enitharmon clouds & tempests
Beat round her head all night all day she riots in Excess   
But night or day Los follows War & the dismal moon rolls over her
That when Los warrd upon the South reflected the fierce fires
Of his immortal head into the North upon faint Enitharmon
Red rage the furies of fierce Orc black thunders roll round Los
Flaming his head like the bright sun seen thro a mist that magnifies 
His disk into a terrible vision to the Eyes of trembling mortals

And Enitharmon trembling & in fear utterd these words

I put not any trust in thee nor in thy glittering scales
Thy eyelids are a terror to me & the flaming of thy crest
The rushing of thy Scales confound me thy hoarse rushing scales  
And if that Los had not built me a tower upon a rock
I must have died in the dark desart among noxious worms
How shall I flee how shall I flee into the tower of Los
My feet are turned backward & my footsteps slide in clay
And clouds are closd around my tower my arms labour in vain 
Does not the God of waters in the wracking Elements
Love those who hate rewarding with hate the Loving Soul
PAGE 90 [98] 
And must not I obey the God thou Shadow of Jealousy
I cry the watchman heareth not I pour my voice in roarings
Watchman the night is thick & darkness cheats my rayie sight
Lift up Lift up O Los awake my watchman for he sleepeth
Lift up Lift up Shine forth O Light watchman thy light is out  
O Los unless thou keep my tower the Watchman will be slain

So Enitharmon cried upon her terrible Earthy bed
While the broad Oak wreathd his roots round her forcing his dark way
Thro caves of death into Existence" 

Yale Center for British Art
Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts

In the passage on page 97 of the Four Zoas, Enitharmon was a victim. Tharmas, still insisting on the return of Enion, stirred up the waters of matter.  Red Orc, in his serpent form, was supported by the vengeance of Tharmas against those who thwarted him. In fear of the fury of Orc, Enitharmon longed to return to the tower which Los had built for her. Feeling confused and helpless Enitharmon called out for her watchman for protection. She appealed to Los to wake her watchman. The protection which she sought stirred into life, working through her subconscious. 

The image from Night Thoughts accompanying the text encourages us to stretch our imaginations to connect it to the words. A possible representation is of Jesus raising Lazarus. The picture would be a reminder that there is a means provided through which we can be helped to make the transition to spiritual consciousness. Enitharmon's plea is to her own inner sensitivity to a dimension of herself which can provide a passage out of the trap she is in. In Blake's system each aspect of the divided humanity must find its own way to reconnect with a unified and unifying consciousness.

Related images from Songs of Experience and There Is No Natural Religion.

.

SWEET LABOURS [95]

British Library
Four Zoas Manuscript
Page 95

Four Zoas, Night VII, PAGE 87 [95] (FIRST PORTION), (E 367)
"For far & wide she stretchd thro all the worlds of Urizens journey
And was Ajoind to Beulah as the Polypus to the Rock
Mo[u]rning the daughters of Beulah saw nor could they have sustaind
The horrid sight of death & torment   But the Eternal Promise
They wrote on all their tombs & pillars & on every Urn     
These words   If ye will believe your B[r]other shall rise again
In golden letters ornamented with sweet labours of Love
Waiting with Patience for the fulfilment of the Promise Divine 

And all the Songs of Beulah sounded comfortable notes
Not suffring doubt to rise up from the Clouds of the Shadowy Female 
Then myriads of the Dead burst thro the bottoms of their tombs
Descending on the shadowy females clouds in Spectrous terror
Beyond the Limit of Translucence on the Lake of Udan Adan
These they namd Satans & in the Aggregate they namd them Satan"

---

Second part of text is on page 95 in David Erdman's The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake. 

PAGE [95] (SECOND PORTION), (E 360)
"But in the deeps beneath the Roots of Mystery in darkest night
Where Urizen sat on his rock the Shadow brooded      
Urizen saw & triumphd & he cried to his warriors     

The time of Prophecy is now revolvd & all
This Universal Ornament is mine & in my hands
The ends of heaven like a Garment will I fold them round me      
Consuming what must be consumd then in power & majesty
I will walk forth thro those wide fields of endless Eternity
A God & not a Man a Conqueror in triumphant glory
And all the Sons of Everlasting shall bow down at my feet  
First Trades & Commerce ships & armed vessels he builded laborious  
To swim the deep & on the Land children are sold to trades 

Of dire necessity still laboring day & night till all
Their life extinct they took the spectre form in dark despair
And slaves in myriads in ship loads burden the hoarse sounding deep
Rattling with clanking chains the Universal Empire groans 

And he commanded his Sons found a Center in the Deep
And Urizen laid the first Stone & all his myriads
Builded a temple in the image of the human heart."

