Blake had many such, but we'll concentrate on one that's already had a good bit of coverage:
"Look again at the end of a famous letter (23)to Butts in 1802:
"Now I a fourfold vision see
And a fourfold vision is given to me
Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And three fold in soft Beulahs night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newtons sleep"
What can we make of the last line? Blake mentioned Newton 91 times in his Complete Works; Newton was his exemplar for purely materialistic sight, and with Bacon and Locke the Unholy Trinity of materialistic culture. Like the logical positivists if it can't be weighed or measured, it's meaningless. Things like love, hate, inspiration have no meaning.
Blake thus called single vision 'Newton's sleep'. Not scientists but people with the least imagination, the flimsiest intellect are the ones gifted with single vision. They live in Blake's Ulro.
So what's twofold vision:
"Blake explains twofold vision very nicely in the poem. Open your heart to nature, let plants and animals speak to you, let trifles fill you with smiles and tears, respond to the world in its minute particulars, the cosmos in a grain of sand, etc." (from this).
"...three fold in soft Beulahs night"? Here's a description of Beulah; perhaps you've already read it. We have the Beulah of Pilrims Progress.
The original Beulah of course came from Isaiah 62:4.
Finally we have Fourfold. (Theodore Roszak began this essay ascribing his own poem to Blake, but no matter).
Showing posts with label Thomas Butts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thomas Butts. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Blake's Ladder
Blake had many such, but we'll concentrate on one that's already had a good bit of coverage:
"Look again at the end of a famous letter (23)to Butts in 1802:
"Now I a fourfold vision see
And a fourfold vision is given to me
Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And three fold in soft Beulahs night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newtons sleep"
What can we make of the last line? Blake mentioned Newton 91 times in his Complete Works; Newton was his exemplar for purely materialistic sight, and with Bacon and Locke the Unholy Trinity of materialistic culture. Like the logical positivists if it can't be weighed or measured, it's meaningless. Things like love, hate, inspiration have no meaning.
Blake thus called single vision 'Newton's sleep'. Not scientists but people with the least imagination, the flimsiest intellect are the ones gifted with single vision. They live in Blake's Ulro.
So what's twofold vision:
"Blake explains twofold vision very nicely in the poem. Open your heart to nature, let plants and animals speak to you, let trifles fill you with smiles and tears, respond to the world in its minute particulars, the cosmos in a grain of sand, etc." (from this).
"...three fold in soft Beulahs night"? Here's a description of Beulah; perhaps you've already read it. We have the Beulah of Pilrims Progress.
The original Beulah of course came from Isaiah 62:4.
Finally we have Fourfold. (Theodore Roszak began this essay ascribing his own poem to Blake, but no matter).
"Look again at the end of a famous letter (23)to Butts in 1802:
"Now I a fourfold vision see
And a fourfold vision is given to me
Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And three fold in soft Beulahs night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newtons sleep"
What can we make of the last line? Blake mentioned Newton 91 times in his Complete Works; Newton was his exemplar for purely materialistic sight, and with Bacon and Locke the Unholy Trinity of materialistic culture. Like the logical positivists if it can't be weighed or measured, it's meaningless. Things like love, hate, inspiration have no meaning.
Blake thus called single vision 'Newton's sleep'. Not scientists but people with the least imagination, the flimsiest intellect are the ones gifted with single vision. They live in Blake's Ulro.
So what's twofold vision:
"Blake explains twofold vision very nicely in the poem. Open your heart to nature, let plants and animals speak to you, let trifles fill you with smiles and tears, respond to the world in its minute particulars, the cosmos in a grain of sand, etc." (from this).
"...three fold in soft Beulahs night"? Here's a description of Beulah; perhaps you've already read it. We have the Beulah of Pilrims Progress.
The original Beulah of course came from Isaiah 62:4.
Finally we have Fourfold. (Theodore Roszak began this essay ascribing his own poem to Blake, but no matter).
Friday, January 8, 2010
Bacon, Newton, and Locke
"I consider them [Bacon, Newton, and Locke] as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception.." (from the pen of Thomas Jefferson in a letter in 1789.
You can see what Blake thought of Bacon by reading his annotations to one of Bacon's books (Erdman pp 620-32). Here's are two examples:
"7. Bacon a Liar
AnnBacon62; E624
8. Bacon has no notion of any thing but Mammon
AnnBacon69; E625"
Re Newton look at the end of a famous letter (23) to Butts in 1802:
"Now I a fourfold vision see
And a fourfold vision is given to me
Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And three fold in soft Beulahs night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newtons sleep" (Erdman 722) Re Locke: the tabula raza was particularly offense to Blake
who thought intelligence and imagination were inherent in us
all.
In Milton plate 41 Blake dispatches all three with this:
"To cleanse the Face of my Spirit by Self-examination.
To bathe in the Waters of Life; to wash off the Not Human
I come in Self-annihilation & the grandeur of Inspiration
To cast off Rational Demonstration by Faith in the Saviour
To cast off the rotten rags of Memory by Inspiration
To cast off Bacon, Locke & Newton from Albions covering
To take off his filthy garments, & clothe him with
Imagination" (Erdman 142)
Blake felt that these three men (Blake's 'unholy trinity')
had led England into a thoroughly materialistic,
spirit-denying culture dominated by greed. What he said
about them was largely true although they had a positive
dimension as well. Blake acknowledged the positive dimension
in plate 98 near the end of Jerusalem:
"The Druid Spectre was Annihilate loud thundring rejoicing
terrific vanishing
Fourfold Annihilation & at the clangor of the Arrows of
Intellect
The innumerable Chariots of the Almighty appeard in Heaven
And Bacon & Newton & Locke, & Milton & Shakspear &
Chaucer"(Erdman 257)Although he had excoriated them systematically throughout
his works, he realized that they were not negatives, but
contraries. The essential polarity of the mind means that
the opposites are also true.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Felpham
Art today is a fiercely competition business. A successful artist must subordinate his own interests and values to those which are 'commercial', that is to say those that sell. Many young men and women abandon the field, unwilling to serve the interests of people with means and no taste!
