Blake's Life

This is the big one! Like most people Blake's life had two halves:
In the first half Blake loved to hate; his hatreds were multiple:

He hated legalisms of every sort:
"When Satan first the black bow bent
And the Moral Law from the Gospel rent
He forg'd the Law into a Sword
And spilled the blood of mercys Lord"
Jerusalem Plate 22, lines 82-5)

He hated Religion (by which he meant false Religion!); he saw hypocrisy in every facet of Religion:
 "Let the Priests of the Raven of dawn, no longer in deadly black, with hoarse note curse the sons of joy. Nor his accepted brethren whom, tyrant, he calls free; lay the bound or build the roof. Nor pale religious letchery call that virginity, that wishes but acts not! For every thing that lives is Holy"
(MHH, Plate 27, lines 10-21, Erdman 45)

He hated War with 104 occurrences of the word:

PLATE 25 [27] of Milton (E12)1:

"The Awakener is come. outstretchd over Europe!
the Vision of God is fulfilled
The Ancient Man upon the Rock of Albion Awakes,
He listens to the sounds of War astonishd & ashamed;
He sees his Children mock at Faith and deny Providence"

(E130)
"These are the Gods of the Kingdoms of the Earth: in contrarious
And cruel opposition: Element against Element, opposed in War Not Mental, as the Wars of Eternity, but a Corporeal Strife."

In contrast to the corporeal war of this vale of tears Blake sees the Eternals engaging in War and Hunting, mental, not corporeal.

War and Religion are closely associated in Blake's mind (and in mine!):
(E150)
Cambel & Gwendolen wove webs of war & of
Religion, to involve all Albions sons,
and Jerusalem plate 52 (To the Deists) E200:
"the Religion of Jesus, Forgiveness of Sin, can
never be the cause of a War nor of a single
Martyrdom. Those who Martyr others or who cause War are
Deists, but never can be Forgivers of Sin.
The Glory of Christianity is, To Conquer by
Forgiveness. All the Destruction therefore,
in Christian Europe has arisen from Deism,
which is Natural Religion."

He hated exploitation and oppression of the poor. Study London

He hated materialism:

Vision of the Last Judgment (Erdman 564)

"I assert for My self that I do
not behold the Outward Creation & that to me it
is hindrance & not Action it is as the Dirt
upon my feet No part of Me."

All of Blake's hatreds he lumped together and referred to as the female will, female love and sometimes (unfortunately) just love:

My Shadow (Erdman 476)

"Till I turn from Female Love
And root up the Infernal Grove tI shall never worthy be
To Step into Eternity.........Let us agree to give up Love
And root up the infernal grove Then shall we return & see
The worlds of happy Eternity"

But then came the Moment of Grace, and the second half of life began. At that point forgiveness took the place of hatred:

Annotations to Watson (Erdman 619):
"The Gospel is Forgiveness of Sins & has No Moral Precepts
these belong to Plato & Seneca & Nero"

Blake was talking to God when he said this:

And throughout all Eternity
I forgive you, you forgive me.
As our dear Redeemer said:
This the Wine, and this the Bread.

Brothers, let us drink the wine and eat the bread.

Blake and the Bible

(Look also at Blake's Bible.)

If you think the Bible is inerrant, and that every word has one and only one meaning, then you don't need to read this any further.

Blake had an unparalleled freedom with the Bible. Northrup Frye referred to him as a Bible soaked protestant. He was Bible soaked, but the meanings he found in most of the Bible were distinctive and often unique: "Both read the Bible day and night,But thou read’st black where I read white."

Blake's 'white' reading will excite you and/or repel you. Or perhaps you will add your Blake to the canon; that happens.

1. The idea of Nobodaddy implies an explicit and emphatic rejection of the "sub-Christian" elements of the O.T.

Blake spent half his life figuring out who/what Christ was, after which he measured the quality and value of everything in the Bible in accordance with Christ's identity.

He rejected the thump on the head for the "healing balm".

2. He put the same value on his own visions (and vision) as he did the Bible. In visions he conversed with Isaiah and Ezekiel (see the second Memorable Fancy). My wife's favorite Blake quoted Ezekiel's conversation with Blake thusly: when Blake asked him why he behaved so erratically re living in his underwear and spending 3 months on his left side, etc., Ezekiel responded "'the desire of raising other men into a perception of the infinite". That has in fact became our calling in life.

To use slightly more orthodox terminology we could say the desire to get people thinking about Heaven (in it's larger meaning). That's a good subject for another post.

When our youngest was married (an outdoor Catholic marriage, I had a chance to read some scripture. I finished with the quotation from "Saint William Blake":
"Throughout Eternity I forgive you, you forgive me;
as the dear Redeemer said, this the wine and this the bread."

