THE ETERNALS

The Bard who sang his prophetic song performed for a gathering in Eternity sitting

Wikimedia Commons

Book of Urizen

Copy C, Plate 13

at table. Among his audience was Milton whose 100 years in Eternity had been spent pondering the 'intricate mazes      of Providence' which he had tried to justify to man in Paradise lost. The Eternals are outside of time and space; from their lofty perch they have access to the world of time and space but they do not ordinarily enter its confines.

Four Zoas, Night VIII, Page 99, (E 371)
"Then All in Great Eternity Met in the Council of God
as one Man Even Jesus"

Jerusalem, Plate 31 [35], (E 177)
"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;"

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

The company of Eternals of which Milton was a part occupy 'Eden, the garden of God' as noted by Damon. He also states that: "They follow events below with great interest, and at times confer in the 'Council of God', where they may argue, but always act as one, as Jesus, and appear like the sun". (Page 105, A Blake Dictionary)

Milton, Plate 11 [12], (E 1O4)
"And it was enquir'd: Why in a Great Solemn Assembly           
The Innocent should be condemn'd for the Guilty? Then an Eternal rose

Saying. If the Guilty should be condemn'd, he must be an Eternal Death
And one must die for another throughout all Eternity."

Milton, Plate 20 [22], (E 114)
"Thus Milton fell thro Albions heart, travelling outside of Humanity
Beyond the Stars in Chaos in Caverns of the Mundane Shell.

But many of the Eternals rose up from eternal tables
Drunk with the Spirit, burning round the Couch of death they stood
Looking down into Beulah: wrathful, fill'd with rage!            
They rend the heavens round the Watchers in a fiery circle:
And round the Shadowy Eighth: the Eight close up the Couch

Into a tabernacle, and flee with cries down to the Deeps:
Where Los opens his three wide gates, surrounded by raging fires!
They soon find their own place & join the Watchers of the Ulro."  

Milton, Plate 40 [46], (E 141)
"Before Ololon Milton stood & percievd the Eternal Form
Of that mild Vision; wondrous were their acts by me unknown
Except remotely;" 

The Eternals are prominent in The Book of Urizen where they enlist the help of Los (time) in limiting the cascading fall initiated by Urizen's religion. The Eternals and Los cooperate in devising ways to return conditions to the balance and harmony which existed before the unity was fractured and a portion appeared externally. 

Book of Urizen, Plate 2, (E 70)
"Of the primeval Priests assum'd power,
When Eternals spurn'd back his religion;
And gave him a place in the north,
Obscure, shadowy, void, solitary.

Eternals I hear your call gladly,                                
Dictate swift winged words, & fear not
To unfold your dark visions of torment."

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,"

Book of Urizen, Plate 15, (E 78)
"The Abyss of Los stretch'd immense:       
And now seen, now obscur'd, to the eyes
Of Eternals, the visions remote
Of the dark seperation appear'd.
As glasses discover Worlds
In the endless Abyss of space,            
So the expanding eyes of Immortals
Beheld the dark visions of Los,
And the globe of life blood trembling

At the first female form now separate"                  

Book of Urizen, Plate 19, (E 78)
"They call'd her Pity, and fled

11. "Spread a Tent, with strong curtains around them
"Let cords & stakes bind in the Void
That Eternals may no more behold them"

12. They began to weave curtains of darkness           
They erected large pillars round the Void
With golden hooks fastend in the pillars
With infinite labour the Eternals
A woof wove, and called it Science"

THE BARD

Wikimedia
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 25, Copy L

The opening of Blake's Milton introduces the Bard who appears in the hall of the Eternals to sing his song of entertainment and instruction. Damon calls a bard 'a Celtic poet-prophet, of great antiquity and authority.' His role in Milton is to present a narrative story which articulates the conflict in Milton's life which was left unresolved on his death. Milton's conflicts are Blake's conflicts too, and the conflicts which must be resolved in individuals and societies before psychological development can proceed to the next stage.
 
The bard is a wisdom figure who passes on to his contemporary culture the accumulated knowledge of the past. Blake uses the Bard to introduce Songs of Experience and invites his listeners to rise like the morn 'from the slumberous mass.' Near the end of Songs of Experience, the Ancient Bard appeals to the youth to leave the past behind and recognize the 'Image of truth new born.'