That was Blake's dilemma from ages 23 to 43. For 20 years he struggled to make a living for Catherine and himself while remaining true to his Visions of Life. From that dilemma he was hopefully delivered in 1800.
An affluent man commonly referred to as a poetaster named William Hayley invited William Blake to occupy a cottage on his property at Felpham, a seaside town in Sussex. William and Catherine moved there with much enthusiasm hoping to get away from the 'dog eat dog' commercial milieu of London. But their enthusiasm was short lived.
Hayley proposed to engage Blake in 'profitable' art work such as painting miniatures, and he uniformly discouraged Blake from pursuing his Eternal (non-material!) interests.
Blake endured this travail --an internal one-- for three years; Hayley was kind, trying to be helpful (Blake decided that corporeal friends are spiritual enemies.) (Milton 4.26 Erdman 98).
In 1803 the travail ended; read the letter to Hayley (Erdman 756). It appears that he was miraculously delivered from the stress of 'serving two masters'; he was soon back in London. A truer friend named Thomas Butts bought whatever Blake chose to paint. The Shoreham Ancients (Use the browser to see this article; if you page down instead you may get an ad for wikipedia.) gradually gathered around his house to discuss his work, and to support Blake in other ways.
We are basically indebted to Butts and the Shoreham Ancients for the tremendous inheritance that our poet left for us.
That was Blake's dilemma from ages 23 to 43. For 20 years he struggled to make a living for Catherine and himself while remaining true to his Visions of Life. From that dilemma he was hopefully delivered in 1800.
An affluent man commonly referred to as a poetaster named William Hayley invited William Blake to occupy a cottage on his property at Felpham, a seaside town in Sussex. William and Catherine moved there with much enthusiasm hoping to get away from the 'dog eat dog' commercial milieu of London. But their enthusiasm was short lived.
Hayley proposed to engage Blake in 'profitable' art work such as painting miniatures, and he uniformly discouraged Blake from pursuing his Eternal (non-material!) interests.
Blake endured this travail --an internal one-- for three years; Hayley was kind, trying to be helpful (Blake decided that corporeal friends are spiritual enemies.) (Milton 4.26 Erdman 98).
In 1803 the travail ended; read the letter to Hayley (Erdman 756). It appears that he was miraculously delivered from the stress of 'serving two masters'; he was soon back in London. A truer friend named Thomas Butts bought whatever Blake chose to paint. The Shoreham Ancients (Use the browser to see this article; if you page down instead you may get an ad for wikipedia.) gradually gathered around his house to discuss his work, and to support Blake in other ways.
We are basically indebted to Butts and the Shoreham Ancients for the tremendous inheritance that our poet left for us.
Felpham
Art today is a fiercely competition business. A successful artist must subordinate his own interests and values to those which are 'commercial', that is to say those that sell. Many young men and women abandon the field, unwilling to serve the interests of people with means and no taste!
That was Blake's dilemma from ages 23 to 43. For 20 years he struggled to make a living for Catherine and himself while remaining true to his Visions of Life. From that dilemma he was hopefully delivered in 1800.
An affluent man commonly referred to as a poetaster named William Hayley invited William Blake to occupy a cottage on his property at Felpham, a seaside town in Sussex. William and Catherine moved there with much enthusiasm hoping to get away from the 'dog eat dog' commercial milieu of London. But their enthusiasm was short lived.
Hayley proposed to engage Blake in 'profitable' art work such as painting miniatures, and he uniformly discouraged Blake from pursuing his Eternal (non-material!) interests.
Blake endured this travail --an internal one-- for three years; Hayley was kind, trying to be helpful (Blake decided that corporeal friends are spiritual enemies.) (Milton 4.26 Erdman 98).
In 1803 the travail ended; read the letter to Hayley (Erdman 756). It appears that he was miraculously delivered from the stress of 'serving two masters'; he was soon back in London. A truer friend named Thomas Butts bought whatever Blake chose to paint. The Shoreham Ancients (Use the browser to see this article; if you page down instead you may get an ad for wikipedia.) gradually gathered around his house to discuss his work, and to support Blake in other ways.
We are basically indebted to Butts and the Shoreham Ancients for the tremendous inheritance that our poet left for us.
That was Blake's dilemma from ages 23 to 43. For 20 years he struggled to make a living for Catherine and himself while remaining true to his Visions of Life. From that dilemma he was hopefully delivered in 1800.
An affluent man commonly referred to as a poetaster named William Hayley invited William Blake to occupy a cottage on his property at Felpham, a seaside town in Sussex. William and Catherine moved there with much enthusiasm hoping to get away from the 'dog eat dog' commercial milieu of London. But their enthusiasm was short lived.
Hayley proposed to engage Blake in 'profitable' art work such as painting miniatures, and he uniformly discouraged Blake from pursuing his Eternal (non-material!) interests.
Blake endured this travail --an internal one-- for three years; Hayley was kind, trying to be helpful (Blake decided that corporeal friends are spiritual enemies.) (Milton 4.26 Erdman 98).
