REVELATIONS

In the last 20 years of his life, after the completion of Jerusalem, Blake became more of a painter than a poet. He attempted to initiate a project which would have placed murals and tempers in public places and private homes. When this was unsuccessful he turned to creating illustrations for the literature he loved, Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, Shakespeare, Dante, Chaucer, Bunyan and the Bible. Blake began "to illustrate other poets' visions so the their readers may more easily understand their archetypal significance." (Fearful Symmetry, by Northrup Frey, Page 415)

This illustration for the Book of Revelation is an example of attention he paid to the text he was illustrating and the freedom he used to clarify the significance by his imaginative presentation.

Revelation or the apocalypse was of particular interest to Blake. The Orc cycle or the Circle of Destiny would end when the new age of the spirit begins. The imagery of the Book of Revelation is frightening and hopeful as would be expected when a new age is being born.

Near the climax of Jerusalem we find these words which relate to the image and words from Revelation:
Jerusalem, Plate 98, (E 257)

"And every Man stood Fourfold, each Four Faces had. One
to the  West
One toward the East One to the South One to the North.
the Horses  Fourfold
And the dim Chaos brightend beneath, above, around! Eyed
as the  Peacock
According to the Human Nerves of Sensation, the Four
Rivers of the Water of Life"

This watercolor represents the vision in the fifth and sixth chapters of the Book of Revelation. Two of the horses of the apocalypse and their riders are represented. Above is the Lamb opening the scroll. The threat of death and destruction is represented in the dark lower half of the picture with Death Riding on a Pale Horse. The hope and promise of the new Jerusalem appears in the Lamb of God surrounded by the light of the sun and the feathers of protection.

Blake's image captures the contrast between the threat and the promise.

Book of Revelations
5:10 They sang a new song and these are the words they sang, "You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth."
...
6:1 - Then I watched while the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice of thunder, "Come out!"
6:2 - I looked, and before my eyes was a white horse. Its rider carried a bow, and he was given a crown. He rode out conquering and bent on conquest.
6:3 - Then, when the Lamb broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature, cry, "Come out!"
6:4 - And another horse came forth, red in colour. Its rider was given power to deprive the earth of peace, so that men should kill each other. A huge sword was put into his hand.
6:5a - When the Lamb broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come out!"
6:5b-6 - I looked again and there before my eyes was a black horse. Its rider had a pair of scales in his hand, and I heard a voice which seemed to come from the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a shilling, and three quarts of barley for a shilling - but no tampering with the oil or the wine!"
6:7 - Then, when he broke the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth living creature cry, "Come out!"
6:8 - Again I looked, and there appeared a horse sickly green in colour. The name of its rider was death, and the grave followed close behind him. A quarter of the earth was put into their power, to kill with the sword, by famine, by violence, and through the wild beasts of the earth.

Blake's Bible Interpretation

Recently I've been studying Revelations with two different groups. Chapter Five came up, with the introduction of the lamb; I focused on a short phrase from verse 8: a golden bowl:

"And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

Something clicked: what did Blake do with the golden bowl? In the beginning of Thel we read:

Does the Eagle know what is in the pit?
Or wilt thou go ask the Mole:
Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod?
Or Love in a golden bowl?

Pictures from Thel

Early in Thel we're introduced to the Lilly, in fact the Lilly of the Valley, a name for Christ; the Bible also uses the lamb for that purpose, in Rev 5 in fact. So Blake took the lamb and the golden bowl from Rev 5, and used it to set the stage for Thel, one of his earliest lessons for us from the Bible. (Actually "golden bowl" also appears in 1 Chronicles 28:17  and Ecclesiastes 12:6)

Move now down to Blake's first vision of light, and note the identity that God (Christ) gave to him:

Thou ram horn'd with gold. You might say we're still in Rev 5.

(For more on this go here.)

LAMB OF GOD

Frequently Blake used a shorthand to present his ideas. He quoted words or phrases from his sources to evoke larger bodies of ideas without stating them explicitly.

On Plate 62 of Jerusalem he points our attention to various Biblical passages to expand the context of the statements he is making about Jesus and about his own developing myth. To facilitate a more complete understanding of part of Plate 62, here are some Biblical passages which incorporated phrases from Blake's poem.