Milton, Plate 2, (E 96)

"Say first! what mov'd Milton, who walkd about in Eternity
One hundred years, pondring the intricate mazes of Providence
Unhappy tho in heav'n, he obey'd, he murmur'd not. he was silent
Viewing his Sixfold Emanation scatter'd thro' the deep
In torment! To go into the deep her to redeem & himself perish?  
What cause at length mov'd Milton to this unexampled deed[?]  
A Bards prophetic Song! for sitting at eternal tables,
Terrific among the Sons of Albion in chorus solemn & loud
A Bard broke forth! all sat attentive to the awful man.
 
Mark well my words! they are of your eternal salvation:"   

. 

BLAKE'S MINIATURES

Wikipedia
William Cowper

Among the activities which occupied Blake when he was associated with William Hayley in Felpham was painting miniature portraits. One of the few Blake miniatures which have survived is of the poet William Cowper which was created in conjunction with a biography of Cowper which Hayley was writing.

Letters,(E 726)
[To James Blake]
Felpham Jany 30--1803.
...  "However this I know will set you at Ease.  I am now so full
of work that I have had no time to go on with the Ballads, & my
prospects of more & more work continually are certain.  My Heads
of Cowper for Mr H's life of Cowper have pleasd his Relations
exceedingly & in Particular Lady Hesketh & Lord Cowper

Lady H was a doubtful chance who almost adord her Cousin
the poet & thought him all perfection & she writes that she is
quite satisfied with the portraits & charmd by the great Head in
particular tho she never could bear the original Picture" 

Letters, (E 716)
..." I continue
painting Miniatures & Improve more & more as all my friends tell
me. but my Principal labour at this time is Engraving Plates for
Cowpers Life a Work of Magnitude which Mr Hayley is now
Labouring with all his matchless industry" 

Letters, (E 715)
[To Thomas Butts]
Felpham May 10. 1801
My Dear Sir
     The necessary application to my Duty as well to my old as
new Friends has prevented me from that respect I owe in
particular to you.  And your accustomed forgiveness of My want of
dexterity in certain points Emboldens me to hope that Forgiveness
to be continued to me a little longer.  When I shall be Enabled
to throw off all obstructions to success.
     Mr Hayley acts like a Prince.  I am at complete Ease. but I
wish to do my Duty especially to you who were the praecursor of
my present Fortune[.]  I never will send you a picture unworthy
of my present proficiency.  I soon shall send you several my
present engagements are in Miniature Painting Miniature is become
a Goddess in my Eyes & my Friends in Sussex say that I Excell in
the pursuit.  I have a great many orders & they Multiply
     Now--let me intreat you to give me orders to furnish every
accomodation in my power to recieve you & Mr Butts   I know my
Cottage is too narrow for your Ease & comfort we have one room in
which we could make a bed to lodge you both & if this is
sufficient it is at your service. but as beds & rooms &
accomodations are easily procurd by one on the spot permit me to
offer my service in either way either in my cottage or in a
lod[g]ing in the village as is most agreeable to you if you &
Mr Butts should think Bognor a pleasant relief from business in
the Summer.  It will give me the utmost delight to do my best
     Sussex is certainly a happy place & Felpham in particular is
the sweetest spot on Earth at least it is so to me & My Good Wife
who desires her kindest Love to Mrs Butts & yourself accept mine
also & believe me to remain
Your devoted
WILL BLAKE"

As promised in the following letter, Blake completed a miniature of Thomas Butts for his wife. He later produced the miniature of Mrs Butts which appeared in the post Blake's Phoenix. A third portrait of a member of the Butts family is also in the British Museum - young Thomas Butts who was a student of Blake.

Letters,(E 719)
[To] Mr Butts, Gr Marlborough Street
Felpham Novr. 22: 18O2
...  "But You will justly enquire why I have not written All this
time to you?  I answer I have been very Unhappy & could not think
of troubling you about it or any of my real Friends (I have
written many letters to you which I burnd & did not send) & why I
have not before now finishd the Miniature I promissd to Mrs
Butts?  I answer I have not till now in any degree pleased myself
& now I must intreat you to Excuse faults for Portrait Painting
is the direct contrary to Designing & Historical Painting in
every respect--If you have not Nature before you for Every Touch
you cannot Paint Portrait. & if you have Nature before you at all
you cannot Paint History it was Michall Angelos opinion & is
Mine.  Pray Give My Wife's love with mine to Mrs Butts assure
her that it cannot be long before I have the pleasure of Painting
from you in Person & then that She may Expect a likeness but now
I have done All I 
could & know she will forgive any failure in consideration of the
Endeavour." 
British Museum
Thomas Butts II

British Museum
Thomas Butts 

BLAKE'S PHOENIX

Thomas Butts was more than a collector of Blake's works; he was a family friend and a spiritual friend. Blake taught painting and engraving to Butts' son who was also named Thomas. It is thought that Blake made a design of hares which Mrs Butts executed as needlework. In a letter of 1800 Blake addressed a poem to Mrs Butts. A second poem addressed to her was located in the 20th century among papers belonging to one of her descendents.