Yale Center for British Art
Illustrations to Young's Night thoughts

Blake's choice of a page from Night Thoughts to present his text found on page 87 and 95, provides a happy scene on two levels. The upper image is a contented, benevolent Daughter of Beulah observing below a happy group whose activities partake of the joyful Brotherhood of Eden.
 

But there is another level not visible in the picture but described in the text at the lower part of the page. In the deeps Urizen has created a world from his illusions in which he is not subject to any reality other than which he created in his own inflated fantasy of his power. In place of the human heart filled with love and compassion, he proposes to construct a temple, made with hands and in the shape of a heart. His structure for the worship of his own system of war and empire enlists 'myrids' to engage in the grand building project.
 

In Young's page of text that Blake illustrated for the published book, he highlighted the line: "Teaching, we learn; and, giving, we retain."

Second Corinthians 5
[1] For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  .

.

DESCENT [93]

British Library
Four Zoas Manuscript
Page 93

Four Zoas, Night VII, PAGE 93, (E 365)

"Life up thy blue eyes Vala & put on thy sapphire shoes
O Melancholy Magdalen behold the morning breaks
Gird on thy flaming Zone. descend into the Sepulcher
Scatter the blood from thy golden brow the tears from thy silver locks
Shake off the waters from thy wings & the dust from thy white garments

Remember all thy feigned terrors on the secret Couch
When the sun rose in glowing morn with arms of mighty hosts
Marching to battle who was wont to rise with Urizens harps  
Girt as a Sower with his seed to scatter life abroad

Arise O Vala bring the bow of Urizen bring the swift arrows of light 
How ragd the golden horses of Urizen bound to the chariot of Love
Compelld to leave the plow to the Ox to snuff up the winds of desolation
To trample the corn fields in boastful neighings. this is no gentle harp
This is no warbling brook nor Shadow of a Myrtle tree

But blood & wounds & dismal cries & clarions of war     
And hearts laid open to the light by the broad grizly sword
And bowels hidden in hammerd steel rippd forth upon the Ground 
Call forth thy Smiles of soft deceit call forth thy cloudy tears
We hear thy sighs in trumpets shrill when Morn shall blood renew   

So sung the demons of the deep the Clarions of war blew loud     
Orc rent her & his human form consumd in his own fires
Mingled with her dolorous members strewn thro the Abyss
She joyd in all the Conflict Gratified & drinking tears of woe
No more remaind of Orc but the Serpent round the tree of Mystery
The form of Orc was gone he reard his serpent bulk among 
The stars of Urizen in Power rending the form of life 
Into a formless indefinite & strewing her on the Abyss
Like clouds upon the winter sky broken with winds & thunders
This was to her Supreme delight The Warriors mournd disappointed
They go out to war with Strong Shouts & loud Clarions O Pity     
They return with lamentations mourning & weeping

Invisible or visible drawn out in length or stretchd in breadth
The Shadowy Female varied in the War in her delight
Howling in discontent black & heavy uttering brute sounds
Wading thro fens among the slimy weeds making Lamentations      
To decieve Tharmas in his rage to soothe his furious soul 

To stay him in his flight that Urizen might live tho in pain
He said Art thou bright Enion is the Shadow of hope returnd

And She said Tharmas I am Vala bless thy innocent face
Doth Enion avoid the sight of thy blue watry eyes    
Be not perswaded that the air knows this or the failing dew

Tharmas replid O Vala once I livd in a garden of delight"

Wiki Commons
Illustrations to Young's Night thoughts

The descent into the sepulcher is the descent into the world of matter with its accompanying experiences of decay and death. Vala's descent provides Urizen with weapons of war. By joining together, the Shadowy Female and Orc have reduced the form of Orc to that of a serpent who entwines himself around the Tree of Mystery, which includes the false religion of accusation, judgment and punishment. The Shadowy Female, assuming the appearance of Vala, attempts to enlist Tharmas' help in order to protect her ally Urizen.

  The image calls to mind the situation of Urizen as he may have contemplated the consequences of entering the world of mortality. The figures in the lower world show diminishment as thy drink the dark wine of mortality. Their covered sensory organs indicate that the acute perception which they enjoyed in Eternity was one of the first losses experienced in materiality.