John 20:11-12 - But Mary [Maglalen] stood just outside the tomb, and she was crying. And as she cried, she looked into the tomb and saw two angels in white who sat, one at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had lain.
20:13 - The angels spoke to her, "Why are you crying?" they asked. "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have put him!" she said.
20:14 - Then she turned and noticed Jesus standing there, without realising that it was Jesus.
20:15 - "Why are you crying?" said Jesus to her. "Who are you looking for?" She, supposing that he was the gardener, said, "Oh, sir, if you have carried him away, please tell me where you have put him and I will take him away."
20:16 - Jesus said to her, "Mary!" At this she turned right round and said to him, in Hebrew, "Master!"

Mark 1:2 - just as the prophet Isaiah had written: "Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way.

Numbers 10:12 - and the sons of Israel set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran.

Nehemiah 9:19 - You, in Your great compassion, Did not forsake them in the wilderness; The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, To guide them on their way, Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go

Exodus 17:5-6 - The Lord answered Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

Exodus 16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction.

John 11:24 - "I  know," said Martha, "that he [her brother Lazarus]
will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

John 11:25-26 - "I myself am the resurrection and the life," Jesus
told her. "The man who believes in me will live even though he
dies, and anyone who is alive and believes in me will never die
at all. Can you believe that?"

John 14:28 - You have heard me say, 'I am going away and I am
coming back to you. ' If you really loved me, you would be glad
because I am going to my Father, for my Father is greater than I.
And I have told you of it now, before it happens, so that when
it does happen, your faith in me will not be shaken.

Revelation 14:20 - And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.

This may seem like a lot of Biblical references for one short passage but with some effort you can find even more.

PLATE 62

Jerusalem speaking:
"These are the Daughters of Vala, Mother of the Body of death
But I thy Magdalen behold thy Spiritual Risen Body
Shall Albion arise? I know he shall arise at the Last Day!
I know that in my flesh I shall see God: but Emanations
Are weak. they know not whence they are, nor whither tend.

Jesus replied. I am the Resurrection & the Life.
I Die & pass the limits of possibility, as it appears
To individual perception. Luvah must be Created
And Vala; for I cannot leave them in the gnawing Grave.
But will prepare a way for my banished-ones to return
Come now with me into the villages. walk thro all the cities.
Tho thou art taken to prison & judgment, starved in the streets
I will command the cloud to give thee food & the hard rock
To flow with milk & wine, tho thou seest me not a season
Even a long season & a hard journey & a howling wilderness!
Tho Valas cloud hide thee & Luvahs fires follow thee!
Only believe & trust in me, Lo. I am always with thee!

So spoke the Lamb of God while Luvahs Cloud reddening above
Burst forth in streams of blood upon the heavens & dark night
Involvd Jerusalem. & the Wheels of Albions Sons turnd hoarse
Over the Mountains & the fires blaz'd on Druid Altars
And the Sun set in Tyburns Brook where Victims howl & cry.

But Los beheld the Divine Vision among the flames of the Furnaces
Therefore he lived & breathed in hope."

Jerusalem, Plate 62

As you may gather after viewing the plate, Blake is attempting to convey much more in this Plate than has been suggested in this post.

The Two Witnesses

In Milton (Erdman plate 22 [24] Lines 53-63: Blake referred to Wesley and a confederate, Whitefield, as the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11:3 As far as I know, Blake never mentioned Fox, but one may consider Blake's term in The Divine Image, 'Turk and Jew' in the nature of a quotation from Fox.

Condemning those Christians who deny the light Fox wrote, "you make a profession of Christ in his flesh, and will not own his light, which enlightens every man, which is the life in him, you are as bad or worse than the Jews, Turks, or Indians; for they will confess to that light which does condemn evil in them, but you make a profession, of Christ in the flesh, yet deny his light, which is life in him; and the Jews, Turks, and Indians, will confess to the light that does reprove them....." (from The Works of George Fox, Vol 5, p. 200)

Fox, and Blake as well, had only contempt for Established religious practices, ceremonies, dogmas, special days, etc.; for them the Spirit, the Light was what matters.