British Library Online
Image of poem

British Museum 
Miniature 
Elizabeth Butts 1809

 

Letters,  (E 714)
"Felpham Octr 2d 1800
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 [ar] about London.  Mrs Butts

     Wife of the Friend of those I most revere.
     Recieve this tribute from a Harp sincere
     Go on in Virtuous Seed sowing on Mold
     Of Human Vegetation & Behold
     Your Harvest Springing to Eternal life
     Parent of Youthful Minds & happy Wife
                                     W B--
I am for Ever Yours
WILLIAM BLAKE"

Satiric Verses and Epigrams, (E 517)
  "The Phoenix to Mrs Butts
      
I saw a Bird rise from the East
As a Bird rises from its Nest
With sweetest Songs I ever heard
It sang I am Mrs Butts's Bird
And then I saw a Fairy gay                  
That with this beauteous Bird would play
From a golden cloud she came
She calld the sweet Bird by its name
She call'd it Phoenix! Heavens Dove!
She call'd it all the names of Love              
But the Bird flew fast away
Where little Children sport & play
And they strok'd it with their hands
All their cooe's it understands
The Fairy to my bosom flew                   
Weeping tears of morning dew
I said: Thou foolish whimpring thing
Is not that thy Fairy Ring
Where those Children sport & play
In Fairy fancies light & gay                  
Seem a Child & be a Child
And the Phoenix is beguild
But if thou seem'st a  Fairy thing
Then it flies on glancing Wing
                      WILLIAM BLAKE"

In Blake's poem for Mrs Butts we see a contrast between the Bird and the Fairy. Blake considers the Fairy to be an elemental spirit, the particular one associated with Urizen whose 'golden cloud' Blake mentions. Gnomes, Genii, and Nymphs are associated with the other three Zoas. Although the four are spirits they are not of the eternal world but part of nature or the vegetated world.

The Bird like the angel is a symbol of a messenger from heaven and so partakes of the eternal dimension. The Bird is called away from the Fairy to join in the play of children. If the Fairy could enter the innocent world of the child, she could join the bird/angel. If the fairy cannot 'Seem a Child & be a Child' the bird as a representative of Eternity withdraws from the natural world to its home in heaven. 
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BLAKE THE MYSTIC

Wise and Foolish Virgins

In Defending Ancient Springs, (page 73), Kathleen Raine comments on the essay William Butler Yeats wrote an 'On the Necessity of Symbolism'. In this section, using quotes from Yeasts, Raine explains some of the basis for understanding Blake as a 'mystic':

" He begins by asking what a symbol can communicate which the dialectics of modern philosophy cannot? The answer lies, he says, in the Swedenborgian doctrine of 'correspondence', the 'as above, so below' of the Smaragdine Table, to which doctrine Blake had also made his appeal before him. 'Sense impressions may indeed be used in poetry and prophecy as a key to unlock religious truths, but "correspondence", as Swedengborg called the symbolic relationship of outer and inner, is itself no product of nature or natural reason, beginning as it does with a perception of something different from natural things with which they are to be compared.' Since this very ground of all symbolic art is denied by the positivist philosophy which has created the climate of thought which most academic critics write at the present time, it is not surprising that most commentators, both of Blake and Yeats, seem more exercised in explaining away than in explaining the meaning of symbols which imply, one might say by definition, a spiritual world.
This 'absolute difference may be described as the first postulate of all mystics', Yeats continues: and already in this essay he has realized that 'the chief difference between the metaphors of poetry and the symbols of mysticism is that the latter are woven together into a complete system.'"

Below is Blake's single mention of the Smaragdine Table. Here the Spectre uses it to draw Los down into the 'reasoning abstract.' The Smaragdine Table uses symbols from alchemy which enacts physical processes to demonstrate spiritual activity. This reference in Jerusalem indicates that Blake was acquainted with the ideas presented on the tablet.

Jerusalem, Plate 91, (E 251)
"The Spectre builded stupendous Works, taking the Starry Heavens
Like to a curtain & folding them according to his will
Repeating the Smaragdine Table of Hermes to draw Los down
Into the Indefinite, refusing to believe without demonstration"

Going to Blake's Milton we find him talking about 'spiritual causes' as being the origin of what happens on Earth.