Four Zoas, Night IX, PAGE 121, (E 390)

"Urizen wept in the dark deep anxious his Scaly form
To reassume the human & he wept in the dark deep

Saying O that I had never drank the wine nor eat the bread
Of dark mortality nor cast my view into futurity nor turnd  
My back darkning the present clouding with a cloud" 

---

Several entries in the Blake Dictionary by S Foster Damon assist in understanding Blake's imagery:

SERPENT (Page 365)
 

"The Serpent has been a symbol of evil ever since it seduced Eve into eating of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Blake gives the serpent a number of overlapping meanings, all related.
...
The longest analysis of this process is Blake's study of the degeneration of Revolution. Orc is compelled by Urizen to assume the serpent form and climb the Tree of Mystery. He has lost all semblance of his original humanity and has descended into 'that State called Satan'. He encircles Man with his twenty-seven folds of his false heavens or churches 'in forms of Priesthood'. Thus Orc, originally enemy of religion, becomes his own opposite."

DEATH (Page 99)

 

"Death of the physical body is the shedding of the shell which the soul, or spiritual body, has grown for protection in this world. It is the return of the soul to Eternity. ... The inner being knows nothing of death, death exists only in the conscious mind and the world of matter. It is learned only by Experience. ... Only man fears death...But man's fears are augmented by the religion of Satan. ... Spiritual Death is sacrificing oneself for another." Milton, PLATE 38 [43], (E 139)
"Such are the Laws of Eternity that each shall mutually
Annihilate himself for others good, as I for thee"
 

TREE OF MYSTERY (Page 410)
 

"The Tree of Mystery is the contrary of the Tree of Life. It is the Tree of Death, the forbidden tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, whose fatal fruit brings spiritual death, causing man to set mimself up as a god (Elohim - judges.) It is the system of Morality, the false church of Mystery, the Whore of Babylon. On this Tree Jesus was crucified.
...
until the web of religion falls of its own weight and entangles Urizen."  

WAR (Page 441)

"War on earth is 'energy enslaved'. It is the 'fever of the human soul'. After Luvah is sealed in the furnace of affliction, he reappears in the lower form of Orc; and the demons cry: 'Luvah King of Love, thou art the king of rage & death'. When Orc breaks loose and embraces the Shadowy Female (the debased Vala), war enters the material world." 

.

SONG OF RED ORC [91]

Confusion about the order of Blake's manuscript pages for the Four Zoas is obvious in this section. This is the second title page of Night VII which we have seen. The title Vala would seem to indicate that Blake wrote this before he changed the title of his epic. Blake added the instruction as to where the Night should begin, and that this material should come in at the end. Scholars have worked this out as best they can. Some believe that Blake was saying something about the processes of finding one's way out of the labyrinth.

British Library
Four Zoas Manuscript
Page 91

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 91, (E 363) 
"Vala
Night the Seventh
This Night began at line 153 the following comes in at the end

Thus in the Caverns of the Grave & Places of human seed 
The nameless shadowy Vortex stood before the face of Orc
The Shadow reard her dismal head over the flaming youth
With sighs & howling & deep sobs that he might lose his rage
And with it lose himself in meekness she embracd his fire 
As when the Earthquake rouzes from his den his shoulders huge
Appear above the crumb[l]ing Mountain. Silence waits around him
A moment then astounding horror belches from the Center
The fiery dogs arise the shoulders huge appear
So Orc rolld round his clouds upon the deeps of dark Urthona 
Knowing the arts of Urizen were Pity & Meek affection 
And that by these arts the Serpent form exuded from his limbs
Silent as despairing love & strong as Jealousy
Jealous that she was Vala now become Urizens harlot
And the Harlot of Los & the deluded harlot of the Kings of Earth 
His soul was gnawn in sunder
The hairy shoulders rend the links free are the wrists of fire
Red rage redounds he rouzd his lions from his forests black
They howl around the flaming youth rending the nameless shadow
And running their immortal course thro solid darkness borne   

Loud sounds the war song round red Orc in his [?triumphant] fury
And round the nameless shadowy Female in her howling terror
When all the Elemental Gods joind in the wondrous Song

Sound the War trumpet terrific Souls clad in attractive steel
Sound the shrill fife serpents of war. I hear the northern drum  
Awake, I hear the flappings of the folding banners