Blake was very free with his use of the Bible, as I, too strive to be, God willing.

There's much further information on this subject at Chapter Six of my Blake website.

Blake's God

Here we go again:
We start of course with the four year old who ran screaming to his mother after seeing an angry God in the window. This certainly suggests exposure to one of the angry preachers who (then and now) project their own misery onto the God they describe for their parishioners. It set for Blake the mode for 25 years of defiance for a God so destructive to the human psyche. Christians through the ages have repressed the anger they feel toward such a God. But Blake did not repress! He let it all out.

By the age of 33 in MHH he had learned to express complete skepticism re the God and the Church that directed the religious life of the multitude. In particular he saw it as a conspiracy of rogues (look again at Plate 11).

Now look again at Milton, plate 37:
"The Monstrous Churches of Beulah, the Gods of Ulro
Twelve monstrous dishumanizd terrors Synagogues of Satan.
A Double Twelve & Thrice Nine: such their divisions:"

Here Blake named twelve (prechristian) "Gods, the Twelve Spectre Sons of the Druid Albion " and twenty-seven "Heavens & their Churches" in three groups: the antediluvian ones, the Judaic ones, and the supposed Christian ones. So he's talking about fallen religion, where many of us attend every Sunday (that would be the church of Luther).

The religious denomination that goes by the name of 'Witnesses' would take great issue with the description that Blake made of Jehovah:

Jehovah was Urizen, even Satan, the Angel of the Divine Presence, the Gnostic demiurge who made a hash of his Creation. So much for that God. He was called everything but 'Loving'.

Blake mentioned Jehovah 64 times; here is a fairly representative
one from his notes on The Last Judgment:

" The Aged Figure with Wings having a writing tablet & taking
account of the numbers who arise is That Angel of the Divine
Presence mentiond in Exodus XIVc 19v & in other Places
this Angelis frequently calld by the Name of Jehovah Elohim The I am of the Oaks of Albion"

Jehovah was too often identified with condemnation:

In the Epilogue to Gates of Paradise we read:
" To The Accuser Who is The God of This World
Truly My Satan thou art but a Dunce
And dost not know the Garment from the Man
Every Harlot was a Virgin once
Nor canst thou ever change Kate into Nan
Tho thou art Worshipd by the Names Divine
Of Jesus & Jehovah thou art still
The Son of Morn in weary Nights decline
The lost Travellers Dream under the Hill"

The most derogatory figure Blake used for authorities
such as King George or Jehovah is in Nobodaddy, a term
used again in an indelicate doggerel on Erdman 499.

Blake accurately portrayed the leading spirit of the Old Testament in the above discussion.

We come now to the gospel. Blake considered Jesus the only God. In his mind Jesus was largely about forgiveness; many examples of Blake's forgiveness (the forgiveness Jesus taught can be found throughout his poetry.) The most succinct one has
appeared in these posts before: the little unnamed poem going by the name of My Spectre; here's the end of it:

"And Throughout all Eternity I forgive you; you forgive me.
As the dear Redeemer said, this the Wine and this the Bread."

If you want more on Blake and God, look at the
Spiritual Autobiography, Chapter Five.

Heaven's Gate

Among other things this abiding image provides a
link between Blake and Dylan.

Once again:
I give you the end of a golden string
Only wind it into a ball:
It will lead you in at Heaven's gate
Built in Jerusalem's wall.
Jeusalem (E 231)

What about the gate? Can you go in? go out?
The Arlington Tempera offers visual instruction
in the matter. From the beginning of time
there have been two passages: to and from
Heaven. The northern passage leads down into
the Sea of Time and Space; the southern passage
leads back up to Eternity. This is the crux of
Blake's myth, and of the Judeo-Chistian one as
well.

If you apply 'gate' to the concordance, you
will find 262 of them. Quite a few gates of
Hell! Two noteworthy gates are (1) at the little
poem, To Morning (E410):

"O holy virgin! clad in purest white,
Unlock heav's' golden gates, and issue forth;
Awake the dawn that sleeps in heaven; let light..."

And then Thel notably traversed the gate in
both directions. From the Vales of Thar (a
region in Heaven) Thel considered the subject
of mortal life, and decided to give it a whirl:
" The eternal gates' terrific porter lifted the
northern bar. Thel enter'd in & saw the
secrets of the land unknown."

But seeing the horrors of 'this vale of tears'
Thel screamed and "Fled back unhinder'd till
she came into the vales of Har."

From the Arlington Tempera you may notice a
maiden holding her bucket and making her way
upward against the stream. Like Thel she had
seen enough and refused mortality.