In 1803 the travail ended; read the letter to Hayley (Erdman 756). It appears that he was miraculously delivered from the stress of 'serving two masters'; he was soon back in London. A truer friend named Thomas Butts bought whatever Blake chose to paint. The Shoreham Ancients (Use the browser to see this article; if you page down instead you may get an ad for wikipedia.) gradually gathered around his house to discuss his work, and to support Blake in other ways.
We are basically indebted to Butts and the Shoreham Ancients for the tremendous inheritance that our poet left for us.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Awakenings
In the Gospel of John, Nicodemus heard Jesus say, "you
must be born again" representing the most significant
event in a person's life-- their awakening from a purely
physical, materialistic life to a Perception of the Infinite
(MHH, Plate 13, lines 21-23, E39).
A person with inherent gifts of imagination and insight
into their psyche may be susceptible to moments of new
insight that seem like a rebirth. (Three seminary
professors told this student that 'you must be born
again, and again, and again'.)
Such a rebirth for our poet occurred in 1804, and he
immediately reported it to his (corporeal) friend and
physical benefactor, William Hayley; in Letter 51,
dated 23 October 1804 (Erdman 756) Blake wrote:
"Suddenly, on the day after visiting the Truchsessian
Gallery of pictures, I was again enlightened with the
light I enjoyed in my youth, and which has for exactly
twenty years been closed from me as by a door and by
window-shutters." (This letter is well worth reading
but I skipped the first three paragraphs.)
Although the experience had brought Blake a
significant increase in his creative powers, you may
envision even more significant ones in the years before:
Letter 16 to Butts (Oct 2, 1800), mentioned often
recently, which I called first vision of light, appeared
to me to be more critical in Blake's spiritual development.
It was the word from God that empowered him to the
magnificent statement of faith that his great poems
represented.
The letter to Hayley was of another genre; we might call
it an attempt to express his own spiritual attitude in a
way acceptable to the 'non-spirtual friend'. In
contrast Blake poured out his heart to his really
supportive friend, Butts.
All 91 of the letters, printed on 85 pages of Erdman's
Complete Poetry and Prose... reward the reader. You may
become weary from coping with the continuous barrage of
metaphors, figures, images, etc in Blake's works of art;
turn to the letters, which offer few obstacles to good
understanding.
We read and study Blake many different ways. The 91
letters might provide other 'visions of light'.
must be born again" representing the most significant
event in a person's life-- their awakening from a purely
physical, materialistic life to a P
(MHH, Plate 13, lines 21-23, E39).
A person with inherent gifts of imagination and insight
into their psyche may be susceptible to moments of new
insight that seem like a rebirth. (Three seminary
professors told this student that 'you must be born
again, and again, and again'.)
Such a rebirth for our poet occurred in 1804, and he
immediately reported it to his (corporeal) friend and
physical benefactor, William Hayley; in Letter 51,
dated 23 October 1804 (Erdman 756) Blake wrote:
"Suddenly, on the day after visiting the Truchsessian
Gallery of pictures, I was again enlightened with the
light I enjoyed in my youth, and which has for exactly
twenty years been closed from me as by a door and by
window-shutters." (This letter is well worth reading
but I skipped the first three paragraphs.)
Although the experience had brought Blake a
significant increase in his creative powers, you may
envision even more significant ones in the years before:
Letter 16 to Butts (Oct 2, 1800), mentioned often
recently, which I called first vision of light, appeared
to me to be more critical in Blake's spiritual development.
It was the word from God that empowered him to the
magnificent statement of faith that his great poems
represented.
The letter to Hayley was of another genre; we might call
it an attempt to express his own spiritual attitude in a
way acceptable to the 'non-spirtual friend'. In
contrast Blake poured out his heart to his really
supportive friend, Butts.
All 91 of the letters, printed on 85 pages of Erdman's
Complete Poetry and Prose... reward the reader. You may
become weary from coping with the continuous barrage of
metaphors, figures, images, etc in Blake's works of art;
turn to the letters, which offer few obstacles to good
understanding.
We read and study Blake many different ways. The 91
letters might provide other 'visions of light'.
Awakenings
In the Gospel of John, Nicodemus heard Jesus say, "you
must be born again" representing the most significant
event in a person's life-- their awakening from a purely
physical, materialistic life to a Perception of the Infinite
(MHH, Plate 13, lines 21-23, E39).
A person with inherent gifts of imagination and insight
into their psyche may be susceptible to moments of new
insight that seem like a rebirth. (Three seminary
professors told this student that 'you must be born
again, and again, and again'.)
Such a rebirth for our poet occurred in 1804, and he
immediately reported it to his (corporeal) friend and
physical benefactor, William Hayley; in Letter 51,
dated 23 October 1804 (Erdman 756) Blake wrote:
"Suddenly, on the day after visiting the Truchsessian
Gallery of pictures, I was again enlightened with the
light I enjoyed in my youth, and which has for exactly
twenty years been closed from me as by a door and by
window-shutters." (This letter is well worth reading
but I skipped the first three paragraphs.)
Although the experience had brought Blake a
significant increase in his creative powers, you may
envision even more significant ones in the years before:
Letter 16 to Butts (Oct 2, 1800), mentioned often
recently, which I called first vision of light, appeared
to me to be more critical in Blake's spiritual development.
It was the word from God that empowered him to the
magnificent statement of faith that his great poems
represented.
The letter to Hayley was of another genre; we might call
it an attempt to express his own spiritual attitude in a
way acceptable to the 'non-spirtual friend'. In
contrast Blake poured out his heart to his really
supportive friend, Butts.