The dragons of the North put on their armour
Upon the Eastern sea direct they take their course
The glittring of their horses trapping stains the vault of night

Stop we the rising of the glorious King. spur spur your clouds"  

Wiki Commons
Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts

Another of the pages of the Four Zoas which Blake wrote on a discarded engraving for Night Thoughts was page 91. The image is of a bound and shackled man comfortably lying on the ground and reading a book. Female figures at various elevations surround the man. The text suggests that the condition of the man was not as pleasant as it seemed, for we are introduced to the idea that he was in a Cavern of the Grave. He certainly had diminished consciousness since he seemed unaware of being lashed down and chained. I hesitate to speculate on the identity of the man, but since he is intent on his book, he may be the reader of the Four Zoas.

The text follows a different line of thought. Orc, symbolizing aggressive male sexual energy, mated with the shadowy Vortex representing the promiscuous whore which Vala became. The union released forces which were destined to run their courses as the poem continued. Blake intimated that the darker side of the other Zoas would become involved:
"The dragons of the North put on their armour
Upon the Eastern sea direct they take their course
The glittring of their horses trapping stains the vault of night"

IF WE UNITE [85]

No one has accused Blake of consistency in writing the Four Zoas. He made constant alterations in his attempt to convey the vision of truth which he perceived. Page 85 offers particular problems because there is an instruction on a later page to move the later part of the text to a different position. Erdman in transcribing the text for the Four Zoas moved the second portion of the text to page 95. We, however, will consider page 85 as originally written including text from two pages in Erdman. The intervening pages provide detail of the process of transformation which Los underwent. Nothing can be changed in isolation; change is always an exchange whose enactment spreads repercussions in every direction.

British Library
Four Zoas Manuscript
Page 85

 Four Zoas, Night VII, PAGE 85, (E 360) 
"Astonishd filld with tears the spirit of Enitharmon beheld
And heard the Spectre bitterly she wept Embracing fervent   
Her once lovd Lord now but a Shade herself also a shade
Conferring times on times among the branches of that Tree

Thus they conferrd among the intoxicating fumes of Mystery    
Till Enitharmons shadow pregnant in the deeps beneath
Brought forth a wonder horrible. While Enitharmon shriekd
And trembled thro the Worlds above Los wept his fierce soul was terrifid
At the shrieks of Enitharmon at her tossings nor could his eyes percieve
The cause of her dire anguish for she lay the image of Death     
Movd by strong shudders till her shadow was deliverd then she ran
Raving about the upper Elements in maddning fury

She burst the Gates of Enitharmons heart with direful Crash
Nor could they ever be closd again the golden hinges were broken
And the gates broke in sunder & their ornaments defacd      

Beneath the tree of Mystery for the immortal shadow shuddering
Brought forth this wonder horrible a Cloud she grew & grew
Till many of the dead burst forth from the bottoms of their tombs
In male forms without female counterparts or Emanations   
Cruel and ravening with Enmity & Hatred & War  
In dreams of Ulro dark delusive drawn by the lovely shadow

The Spectre terrified gave her Charge over the howling Orc"

Four Zoas, Night VII, PAGE 95 [87] (SECOND PORTION), (E 367) 
"Then took the tree of Mystery root in the World of Los
Its topmost boughs shooting a fibre beneath Enitharmons couch 
The double rooted Labyrinth soon wavd around their heads  

But then the Spectre enterd Los's bosom Every sigh & groan
Of Enitharmon bore Urthonas Spectre on its wings
Obdurate Los felt Pity Enitharmon told the tale
Of Urthona. Los embracd the Spectre first as a brother
Then as another Self; astonishd humanizing & in tears    
In Self abasement Giving up his Domineering lust

Thou never canst embrace sweet Enitharmon terrible Demon. Till
Thou art united with thy Spectre Consummating by pains & labours
That mortal body & by Self annihilation back returning      
To Life Eternal be assurd I am thy real Self   
Tho thus divided from thee & the Slave of Every passion
Of thy fierce Soul Unbar the Gates of Memory look upon me
Not as another but as thy real Self I am thy Spectre
Thou didst subdue me in old times by thy Immortal Strength
When I was a ravning hungring & thirsting cruel lust & murder   
Tho horrible & Ghastly to thine Eyes tho buried beneath
The ruins of the Universe. hear what inspird I speak & be silent