Two dissenters in two centuries provided a creative leavening that may have saved England from complete disorder and chaos. Things there were bad enough anyway. Religious dissenters beheaded England's king in 1651 just as Fox was beginning to
spread the Light of the Prince of Peace; he would "remove the cause of War", recognizing that of God in everyone.

Fox went to the steeple houses to denounce the hireling priests---and spent many a day in prison (something our poet fortunately escaped).

The 18th Century dawned; William and Mary brought a semblance of order into England, but political, economic and religious corruption abounded.

Wesley was born; he didn't denounce hireling priests; he just showed a better way. In that day the churches, the cathedrals, had minimal congregations; the average Brit would not dare to enter the place; it was reserved for the uppers, and virtually the entire population held the 'state church' in low regard. On Sundays ordinary men attended saloons, bear baitings, cockfights, you name it. Wesley went to these places, to the public square, to gathering places of miners and blessed them with the love of God. He preached to thousands in those places while a handful of pious souls went to the cathedrals. He saved England from a revolution.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

All this was part of the backdrop in which William Blake was born and grew up; Wesley died in 1791 when Blake was 24.

In England Fox and Wesley were the foremost witnesses to the kingdom of God in the 17th and 18th centuries. Blake was the third one; in the 19th century.

Here are some attributes the three men shared:
anti-war
anti political and religious corruption
anti economic exploitation

for love
for peace
for food for the poor
for industry
for integrity
for Universal inclusion

The Two Witnesses

In Milton (Erdman plate 22 [24] Lines 53-63: Blake referred to Wesley and a confederate, Whitefield, as the two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11:3 As far as I know, Blake never mentioned Fox, but one may consider Blake's term in The Divine Image, 'Turk and Jew' in the nature of a quotation from Fox.

Condemning those Christians who deny the light Fox wrote, "you make a profession of Christ in his flesh, and will not own his light, which enlightens every man, which is the life in him, you are as bad or worse than the Jews, Turks, or Indians; for they will confess to that light which does condemn evil in them, but you make a profession, of Christ in the flesh, yet deny his light, which is life in him; and the Jews, Turks, and Indians, will confess to the light that does reprove them....." (from The Works of George Fox, Vol 5, p. 200)

Fox, and Blake as well, had only contempt for Established religious practices, ceremonies, dogmas, special days, etc.; for them the Spirit, the Light was what matters.

Two dissenters in two centuries provided a creative leavening that may have saved England from complete disorder and chaos. Things there were bad enough anyway. Religious dissenters beheaded England's king in 1651 just as Fox was beginning to
spread the Light of the Prince of Peace; he would "remove the cause of War", recognizing that of God in everyone.

Fox went to the steeple houses to denounce the hireling priests---and spent many a day in prison (something our poet fortunately escaped).

The 18th Century dawned; William and Mary brought a semblance of order into England, but political, economic and religious corruption abounded.

Wesley was born; he didn't denounce hireling priests; he just showed a better way. In that day the churches, the cathedrals, had minimal congregations; the average Brit would not dare to enter the place; it was reserved for the uppers, and virtually the entire population held the 'state church' in low regard. On Sundays ordinary men attended saloons, bear baitings, cockfights, you name it. Wesley went to these places, to the public square, to gathering places of miners and blessed them with the love of God. He preached to thousands in those places while a handful of pious souls went to the cathedrals. He saved England from a revolution.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

All this was part of the backdrop in which William Blake was born and grew up; Wesley died in 1791 when Blake was 24.

In England Fox and Wesley were the foremost witnesses to the kingdom of God in the 17th and 18th centuries. Blake was the third one; in the 19th century.

Here are some attributes the three men shared:
anti-war
anti political and religious corruption
anti economic exploitation

for love
for peace
for food for the poor
for industry
for integrity
for Universal inclusion

ROBES OF BLOOD

Larry wrote:  KNEELING MAN AT THE SHORE
The features and meanings in the
 Arlington Tempera  are subject to various interpretations; that's true in fact of all works of art.  In particular color representations of this picture reveal things lost to monochrome viewers. The kneeling man at the shore wore a crimson robe. The red robe contributes to Damon (A BLAKE DICTIONARY) seeing the red-robed man kneeling on the shore as Luvah, the Zoa who represented the emotions to Blake. Raine viewing the scene from the Greek mythological perspective, saw him as Odysseus, Digby (SYMBOL AND IMAGE IN WILLIAM BLAKE) saw him in a function of Blake's larger mythological structure as Albion and Jesus who represent the total Humanity.