All 91 of the letters, printed on 85 pages of Erdman's
Complete Poetry and Prose... reward the reader. You may
become weary from coping with the continuous barrage of
metaphors, figures, images, etc in Blake's works of art;
turn to the letters, which offer few obstacles to good
understanding.
We read and study Blake many different ways. The 91
letters might provide other 'visions of light'.
must be born again" representing the most significant
event in a person's life-- their awakening from a purely
physical, materialistic life to a P
(MHH, Plate 13, lines 21-23, E39).
A person with inherent gifts of imagination and insight
into their psyche may be susceptible to moments of new
insight that seem like a rebirth. (Three seminary
professors told this student that 'you must be born
again, and again, and again'.)
Such a rebirth for our poet occurred in 1804, and he
immediately reported it to his (corporeal) friend and
physical benefactor, William Hayley; in Letter 51,
dated 23 October 1804 (Erdman 756) Blake wrote:
"Suddenly, on the day after visiting the Truchsessian
Gallery of pictures, I was again enlightened with the
light I enjoyed in my youth, and which has for exactly
twenty years been closed from me as by a door and by
window-shutters." (This letter is well worth reading
but I skipped the first three paragraphs.)
Although the experience had brought Blake a
significant increase in his creative powers, you may
envision even more significant ones in the years before:
Letter 16 to Butts (Oct 2, 1800), mentioned often
recently, which I called first vision of light, appeared
to me to be more critical in Blake's spiritual development.
It was the word from God that empowered him to the
magnificent statement of faith that his great poems
represented.
The letter to Hayley was of another genre; we might call
it an attempt to express his own spiritual attitude in a
way acceptable to the 'non-spirtual friend'. In
contrast Blake poured out his heart to his really
supportive friend, Butts.
All 91 of the letters, printed on 85 pages of Erdman's
Complete Poetry and Prose... reward the reader. You may
become weary from coping with the continuous barrage of
metaphors, figures, images, etc in Blake's works of art;
turn to the letters, which offer few obstacles to good
understanding.
We read and study Blake many different ways. The 91
letters might provide other 'visions of light'.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
WHY RAM HORN'D?
.
Perhaps it is inevitable that archetypal images appear in many settings with varied associations. The archetype of the shepherd and the sheep fits that description. In Blake the shepherd recurs as a metaphor for more than one of his characters; for instance, Tharmas is the shepherd, just as Urthona is the blacksmith, Urizen is the plowman and Luvah is the weaver. The ram, and the lion also appear as protectors of the fold the role usually assigned to the shepherd.
In Night Nine of the Four Zoas which is a culmination of the myth of the fall and division of Albion and his redemption and reunification, there is a passage amidst some of his loveliest poetic images, of the ram in that protective role. This passage deals not with Tharmas but with Luvah and his emanation Vala.
Plate 128.25-27
"So spoke the Sinless Soul & laid her head on the downy fleece
Of a curld Ram who stretchd himself in sleep beside his mistress
And soft sleep fell upon her eyelids in the silent noon of day"
For more of the passage in the Four Zoas click below.
4z's Night Nine go to 126.36, page 396
The poetic image of Vala asleep beside the ram recalls a visual image from America, A Prophecy, a scene of great peace and pastoral beauty. This image is ironically in the midst of an account of outbreak of revolution, the activity of Orc who is best known as Los's son.
Click below for links to the picture.
Asleep Beside the Ram
or
try this one.
This brings us to the poem from which Larry named this blog. In a letter to his friend Thomas Butts, Blake enclosed a poem know as 'My First Vision of Light.'
" ...And I heard his voice Mild
Saying This is My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold
Who awakest from sleep
On the sides of the Deep
On the Mountains around
The roarings resound
Of the lion & wolf
The loud sea & deep gulf
These are guards of My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold"
Here Blake himself becomes the 'Ram hornd with Gold' and identifies his 'fold' and the protective elements around it. It is a transforming experience for him, encouraging him to overcome the temptation to write for a popular audience and henceforth to speak only from the internal, eternal Imagination.
Letter to Thomas Butts
Perhaps it is inevitable that archetypal images appear in many settings with varied associations. The archetype of the shepherd and the sheep fits that description. In Blake the shepherd recurs as a metaphor for more than one of his characters; for instance, Tharmas is the shepherd, just as Urthona is the blacksmith, Urizen is the plowman and Luvah is the weaver. The ram, and the lion also appear as protectors of the fold the role usually assigned to the shepherd.
In Night Nine of the Four Zoas which is a culmination of the myth of the fall and division of Albion and his redemption and reunification, there is a passage amidst some of his loveliest poetic images, of the ram in that protective role. This passage deals not with Tharmas but with Luvah and his emanation Vala.
Plate 128.25-27
"So spoke the Sinless Soul & laid her head on the downy fleece
Of a curld Ram who stretchd himself in sleep beside his mistress
And soft sleep fell upon her eyelids in the silent noon of day"
For more of the passage in the Four Zoas click below.
4z's Night Nine go to 126.36, page 396
The poetic image of Vala asleep beside the ram recalls a visual image from America, A Prophecy, a scene of great peace and pastoral beauty. This image is ironically in the midst of an account of outbreak of revolution, the activity of Orc who is best known as Los's son.
Click below for links to the picture.
Asleep Beside the Ram
or
try this one.
This brings us to the poem from which Larry named this blog. In a letter to his friend Thomas Butts, Blake enclosed a poem know as 'My First Vision of Light.'
" ...And I heard his voice Mild
Saying This is My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold
Who awakest from sleep
On the sides of the Deep
On the Mountains around
The roarings resound
Of the lion & wolf
The loud sea & deep gulf
These are guards of My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold"
Here Blake himself becomes the 'Ram hornd with Gold' and identifies his 'fold' and the protective elements around it. It is a transforming experience for him, encouraging him to overcome the temptation to write for a popular audience and henceforth to speak only from the internal, eternal Imagination.