If we unite in one[,] another better world will be        
Opend within your heart & loins & wondrous brain
Threefold as it was in Eternity & this the fourth Universe 
Will be Renewd by the three & consummated in Mental fires
But if thou dost refuse Another body will be prepared"

Wiki Commons 
Illustrations to Night Thoughts 

Blake's image on the page from Night Thoughts does not attempt to represent the complex action which was related in the text, but it gives an impression of some of the emotions involved. We see a man dismayed by the struggle of another man attempting to make an agonizing decision. We see a woman bent in pity or anguish over internal or external happenings. The standing figures although two, appear bound together. They are not on solid ground but are on a different plane of existence. The reclining figure in deep thought is trying to envision an unclear possibility. With his left hand he tries to hold back what may befall him. Several momentous events are related on this page. First two shades (unsubstantial beings) - the spirit of Enitharmon, and the Spectre, unite to give birth to a wonder horrible. Second the gates of Enitharmon's heart are broken, never to be mended. Third Los became susceptible to feeling emotion for the Spectre, which led him to attempt to unite with the Spectre.  

Post on page 83, post on page 87.
. 

SHADOW OF ENITHARMON [81]

"Blake's prophetic books, strange and obscure as they are at first approach, are alive in this deepest sense of all. They are on incessant process of destruction and creation, of creation through destruction. Their seeming chaos is the apparent confusion which attends swift and precipitate growth: the husks of the old are incessantly being split in sunder under the urge of the new realization." (Page 171)
William Blake by John Middleton Murry 

 

British Library
Four Zoas Manuscript
Page 81

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 80, (E 356)
"Urizen envious brooding sat & saw the secret terror
Flame high in pride & laugh to scorn the source of his deceit    
Nor knew the source of his own but thought himself the Sole author 

PAGE 81
Of all his wandering Experiments in the horrible Abyss
He knew that weakness stretches out in breadth & length he knew
That wisdom reaches high & deep & therefore he made Orc
In Serpent form compelld stretch out & up the mysterious tree
He sufferd him to Climb that he might draw all human forms    
Into submission to his will nor knew the dread result

Los sat in showers of Urizen watching cold Enitharmon 
His broodings rush down to his feet producing Eggs that hatching
Burst forth upon the winds above the tree of Mystery
Enitharmon lay on his knees. Urizen tracd his Verses   
In the dark deep the dark tree grew. her shadow was drawn down
Down to the roots it wept over Orc. the Shadow of Enitharmon

Los saw her stretchd the image of death upon his witherd valleys
Her Shadow went forth & returnd Now she was pale as Snow
When the mountains & hills are coverd over & the paths of Men shut up
But when her spirit returnd as ruddy as a morning when
The ripe fruit blushes into joy in heavens eternal halls 
Sorrow shot thro him from his feet it shot up to his head
Like a cold night that nips the root & shatters off the leaves 
Silent he stood oer Enitharmon watching her pale face   
He spoke not he was Silent till he felt the cold disease
Then Los mournd on the dismal wind in his jealous lamentation

Why can I not Enjoy thy beauty   Lovely Enitharmon
When I return from clouds of Grief in the wandring Elements
Where thou in thrilling joy in beaming summer loveliness 
Delectable reposest ruddy in my absence flaming with beauty
Cold pale in sorrow at my approach trembling at my terrific
Forehead & eyes thy lips decay like roses in the spring 
How art thou Shrunk thy grapes that burst in summers vast Excess
Shut up in little purple covering faintly bud & die    
Thy olive trees that pourd down oil upon a thousand hills
Sickly look forth & scarcely stretch their branches to the plain
Thy roses that expanded in the face of glowing morn."

Blake uses an illustrations from his engravings for Young's Night Thoughts to accompany his text for page 81 of the Four Zoas. The connection of the image to his account of the Serpent being forced to climb the Tree of Mystery, and Los feeling estranged from Enitharmon is less than obvious. We must look deeper to see the figure in the picture as Urizen as he with one hand tears down the sun, with the other aims a spear of destruction. Underfoot Urizen tramples two figures who have opposed him.

Wiki Commons
Illustrations to Night Thoughts

The text identifies the Shadow of Enitharmon as the 'image of death' which dominates Los' thoughts, (not Enitharmon herself but a dark shade from his subconscious.) Enitharmon as cold and distant, and Urizen as dominant, work together in Los' mind to produce the 'cold disease' jealousy which Blake announced on on the title page was a theme of the Four Zoas.