The contrast between Raine's (BLAKE AND TRADITION) and Digby's interpretations of the picture show how full is the meaning conveyed by the artist to two scholars in very different disciplines. The Greek origin of the setting comes out in Raine's identification of the images(and the total story) as very clearly an adaptation of the Odyssey. Cave of the Nymphs  Meanwhile the same images lend themselves in a more direct sense to the system that Blake created; to a great degree a psychological one. (Digby perceived the Greek story told here in strictly Jungian terms.)

In all likelihood Blake portrayed this image to convey all three facets of the complex character: the red robed man on the shore should be seen as by Damon as Luvah; and as by Raine as Odysseus; and as by Digby as Albion and Jesus. Since the kneeling man is wearing a red robe he suggests to Blake readers a recurring image whether we see him as Odysseus, Luvah, Jesus or Albion.

Blake used 'robes of blood' as a major symbol in his poetry. Look at:

FOUR ZOAS 1-13.8-9; E308:
"Eternity appeard above them as One Man infoldedIn Luvah[s] ROBES OF BLOOD & bearing all his afflictions"

FOUR ZOAS 2-32.13-14; E321
"The heavens were closd and spirits mournd their bondage night and day And the Divine Vision appeard in Luvahs ROBES OF BLOOD"

FOUR ZOAS 7a-87.43-4; E369|
"Turn inwardly thine Eyes & there behold the Lamb of God Clothed in Luvahs ROBES OF BLOOD descending to redeem"

Blake undoubted knew well the account in Rev. 19 of the appearance of the Christ at the end times, including verse 13: "And he was clothed with a VESTURE DIPPED IN BLOOD: and his name is called The Word of God." (KJV)

And finally we come to plate 42 in MILTON including:

"Then as a Moony Ark Ololon descended to Felphams Vale
In clouds of blood, in streams of gore, with dreadful thunderings
Into the Fires of Intellect that rejoic'd in Felphams Vale
Around the Starry Eight: with one accord the Starry Eight became
One Man Jesus the Saviour. wonderful! round his limbs
The Clouds of Ololon folded as a GARMENT DIPPED IN BLOOD
Written within & without in woven letters: & the Writing
Is the Divine Revelation in the Litteral expression:
A Garment of War, I heard it namd the Woof of Six Thousand Years"

We may suppose that Digby's acquaintance with these accounts led him to name the man on the shore Albion - Jesus.
Would anyone care to exegete this last passage? (Damon suggested spiritual war)

Ellie's reply:
I've heard it said that life is a struggle. We can't expect to get through it without being battered and bruised. In our daily relationships we endure wounds and inflict wounds, inadvertently as well as deliberately. Most of our wounds are to our psyches, both our own and those whom we attack through our own unconscious defensiveness or projection.So we ourselves can be seen as the bloodied robes. Our psyches as well as our bodies are 'a clothing for the Soul Divine'. Joy and Woe In as far as we can see ourselves as members of the 'body of Christ'(1st Corinthians 12:27), as participants in the Divine Humanity which Blake called Albion, we also are the bloodied robes which Blake spoke of in regard to Luvah and Jesus. Sacred though these raiments be, they can be washed and mended and rewoven into unsullied garments suitable for entry into Jerusalem.

ROBES OF BLOOD

Larry wrote:  KNEELING MAN AT THE SHORE
The features and meanings in the
 Arlington Tempera  are subject to various interpretations; that's true in fact of all works of art.  In particular color representations of this picture reveal things lost to monochrome viewers. The kneeling man at the shore wore a crimson robe. The red robe contributes to Damon (A BLAKE DICTIONARY) seeing the red-robed man kneeling on the shore as Luvah, the Zoa who represented the emotions to Blake. Raine viewing the scene from the Greek mythological perspective, saw him as Odysseus, Digby (SYMBOL AND IMAGE IN WILLIAM BLAKE) saw him in a function of Blake's larger mythological structure as Albion and Jesus who represent the total Humanity.