Letter to Thomas Butts
WHY RAM HORN'D?
.
Perhaps it is inevitable that archetypal images appear in many settings with varied associations. The archetype of the shepherd and the sheep fits that description. In Blake the shepherd recurs as a metaphor for more than one of his characters; for instance, Tharmas is the shepherd, just as Urthona is the blacksmith, Urizen is the plowman and Luvah is the weaver. The ram, and the lion also appear as protectors of the fold the role usually assigned to the shepherd.
In Night Nine of the Four Zoas which is a culmination of the myth of the fall and division of Albion and his redemption and reunification, there is a passage amidst some of his loveliest poetic images, of the ram in that protective role. This passage deals not with Tharmas but with Luvah and his emanation Vala.
Plate 128.25-27
"So spoke the Sinless Soul & laid her head on the downy fleece
Of a curld Ram who stretchd himself in sleep beside his mistress
And soft sleep fell upon her eyelids in the silent noon of day"
For more of the passage in the Four Zoas click below.
4z's Night Nine go to 126.36, page 396
The poetic image of Vala asleep beside the ram recalls a visual image from America, A Prophecy, a scene of great peace and pastoral beauty. This image is ironically in the midst of an account of outbreak of revolution, the activity of Orc who is best known as Los's son.
Click below for links to the picture.
Asleep Beside the Ram
or
try this one.
This brings us to the poem from which Larry named this blog. In a letter to his friend Thomas Butts, Blake enclosed a poem know as 'My First Vision of Light.'
" ...And I heard his voice Mild
Saying This is My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold
Who awakest from sleep
On the sides of the Deep
On the Mountains around
The roarings resound
Of the lion & wolf
The loud sea & deep gulf
These are guards of My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold"
Here Blake himself becomes the 'Ram hornd with Gold' and identifies his 'fold' and the protective elements around it. It is a transforming experience for him, encouraging him to overcome the temptation to write for a popular audience and henceforth to speak only from the internal, eternal Imagination.
Letter to Thomas Butts
Perhaps it is inevitable that archetypal images appear in many settings with varied associations. The archetype of the shepherd and the sheep fits that description. In Blake the shepherd recurs as a metaphor for more than one of his characters; for instance, Tharmas is the shepherd, just as Urthona is the blacksmith, Urizen is the plowman and Luvah is the weaver. The ram, and the lion also appear as protectors of the fold the role usually assigned to the shepherd.
In Night Nine of the Four Zoas which is a culmination of the myth of the fall and division of Albion and his redemption and reunification, there is a passage amidst some of his loveliest poetic images, of the ram in that protective role. This passage deals not with Tharmas but with Luvah and his emanation Vala.
Plate 128.25-27
"So spoke the Sinless Soul & laid her head on the downy fleece
Of a curld Ram who stretchd himself in sleep beside his mistress
And soft sleep fell upon her eyelids in the silent noon of day"
For more of the passage in the Four Zoas click below.
4z's Night Nine go to 126.36, page 396
The poetic image of Vala asleep beside the ram recalls a visual image from America, A Prophecy, a scene of great peace and pastoral beauty. This image is ironically in the midst of an account of outbreak of revolution, the activity of Orc who is best known as Los's son.
Click below for links to the picture.
Asleep Beside the Ram
or
try this one.
This brings us to the poem from which Larry named this blog. In a letter to his friend Thomas Butts, Blake enclosed a poem know as 'My First Vision of Light.'
" ...And I heard his voice Mild
Saying This is My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold
Who awakest from sleep
On the sides of the Deep
On the Mountains around
The roarings resound
Of the lion & wolf
The loud sea & deep gulf
These are guards of My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold"
Here Blake himself becomes the 'Ram hornd with Gold' and identifies his 'fold' and the protective elements around it. It is a transforming experience for him, encouraging him to overcome the temptation to write for a popular audience and henceforth to speak only from the internal, eternal Imagination.
Letter to Thomas Butts
Friday, September 4, 2009
JOB: BLAKE'S PICTURES
If you enjoy looking at pictures as I do, you can introduce yourself to Blake's understanding of Job by looking at the pictures he made. There are two series in the Blake Archive. First the plates for his book ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOOK OF JOB, which are black and white engravings. The central picture is surrounded by snippets of text from the biblical Job or elsewhere, and decorative images with symbolic meaning.
From one viewing you can get a flavor or the work, but study is required to learn more of what Blake wanted to convey of his vision.
Click on this link and page down to the illustrations and the text in this Boston College website.
Illustrations
In the Archive you will also find Blake's watercolors of the same scenes from Job which he produce for Thomas Butts. Absent are the symbolic borders, but present are the lovely colors. For aesthetic purposes these pictures are the most satisfying, but they convey less of Blake's understanding of Job.
Click on this link to get the Archive for Illustrations to the Book of Job, The Butts Set.
Butts Watercolors
Enjoy!
From one viewing you can get a flavor or the work, but study is required to learn more of what Blake wanted to convey of his vision.
Click on this link and page down to the illustrations and the text in this Boston College website.
Illustrations
In the Archive you will also find Blake's watercolors of the same scenes from Job which he produce for Thomas Butts. Absent are the symbolic borders, but present are the lovely colors. For aesthetic purposes these pictures are the most satisfying, but they convey less of Blake's understanding of Job.
Click on this link to get the Archive for Illustrations to the Book of Job, The Butts Set.