"The torments of Love & Jealousy in 
 The Death and Judgement. 
 of Albion the Ancient Man"

Early in Blake's passage he calls to mind that it was Jesus who was raised on the tree, lifted up and drew all men to him.
John 12
[30] Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.
[31] Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
[32] And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
.
.

FIRE & ICE [79]

My previous post LIKE A BLIGHTED TREE highlighted page 77 of the Four Zoas, the first page of one of the two distinct versions of Night VII. Harold Bloom (Blake's Apocalypse) tells us that this is the second attempt of Blake to write a satisfactory path from the dilemma which developed in the first six nights to the resolution which occurs in the final two nights. To Bloom the first writing of Night VII resulted in an impasse regarding how resolution of the conflicts could be accomplished. In the second version Blake developed strategies to bring about the breaking down of divisions among Urizen, Los and Enitharmon which set the stage for the Lamb of God to make his appearance in Night VIII.

Following only the pages in the second version of Night VII which contain images from 
Night Thoughts, we skip to page 79. We read here of the contention between Orc and Urizen, fire and ice, the forces for change and the forces for the status quo. In the mind, Orc struggled for the emotions to be expressed without restraint. Unfortunately for Orc, he had been chained to a rock deep in a cavern of the subconscious. Urizen, although free to act consciously, exercised self-restraint. His agenda was to impose limits because of his fear of futurity, and because of his inability to allow the intuitive expression of liberty. Urizen's control ironically was maintained by imposing suffering since none can fulfill his laws.

Jerusalem, Plate 31 [35], (E 177)
"No individual can keep these Laws, for they are death
To every energy of man, and forbid the springs of life;"

British Library
Four Zoas Manuscript
Page 79

Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 78, (E 354)
"Orc answer'd Curse thy hoary brows. What dost thou in this deep
Thy Pity I contemn scatter thy snows elsewhere
PAGE 79 
I rage in the deep for Lo my feet & hands are naild to the burning rock
Yet my fierce fires are better than thy snows   Shuddring thou sittest
Thou art not chaind Why shouldst thou sit cold grovelling demon of woe
In tortures of dire coldness now a Lake of waters deep
Sweeps over thee freezing to solid still thou sitst closd up     
In that transparent rock as if in joy of thy bright prison
Till overburdend with its own weight drawn out thro immensity
With a crash breaking across the horrible mass comes down
Thundring & hail & frozen iron haild from the Element
Rends thy white hair   yet thou dost fixd obdurate brooding sit 
Writing thy books. Anon a cloud filld with a waste of snows
Covers thee still obdurate still resolvd & writing still
Tho rocks roll oer thee tho floods pour tho winds black as the Sea
Cut thee in gashes tho the blood pours down around thy ankles
Freezing thy feet to the hard rock still thy pen obdurate        
Traces the wonders of Futurity in horrible fear of the future
I rage furious in the deep for lo my feet & hands are naild
To the hard rock or thou shouldst feel my enmity & hate
In all the diseases of man falling upon thy grey accursed front

Urizen answerd Read my books explore my Constellations 
Enquire of my Sons & they shall teach thee how to War
Enquire of my Daughters who accursd in the dark depths
Knead bread of Sorrow by my stern command for I am God
Of all this dreadful ruin   Rise O daughters at my Stern command

Rending the Rocks Eleth & Uveth rose & Ona rose       
Terrific with their iron vessels driving them across
In the dim air they took the book of iron & placd above
On clouds of death & sang their songs Kneading the bread of Orc
Orc listend to the song compelld hungring on the cold wind
That swaggd heavy with the accursed dough. the hoar frost ragd   
Thro Onas sieve   the torrent rain pourd from the iron pail
Of Eleth & the icy hands of Uveth kneaded the bread
The heavens bow with terror underneath their iron hands
Singing at their dire work the words of Urizens book of iron
While the enormous scrolls rolld dreadful in the heavens above   
And still the burden of their song in tears was poured forth
The bread is Kneaded let us rest O cruel father of children

But Urizen remitted not their labours upon his rock"

British museum
Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts

The image Blake chose for this page included a grieving figure, a fresh grave, a stone tablet (either of the law or a tombstone), and a wall or tomb separating the woman from the living. The figure reaching down to touch the woman points upward to an alternative experience. Options are available to the wretched conditions which man tolerates. Blake intended for his reader to confront the causes of fallenness in our world, but he intended also for man to search for the path that leads to Life.

Matthew 7
[14] For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.