Milton, Plate 26, (E 123)
"For the various Classes of Men are all markd out determinate
In Bowlahoola; & as the Spectres choose their affinities
So they are born on Earth, & every Class is determinate
But not by Natural but by Spiritual power alone, Because
The Natural power continually seeks & tends to Destruction
Ending in Death: which would of itself be Eternal Death
And all are Class'd by Spiritual, & not by Natural power.

And every Natural Effect has a Spiritual Cause, and Not
A Natural: for a Natural Cause only seems, it is a Delusion
Of Ulro: & a ratio of the perishing Vegetable Memory."

And in Vision of the Last Judgment Blake speaks directly about the patterns in the Eternal world which are reflected in the natural world. From the Smaragdine Table this is the section Blake refers to in Vision of the Last Judgment:
 
"that which is above is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that which is above, for performing the miracle of the One Thing;"

Vision of Last Judgment, Page 69, (E 555)
"This world of Imagination is the World of
Eternity it is the Divine bosom into which we shall all go after
the death of the Vegetated body This World is
Infinite & Eternal whereas the world of Generation or Vegetation
is Finite & [for a small moment] Temporal There Exist
in that Eternal World the Permanent Realities of Every Thing
which we see are reflected in this Vegetable Glass of Nature
All Things are comprehended in their Eternal Forms in the
Divine body of the Saviour the True Vine of Eternity
The Human Imagination who appeard to Me as Coming to Judgment."

Throughout Blake's work it is the Eternal, unseen, Divine reality underlying the physical world and providing merciful structures to lead man back to Eternity which he strives to reveal to his reader. This is the pursuit of a mystic.

Jerusalem, Plate 49, (E 199)
[spoken by Erin]
"The Lord
Jehovah is before, behind, above, beneath, around
He has builded the arches of Albions Tomb binding the Stars
In merciful Order, bending the Laws of Cruelty to Peace.
He hath placed Og & Anak, the Giants of Albion for their Guards:
Building the Body of Moses in the Valley of Peor: the Body
Of Divine Analogy;" 
.

ANCIENT BLISS

Humanity is continually at the edge of the abyss contemplating the offer of growing into the fullness of the image of God in whose likeness he was created. His alternative is to create a fallen word in the likeness of his own reflection in the mirror of nature.

william-blake.org

Allegory of the Bible

Northrop Frye in Fearful Symmetry makes these comments:

Page 255

"Now when a germ of life grows it recreates it original form: if there were no original form of the oak tree the acorn would not know what to do. Similarly, the original form of the germ of life that grew out of  the world long ago is most clearly indicated by the most mature and full-grown forms of life that exist in the world, that is, human societies."
Page 256
"Our present human society, then has evolved out of a seed of life dropped in a dead world from a preceding eternal human society, and we cannot ask where the eternal society in its turn came from, because that is pushing the idea of time further than it will go. If we study this image more carefully, we can see that the seed of life was the dead world, fallen from eternity, and that the seed will have achieved its original form when the dead world, including the sun and the stars, become again a city and a garden. The achievement of a permanent human civilization and culture is  the next stage in development, and if that is not the end, we shall see what the end is  more clearly from there."
Page 259
"Man stands at the level of conscious life: immediately in front of him is the power to visualize the eternal city and garden he is trying to regain; immediately behind him is the unconscious, involuntary and cyclic energy, much of which goes on inside his own body. Man is therefore a Luvah or form of life subject to two impulses, one the prophetic impulse leading him forward to vision, the other the natural impulse which drags him back to unconsciousness and finally to death."  

In the sixth chapter of Genesis we learn of God's disgust with the world of man turned away from the vision of God.  
Genesis 6
[5] And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
[6] And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
[7] And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
[8] But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

Blake wrote these words on his Laocoon engraving as his understanding of verse six of the above quote:

"He repented that he had made Adam
(of the Female, the Adamah)
 & it grieved him at his heart"
 
For 'man' Blake uses the word 'Adam'; for the earth (or dust) he uses the word 'Adamah' which is feminine in the Hebrew. Blake's interpretation is that God repented of making man by assimilating matter, the feminine principle, into his creation of man. God attempted a new beginning with Noah wiping out all but a remnant. However that strategy was unsuccessful as have been many subsequent attempts to set man on the right path.

Blake sees that the sorrows of man are the sorrows of God too. The brokenness of our world will begin to be mended when the scattered body of man reassembles into the image of God.