-----------------------------

"O Christ who holds the open gate,
O Christ who drives the furrow straight,
O Christ, the plough, 0 Christ, the laughter
Of holy white birds flying after,
Lo, all my heart’s field red and torn,
And Thou wilt bring the young green corn,
The young green corn divinely springing,
The young green corn forever singing;
And when the field is fresh and fair
Thy blessed feet shall glitter there,
And we will walk the weeded field,
And tell the golden harvest’s yield,
The corn that makes the holy bread
By which the soul of man is fed,
The holy bread, the food unpriced,
Thy everlasting mercy, Christ."

Hymn by John Masefield. How Blakean can you get!

Heaven's Gate

Among other things this abiding image provides a
link between Blake and Dylan.

Once again:
I give you the end of a golden string
Only wind it into a ball:
It will lead you in at Heaven's gate
Built in Jerusalem's wall.
Jeusalem (E 231)

What about the gate? Can you go in? go out?
The Arlington Tempera offers visual instruction
in the matter. From the beginning of time
there have been two passages: to and from
Heaven. The northern passage leads down into
the Sea of Time and Space; the southern passage
leads back up to Eternity. This is the crux of
Blake's myth, and of the Judeo-Chistian one as
well.

If you apply 'gate' to the concordance, you
will find 262 of them. Quite a few gates of
Hell! Two noteworthy gates are (1) at the little
poem, To Morning (E410):

"O holy virgin! clad in purest white,
Unlock heav's' golden gates, and issue forth;
Awake the dawn that sleeps in heaven; let light..."

And then Thel notably traversed the gate in
both directions. From the Vales of Thar (a
region in Heaven) Thel considered the subject
of mortal life, and decided to give it a whirl:
" The eternal gates' terrific porter lifted the
northern bar. Thel enter'd in & saw the
secrets of the land unknown."

But seeing the horrors of 'this vale of tears'
Thel screamed and "Fled back unhinder'd till
she came into the vales of Har."

From the Arlington Tempera you may notice a
maiden holding her bucket and making her way
upward against the stream. Like Thel she had
seen enough and refused mortality.

-----------------------------

"O Christ who holds the open gate,
O Christ who drives the furrow straight,
O Christ, the plough, 0 Christ, the laughter
Of holy white birds flying after,
Lo, all my heart’s field red and torn,
And Thou wilt bring the young green corn,
The young green corn divinely springing,
The young green corn forever singing;
And when the field is fresh and fair
Thy blessed feet shall glitter there,
And we will walk the weeded field,
And tell the golden harvest’s yield,
The corn that makes the holy bread
By which the soul of man is fed,
The holy bread, the food unpriced,
Thy everlasting mercy, Christ."

Hymn by John Masefield. How Blakean can you get!

NECESSITIES

Matthew 6:28

"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you, Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass in the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; how much more shall he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: but your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. Yet seek ye his kingdom, and these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

When I read this passage prosaically, it is hard to accept because I know rationally that everything is not provided for in the natural world. There are those who go hungry and who suffer needs of all sorts. When I first heard these words sung I recognized them as poetry. Then they spoke to me at a different level. I knew they spoke of a deeper aspect of God's provision. I knew that God's love is all encompassing, and that we need to look from a God's eye view to see that God provides for out every need.

A view of necessities: The Piper

In this letter to his friend Anna Flaxman, Blake who often suffered need because there was little market for his art, indicates that God provides the true necessities - 'The Bread of sweet Thought' and the 'Wine of Delight.' His mind and his spirit were adequately provided for even in times when his body suffered from deprivation.

"To my dear Friend Mrs Anna Flaxman"

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

NECESSITIES

Matthew 6:28

"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you, Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass in the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; how much more shall he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: but your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. Yet seek ye his kingdom, and these things shall be added unto you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

When I read this passage prosaically, it is hard to accept because I know rationally that everything is not provided for in the natural world. There are those who go hungry and who suffer needs of all sorts. When I first heard these words sung I recognized them as poetry. Then they spoke to me at a different level. I knew they spoke of a deeper aspect of God's provision. I knew that God's love is all encompassing, and that we need to look from a God's eye view to see that God provides for out every need.

A view of necessities: The Piper

In this letter to his friend Anna Flaxman, Blake who often suffered need because there was little market for his art, indicates that God provides the true necessities - 'The Bread of sweet Thought' and the 'Wine of Delight.' His mind and his spirit were adequately provided for even in times when his body suffered from deprivation.