The contrast between Raine's (BLAKE AND TRADITION) and Digby's interpretations of the picture show how full is the meaning conveyed by the artist to two scholars in very different disciplines. The Greek origin of the setting comes out in Raine's identification of the images(and the total story) as very clearly an adaptation of the Odyssey. Cave of the Nymphs  Meanwhile the same images lend themselves in a more direct sense to the system that Blake created; to a great degree a psychological one. (Digby perceived the Greek story told here in strictly Jungian terms.)

In all likelihood Blake portrayed this image to convey all three facets of the complex character: the red robed man on the shore should be seen as by Damon as Luvah; and as by Raine as Odysseus; and as by Digby as Albion and Jesus. Since the kneeling man is wearing a red robe he suggests to Blake readers a recurring image whether we see him as Odysseus, Luvah, Jesus or Albion.

Blake used 'robes of blood' as a major symbol in his poetry. Look at:

FOUR ZOAS 1-13.8-9; E308:
"Eternity appeard above them as One Man infoldedIn Luvah[s] ROBES OF BLOOD & bearing all his afflictions"

FOUR ZOAS 2-32.13-14; E321
"The heavens were closd and spirits mournd their bondage night and day And the Divine Vision appeard in Luvahs ROBES OF BLOOD"

FOUR ZOAS 7a-87.43-4; E369|
"Turn inwardly thine Eyes & there behold the Lamb of God Clothed in Luvahs ROBES OF BLOOD descending to redeem"

Blake undoubted knew well the account in Rev. 19 of the appearance of the Christ at the end times, including verse 13: "And he was clothed with a VESTURE DIPPED IN BLOOD: and his name is called The Word of God." (KJV)

And finally we come to plate 42 in MILTON including:

"Then as a Moony Ark Ololon descended to Felphams Vale
In clouds of blood, in streams of gore, with dreadful thunderings
Into the Fires of Intellect that rejoic'd in Felphams Vale
Around the Starry Eight: with one accord the Starry Eight became
One Man Jesus the Saviour. wonderful! round his limbs
The Clouds of Ololon folded as a GARMENT DIPPED IN BLOOD
Written within & without in woven letters: & the Writing
Is the Divine Revelation in the Litteral expression:
A Garment of War, I heard it namd the Woof of Six Thousand Years"

We may suppose that Digby's acquaintance with these accounts led him to name the man on the shore Albion - Jesus.
Would anyone care to exegete this last passage? (Damon suggested spiritual war)

Ellie's reply:
I've heard it said that life is a struggle. We can't expect to get through it without being battered and bruised. In our daily relationships we endure wounds and inflict wounds, inadvertently as well as deliberately. Most of our wounds are to our psyches, both our own and those whom we attack through our own unconscious defensiveness or projection.So we ourselves can be seen as the bloodied robes. Our psyches as well as our bodies are 'a clothing for the Soul Divine'. Joy and Woe In as far as we can see ourselves as members of the 'body of Christ'(1st Corinthians 12:27), as participants in the Divine Humanity which Blake called Albion, we also are the bloodied robes which Blake spoke of in regard to Luvah and Jesus. Sacred though these raiments be, they can be washed and mended and rewoven into unsullied garments suitable for entry into Jerusalem.

Example of Blake Bible Interpretation

Recently I've been studying Revelations with two different groups. Chapter Five came up, with the introduction of the lamb; I focused on a short phrase from verse 8: a golden bowl.

Something clicked: what did Blake do with the golden bowl? In the beginning of Thel we read:

Does the Eagle know what is in the pit?
Or wilt thou go ask the Mole:
Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod?
Or Love in a golden bowl?

Early in Thel we're introduced to the Lilly, in fact the Lilly of the Valley, a name for Christ; the Bible also uses the lamb for that purpose, in Rev 5 in fact. So Blake took the lamb and the golden bowl from Rev 5, and used it to set the stage for Thel, one of his earliest lessons for us from the Bible.

Move now down to Blake's first vision of light, and note the identity that God (Christ) gave to him:

Thou ram horn'd with gold. You might say we're still in Rev 5.

(For more on this go here.)