Jerusalem, Plate 83, (E242)
[Los speaking}
"And sometimes the Earth shall roll in the Abyss & sometimes 
Stand in the Center & sometimes stretch flat in the Expanse,
According to the will of the lovely Daughters of Albion.
Sometimes it shall assimilate with mighty Golgonooza:
Touching its summits: & sometimes divided roll apart.
As a beautiful Veil so these Females shall fold & unfold      
According to their will the outside surface of the Earth
An outside shadowy Surface superadded to the real Surface;
Which is unchangeable for ever & ever Amen: so be it!
Separate Albions Sons gently from their Emanations,
Weaving bowers of delight on the current of infant Thames 
Where the old Parent still retains his youth as I alas!
Retain my youth eight thousand and five hundred years.
The labourer of ages in the Valleys of Despair!

The land is markd for desolation & unless we plant
The seeds of Cities & of Villages in the Human bosom

Albion must be a rock of blood:" 

Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 113 [109], (E 385)
"Listen I will tell thee what is done in the caverns of the grave 
Page 114 [110], 
The Lamb of God has rent the Veil of Mystery soon to return
In Clouds & Fires around the rock & the Mysterious tree
As the seed waits Eagerly watching for its flower & fruit
Anxious its little soul looks out into the clear expanse
To see if hungry winds are abroad with their invisible army 
So Man looks out in tree & herb & fish & bird & beast
Collecting up the scatterd portions of his immortal body
Into the Elemental forms of every thing that grows
He tries the sullen north wind riding on its angry furrows
The sultry south when the sun rises & the angry east 
When the sun sets when the clods harden & the cattle stand
Drooping & the birds hide in their silent nests. he stores his thoughts
As in a store house in his memory he regulates the forms
Of all beneath & all above   & in the gentle West
Reposes where the Suns heat dwells   he rises to the Sun
And to the Planets of the Night & to the stars that gild
The Zodiac & the stars that sullen stand to north & south
He touches the remotest pole & in the Center weeps
That Man should Labour & sorrow & learn & forget & return
To the dark valley whence he came to begin his labours anew
In pain he sighs in pain he labours in his universe
Screaming in birds over the deep & howling in the Wolf
Over the slain & moaning in the cattle & in the winds
And weeping over Orc & Urizen in clouds & flaming fires 
And in the cries of birth & in the groans of death his voice 
Is heard throughout the Universe whereever a grass grows
Or a leaf buds   The Eternal Man is seen is heard   is felt
And all his Sorrows till he reassumes his ancient bliss

Such are the words of Ahania & Enion. Los hears & weeps" 

. 

CLOD & PEBBLE 2

Blake was saying far more with his little poem The Clod and the Pebble than is apparent with a superficial reading. The Clod is more than a lump of dirt; it is the  'dust of the ground' from which God formed man. 
 
Genesis 2
[6] But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
[7] And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
[8] And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
[9] And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

 In A Blake Dictionary, S. Foster Damon tells us on Page 88: "Clay is the living substance with which the creator works." He supports his statement with passages from Milton and Jerusalem: 

Milton, Plate 28 [30], (E 126)
"Antamon takes them into his beautiful flexible hands,
As the Sower takes the seed, or as the Artist his clay"     

Courtesy of william-blake.org
Original in British Museum
Milton 
Plate 38, Copy A

Jerusalem, Plate 27, (E 173)
 "He witherd up the Human Form,
By laws of sacrifice for sin:
  Till it became a Mortal Worm:    
But O! translucent all within.

  The Divine Vision still was seen
Still was the Human Form, Divine
  Weeping in weak & mortal clay
O Jesus still the Form was thine.        
    
  And thine the Human Face & thine
The Human Hands & Feet & Breath
  Entering thro' the Gates of Birth
And passing thro' the Gates of Death"

In this passage in Milton we find the hard, unyielding, selfish pebble of our original poem as Urizen in the confrontation with Milton. Urizen attempts to subdue Milton with icy water poured on his brain. Milton replies by molding a human form of flesh for Urizen from the red clay of Succoth. 

Milton, Plate 19 [21], (E 112)
"Urizen emerged from his Rocky Form & from his Snows,
PLATE 19 [21]
And he also darkend his brows: freezing dark rocks between
The footsteps. and infixing deep the feet in marble beds:
That Milton labourd with his journey, & his feet bled sore
Upon the clay now chang'd to marble; also Urizen rose,
And met him on the shores of Arnon; & by the streams of the brooks    

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

Genesis 1
[26] And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
[27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
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