Butts Watercolors
Enjoy!
JOB: BLAKE'S PICTURES
If you enjoy looking at pictures as I do, you can introduce yourself to Blake's understanding of Job by looking at the pictures he made. There are two series in the Blake Archive. First the plates for his book ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE BOOK OF JOB, which are black and white engravings. The central picture is surrounded by snippets of text from the biblical Job or elsewhere, and decorative images with symbolic meaning.
From one viewing you can get a flavor or the work, but study is required to learn more of what Blake wanted to convey of his vision.
Click on this link and page down to the illustrations and the text in this Boston College website.
Illustrations
In the Archive you will also find Blake's watercolors of the same scenes from Job which he produce for Thomas Butts. Absent are the symbolic borders, but present are the lovely colors. For aesthetic purposes these pictures are the most satisfying, but they convey less of Blake's understanding of Job.
Click on this link to get the Archive for Illustrations to the Book of Job, The Butts Set.
Butts Watercolors
Enjoy!
From one viewing you can get a flavor or the work, but study is required to learn more of what Blake wanted to convey of his vision.
Click on this link and page down to the illustrations and the text in this Boston College website.
Illustrations
In the Archive you will also find Blake's watercolors of the same scenes from Job which he produce for Thomas Butts. Absent are the symbolic borders, but present are the lovely colors. For aesthetic purposes these pictures are the most satisfying, but they convey less of Blake's understanding of Job.
Click on this link to get the Archive for Illustrations to the Book of Job, The Butts Set.
Butts Watercolors
Enjoy!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
FOURFOLD READING
One of the better known sayings of William Blake concerns "Fourfold Vision." This is from a letter he wrote to his long term friend and supporter Thomas Butts.
"Now I a fourfold vision see
And a fourfold vision is given to me
Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And three fold in soft Beulahs night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newtons sleep"
Blake's ability to envision the psyche as fourfold can be used as a guide to reading Blake on for different levels.
1) It would be possible to read him at the literal level as an account of material, sensual events. This may be the most difficult way to read him because his account would be of historical characters meeting mythological or fictional ones, people being thrown into furnaces or ground up by harrows, curtains being hung in the far reaches of space, and individuals dividing into multiple individuals. Our mind would reject these images as accounts of material activities just as we reject reading all mythologies as history. This kind of reaction could be said to be that of Tharmas. ("a portion of the Soul discerned by the five Senses")
2)We may read Blake on a reasoning level, associating his images with thought forms or patterns which are familiar to our rational minds. So we split off various dimensions of his thought and influences and look at these objectively building systems to explain some aspect of the body of work he produced. In this case we are viewing Blake as Urizen (symbolizing Reason) would view him. Blake portrayed this level of thinking with his famous image of Newton. Image of Newton
3)At the level of emotion we may become involved with the processes he describes, as psychic realities. We begin to see our own psychological process in terms of the characteristics and functioning of Blake's Men, Emanations, and Specters. As Luvah (who include all emotions) we enter into the dynamics of the interactions among Blake's portrayals of our inner functions.
4)The level of imagination represents a transformation or conversion to a spiritual perception. At this level the spirit will speak through the words, not just with or in the words. If Blake is inspired himself, (and he seemed to believe that he was a prophet in the same sense as the OT prophets;) his words can transmit to our spirits through a direct connection with the spirit in him. This level of communication, which Blake called Imagination, was his primary interest. His time, his energy, his goods, his thought, his labor were directed toward expressing Imagination and trying to awaken it in others. Through Imagination we get the fullest understanding of Blake. Non-sensory perception is represented by Urthona (the creative imagination of the individual.)
America a Prophecy, Title Page "In the mental realm of the
prophetic cloud a female and a male philosopher are assisted by a page-turning child . The alert female is already doing so, for the girl at her back is directing us, not her, to the subtitle and the battlefield....The leaping female turns the page." (Erdman)
If we focus on which of these fourfold methods we are using to read (or to understand one another, or to teach our children, or preform various other tasks), we gain a better understanding of the meaning for Blake of fourfold vision, and a greater ability to perceive fourfold reality.
"Now I a fourfold vision see
And a fourfold vision is given to me
Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And three fold in soft Beulahs night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newtons sleep"
Blake's ability to envision the psyche as fourfold can be used as a guide to reading Blake on for different levels.
1) It would be possible to read him at the literal level as an account of material, sensual events. This may be the most difficult way to read him because his account would be of historical characters meeting mythological or fictional ones, people being thrown into furnaces or ground up by harrows, curtains being hung in the far reaches of space, and individuals dividing into multiple individuals. Our mind would reject these images as accounts of material activities just as we reject reading all mythologies as history. This kind of reaction could be said to be that of Tharmas. ("a portion of the Soul discerned by the five Senses")
2)We may read Blake on a reasoning level, associating his images with thought forms or patterns which are familiar to our rational minds. So we split off various dimensions of his thought and influences and look at these objectively building systems to explain some aspect of the body of work he produced. In this case we are viewing Blake as Urizen (symbolizing Reason) would view him. Blake portrayed this level of thinking with his famous image of Newton. Image of Newton
3)At the level of emotion we may become involved with the processes he describes, as psychic realities. We begin to see our own psychological process in terms of the characteristics and functioning of Blake's Men, Emanations, and Specters. As Luvah (who include all emotions) we enter into the dynamics of the interactions among Blake's portrayals of our inner functions.