"To my dear Friend Mrs Anna Flaxman"

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

Blake's God

Here we go again:
We start of course with the four year old who ran screaming to his mother after seeing an angry God in the window. This certainly suggests exposure to one of the angry preachers who (then and now) project their own misery onto the God they describe for their parishioners. It set for Blake the mode for 25 years of defiance for a God so destructive to the human psyche. Christians through the ages have repressed the anger they feel toward such a God. But Blake did not repress! He let it all out.

By the age of 33 in MHH he had learned to express complete skepticism re the God and the Church that directed the religious life of the multitude. In particular he saw it as a conspiracy of rogues (look again at Plate 11).

Now look again at Milton, plate 37:
"The Monstrous Churches of Beulah, the Gods of Ulro
Twelve monstrous dishumanizd terrors Synagogues of Satan.
A Double Twelve & Thrice Nine: such their divisions:"

Here Blake named twelve (prechristian) "Gods, the Twelve Spectre Sons of the Druid Albion " and twenty-seven "Heavens & their Churches" in three groups: the antediluvian ones, the Judaic ones, and the supposed Christian ones. So he's talking about fallen religion, where many of us attend every Sunday (that would be the church of Luther).

The religious denomination that goes by the name of 'Witnesses' would take great issue with the description that Blake made of Jehovah:

Jehovah was Urizen, even Satan, the Angel of the Divine Presence, the Gnostic demiurge who made a hash of his Creation. So much for that God. He was called everything but 'Loving'.

Blake mentioned Jehovah 64 times; here is a fairly representative
one from his notes on The Last Judgment:

" The Aged Figure with Wings having a writing tablet & taking
account of the numbers who arise is That Angel of the Divine
Presence mentiond in Exodus XIVc 19v & in other Places
this Angelis frequently calld by the Name of Jehovah Elohim The I am of the Oaks of Albion"

Jehovah was too often identified with condemnation:

In the Epilogue to Gates of Paradise we read:
" To The Accuser Who is The God of This World
Truly My Satan thou art but a Dunce
And dost not know the Garment from the Man
Every Harlot was a Virgin once
Nor canst thou ever change Kate into Nan
Tho thou art Worshipd by the Names Divine
Of Jesus & Jehovah thou art still
The Son of Morn in weary Nights decline
The lost Travellers Dream under the Hill"

The most derogatory figure Blake used for authorities
such as King George or Jehovah is in Nobodaddy, a term
used again in an indelicate doggerel on Erdman 499.

Blake accurately portrayed the leading spirit of the Old Testament in the above discussion.

We come now to the gospel. Blake considered Jesus the only God. In his mind Jesus was largely about forgiveness; many examples of Blake's forgiveness (the forgiveness Jesus taught can be found throughout his poetry.) The most succinct one has
appeared in these posts before: the little unnamed poem going by the name of My Spectre; here's the end of it:

"And Throughout all Eternity I forgive you; you forgive me.
As the dear Redeemer said, this the Wine and this the Bread."

If you want more on Blake and God, look at the
Spiritual Autobiography, Chapter Five.

Blake and the Bible

(Look also at Blake's Bible.)

If you think the Bible is inerrant, and that every word has one and only one meaning, then you don't need to read this any further.

Blake had an unparalleled freedom with the Bible. Northrup Frye referred to him as a Bible soaked protestant. He was Bible soaked, but the meanings he found in most of the Bible were distinctive and often unique: "Both read the Bible day and night,But thou read’st black where I read white."

Blake's 'white' reading will excite you and/or repel you. Or perhaps you will add your Blake to the canon; that happens.

1. The idea of Nobodaddy implies an explicit and emphatic rejection of the "sub-Christian" elements of the O.T.

Blake spent half his life figuring out who/what Christ was, after which he measured the quality and value of everything in the Bible in accordance with Christ's identity.

He rejected the thump on the head for the "healing balm".

2. He put the same value on his own visions (and vision) as he did the Bible. In visions he conversed with Isaiah and Ezekiel (see the second Memorable Fancy). My wife's favorite Blake quoted Ezekiel's conversation with Blake thusly: when Blake asked him why he behaved so erratically re living in his underwear and spending 3 months on his left side, etc., Ezekiel responded "'the desire of raising other men into a perception of the infinite". That has in fact became our calling in life.

To use slightly more orthodox terminology we could say the desire to get people thinking about Heaven (in it's larger meaning). That's a good subject for another post.

When our youngest was married (an outdoor Catholic marriage, I had a chance to read some scripture. I finished with the quotation from "Saint William Blake":
"Throughout Eternity I forgive you, you forgive me;
as the dear Redeemer said, this the wine and this the bread."

Blake was very free with his use of the Bible, as I, too strive to be, God willing.

There's much further information on this subject at Chapter Six of my Blake website.