4)The level of imagination represents a transformation or conversion to a spiritual perception. At this level the spirit will speak through the words, not just with or in the words. If Blake is inspired himself, (and he seemed to believe that he was a prophet in the same sense as the OT prophets;) his words can transmit to our spirits through a direct connection with the spirit in him. This level of communication, which Blake called Imagination, was his primary interest. His time, his energy, his goods, his thought, his labor were directed toward expressing Imagination and trying to awaken it in others. Through Imagination we get the fullest understanding of Blake. Non-sensory perception is represented by Urthona (the creative imagination of the individual.)
America a Prophecy, Title Page "In the mental realm of the
prophetic cloud a female and a male philosopher are assisted by a page-turning child . The alert female is already doing so, for the girl at her back is directing us, not her, to the subtitle and the battlefield....The leaping female turns the page." (Erdman)
If we focus on which of these fourfold methods we are using to read (or to understand one another, or to teach our children, or preform various other tasks), we gain a better understanding of the meaning for Blake of fourfold vision, and a greater ability to perceive fourfold reality.
FOURFOLD READING
One of the better known sayings of William Blake concerns "Fourfold Vision." This is from a letter he wrote to his long term friend and supporter Thomas Butts.
"Now I a fourfold vision see
And a fourfold vision is given to me
Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And three fold in soft Beulahs night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newtons sleep"
Blake's ability to envision the psyche as fourfold can be used as a guide to reading Blake on for different levels.
1) It would be possible to read him at the literal level as an account of material, sensual events. This may be the most difficult way to read him because his account would be of historical characters meeting mythological or fictional ones, people being thrown into furnaces or ground up by harrows, curtains being hung in the far reaches of space, and individuals dividing into multiple individuals. Our mind would reject these images as accounts of material activities just as we reject reading all mythologies as history. This kind of reaction could be said to be that of Tharmas. ("a portion of the Soul discerned by the five Senses")
2)We may read Blake on a reasoning level, associating his images with thought forms or patterns which are familiar to our rational minds. So we split off various dimensions of his thought and influences and look at these objectively building systems to explain some aspect of the body of work he produced. In this case we are viewing Blake as Urizen (symbolizing Reason) would view him. Blake portrayed this level of thinking with his famous image of Newton. Image of Newton
3)At the level of emotion we may become involved with the processes he describes, as psychic realities. We begin to see our own psychological process in terms of the characteristics and functioning of Blake's Men, Emanations, and Specters. As Luvah (who include all emotions) we enter into the dynamics of the interactions among Blake's portrayals of our inner functions.
4)The level of imagination represents a transformation or conversion to a spiritual perception. At this level the spirit will speak through the words, not just with or in the words. If Blake is inspired himself, (and he seemed to believe that he was a prophet in the same sense as the OT prophets;) his words can transmit to our spirits through a direct connection with the spirit in him. This level of communication, which Blake called Imagination, was his primary interest. His time, his energy, his goods, his thought, his labor were directed toward expressing Imagination and trying to awaken it in others. Through Imagination we get the fullest understanding of Blake. Non-sensory perception is represented by Urthona (the creative imagination of the individual.)
America a Prophecy, Title Page "In the mental realm of the
prophetic cloud a female and a male philosopher are assisted by a page-turning child . The alert female is already doing so, for the girl at her back is directing us, not her, to the subtitle and the battlefield....The leaping female turns the page." (Erdman)
If we focus on which of these fourfold methods we are using to read (or to understand one another, or to teach our children, or preform various other tasks), we gain a better understanding of the meaning for Blake of fourfold vision, and a greater ability to perceive fourfold reality.
"Now I a fourfold vision see
And a fourfold vision is given to me
Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And three fold in soft Beulahs night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newtons sleep"
Blake's ability to envision the psyche as fourfold can be used as a guide to reading Blake on for different levels.
1) It would be possible to read him at the literal level as an account of material, sensual events. This may be the most difficult way to read him because his account would be of historical characters meeting mythological or fictional ones, people being thrown into furnaces or ground up by harrows, curtains being hung in the far reaches of space, and individuals dividing into multiple individuals. Our mind would reject these images as accounts of material activities just as we reject reading all mythologies as history. This kind of reaction could be said to be that of Tharmas. ("a portion of the Soul discerned by the five Senses")
2)We may read Blake on a reasoning level, associating his images with thought forms or patterns which are familiar to our rational minds. So we split off various dimensions of his thought and influences and look at these objectively building systems to explain some aspect of the body of work he produced. In this case we are viewing Blake as Urizen (symbolizing Reason) would view him. Blake portrayed this level of thinking with his famous image of Newton. Image of Newton
3)At the level of emotion we may become involved with the processes he describes, as psychic realities. We begin to see our own psychological process in terms of the characteristics and functioning of Blake's Men, Emanations, and Specters. As Luvah (who include all emotions) we enter into the dynamics of the interactions among Blake's portrayals of our inner functions.
4)The level of imagination represents a transformation or conversion to a spiritual perception. At this level the spirit will speak through the words, not just with or in the words. If Blake is inspired himself, (and he seemed to believe that he was a prophet in the same sense as the OT prophets;) his words can transmit to our spirits through a direct connection with the spirit in him. This level of communication, which Blake called Imagination, was his primary interest. His time, his energy, his goods, his thought, his labor were directed toward expressing Imagination and trying to awaken it in others. Through Imagination we get the fullest understanding of Blake. Non-sensory perception is represented by Urthona (the creative imagination of the individual.)
America a Prophecy, Title Page "In the mental realm of the
prophetic cloud a female and a male philosopher are assisted by a page-turning child . The alert female is already doing so, for the girl at her back is directing us, not her, to the subtitle and the battlefield....The leaping female turns the page." (Erdman)
If we focus on which of these fourfold methods we are using to read (or to understand one another, or to teach our children, or preform various other tasks), we gain a better understanding of the meaning for Blake of fourfold vision, and a greater ability to perceive fourfold reality.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Bacon, Newton, and Locke
"I consider them [Bacon, Newton, and Locke] as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception.." (from the pen of Thomas Jefferson in a letter in 1789.
You can see what Blake thought of Bacon by reading his annotations to one of Bacon's books (Erdman pp 620-32). Here's are two examples:
"7. Bacon a Liar
AnnBacon62; E624
8. Bacon has no notion of any thing but Mammon
AnnBacon69; E625"
Re Newton look at the end of a famous letter (23) to Butts in 1802:
"Now I a fourfold vision see
And a fourfold vision is given to me
Tis fourfold in my supreme delight
And three fold in soft Beulahs night
And twofold Always. May God us keep
From Single vision & Newtons sleep" (Erdman 722) Re Locke: the tabula raza was particularly offense to Blake who thought intelligence and imagination were inherent in us all.
In Milton plate 41 Blake dispatches all three with this: "To cleanse the Face of my Spirit by Self-examination. To bathe in the Waters of Life; to wash off the Not Human I come in Self-annihilation & the grandeur of Inspiration To cast off Rational Demonstration by Faith in the Saviour To cast off the rotten rags of Memory by Inspiration To cast off Bacon, Locke & Newton from Albions covering To take off his filthy garments, & clothe him with Imagination" (Erdman 142) Blake felt that these three men (Blake's 'unholy trinity') had led England into a thoroughly materialistic, spirit-denying culture dominated by greed. What he said about them was largely true although they had a positive dimension as well. Blake acknowledged the positive dimension
in plate 98 near the end of Jerusalem:
"The Druid Spectre was Annihilate loud thundring rejoicing
terrific vanishing
Fourfold Annihilation & at the clangor of the Arrows of
Intellect
The innumerable Chariots of the Almighty appeard in Heaven
And Bacon & Newton & Locke, & Milton & Shakspear &
Chaucer"(Erdman 257)Although he had excoriated them systematically throughout his works, he realized that they were not negatives, but contraries. The essential polarity of the mind means that the opposites are also true.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
For Blake Fans
“Every thing possible to be believ’d is an image of truth.”, from the Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Here it is: the first blog (from blogger.com at least) devoted to the works of William Blake. What ensues here will also appear in Ram Horn'd with Gold.
"Thinking as I do that the Creator
of this world is a cruel being, and
being a worshipper of Christ, I have to
say: "the Son! oh how unlike the Father":
First God Almighty comes with a thump on
the head; then J.C. comes with a balm
to heal it." (Blake's comments on The Last Judgment)
Blake damned Old Nobodaddy until his early 40's. From then on he blessed Jesus the Forgiveness.
He recorded that Moment of Grace in a letter to his friend and benefactor, Thomas Butts. It contained the famous poem where he was called "Thou Ram Horn'd with Gold.
-----------------------------------------
I need your help for this ongoing project. Grace me with your objections, comments, suggestions or whatever, in the form of a comment here.
Here it is: the first blog (from blogger.com at least) devoted to the works of William Blake. What ensues here will also appear in Ram Horn'd with Gold.
"Thinking as I do that the Creator
of this world is a cruel being, and
being a worshipper of Christ, I have to
say: "the Son! oh how unlike the Father":
First God Almighty comes with a thump on
the head; then J.C. comes with a balm
to heal it." (Blake's comments on The Last Judgment)
Blake damned Old Nobodaddy until his early 40's. From then on he blessed Jesus the Forgiveness.
He recorded that Moment of Grace in a letter to his friend and benefactor, Thomas Butts. It contained the famous poem where he was called "Thou Ram Horn'd with Gold.
-----------------------------------------
I need your help for this ongoing project. Grace me with your objections, comments, suggestions or whatever, in the form of a comment here.
For Blake Fans
“Every thing possible to be believ’d is an image of truth.”, from the Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Here it is: the first blog (from blogger.com at least) devoted to the works of William Blake. What ensues here will also appear in Ram Horn'd with Gold.
"Thinking as I do that the Creator
of this world is a cruel being, and
being a worshipper of Christ, I have to
say: "the Son! oh how unlike the Father":
First God Almighty comes with a thump on
the head; then J.C. comes with a balm
to heal it." (Blake's comments on The Last Judgment)
Blake damned Old Nobodaddy until his early 40's. From then on he blessed Jesus the Forgiveness.
He recorded that Moment of Grace in a letter to his friend and benefactor, Thomas Butts. It contained the famous poem where he was called "Thou Ram Horn'd with Gold.
-----------------------------------------
I need your help for this ongoing project. Grace me with your objections, comments, suggestions or whatever, in the form of a comment here.
Here it is: the first blog (from blogger.com at least) devoted to the works of William Blake. What ensues here will also appear in Ram Horn'd with Gold.
"Thinking as I do that the Creator
of this world is a cruel being, and
being a worshipper of Christ, I have to
say: "the Son! oh how unlike the Father":
First God Almighty comes with a thump on
the head; then J.C. comes with a balm
to heal it." (Blake's comments on The Last Judgment)
Blake damned Old Nobodaddy until his early 40's. From then on he blessed Jesus the Forgiveness.
He recorded that Moment of Grace in a letter to his friend and benefactor, Thomas Butts. It contained the famous poem where he was called "Thou Ram Horn'd with Gold.
-----------------------------------------
I need your help for this ongoing project. Grace me with your objections, comments, suggestions or whatever, in the form of a comment here.
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