For centuries the Gnostic movement of the early Christian era was primarily known by critical statements written by those who were trying to eradicate it. In the twentieth century the reappearance of a group of Gnostic writings, which came to be known as theNag Hammadi documents, have allowed us to learn directly what gnostics wrote and practiced.
Peter Sorensen has written a book entitled William Blake's Recreation of Gnostic Myth: Resolving the Apparent Incongruities, in which he "compare[s] Blake's work directly with the Nag Hammadi codices, discovered long after Blake's death." He believes that the new insights on Gnosticism, developed from the Nag Hammadi material can reveal insights into the patterns of gnostic thought in Blake's work.
Sorensen states: "I wish, then to use the Nag Hammadi codices as a touchstone to test the extent and specific features of Blake' gnosticism. Although I will mention again sources from Blake's own time that might have influenced him, I wish to insist that Blake was a gnostic, rather than merely a student of gnosticism." (Page 14)
In The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels says of the gnostics: "These Christians are now called gnostics, from the Greek word gnosis, usually translated as "knowledge". For those who claim to know nothing about ultimate reality are called agnostic (literally, "not knowing"), the person who claims to know such things is called gnostic ("knowing")...As the gnostics use the term, we could translate it as "insight," for gnosis involves an intuitive process of knowing oneself. And to know oneself, they claimed, is to know human nature and human destiny...Yet to know oneself, at the deepest level, is simultaneously to know God; this is the secret of gnosis."
The gnostic literature which would have been available for Blake to study would have been limited. Sorensen proposes that Blake would have found " 'confirmation' of his gnostic vision in the works [he has] cited, rather than to say that a genuinely gnostic vision can grow out of secondary reading alone."
I think Sorensen is projecting the idea that Blake's circumstances as well as his visions may have disposed him to think like the early Christian era gnostics. The sociological factors present for Blake which he may have shared with the gnostics would have included intellectual isolation, anxiety about possible persecution, and observing destructive conditions in his society. Psychologically, archetypes which structure thought universally and can be recognized by whoever is tuned to their presence, can link Blake with the gnostics. Additionally we can conjecture that Blake and the early gnostics with their inward looking mindsets, and focus on cosmological issues may have processed some of their insights using the same images.
As an example of the parallels which Sorensen sees between the gnostic myth and Blake's myth are Sophia and Vala, two females trapped in materiality. The difficulty both have in extracting themselves from materiality is represented in this passage from:
Four Zoas, Page 126 (E 395)
"Come forth O Vala from the grass & from the silent Dew
Rise from the dews of death for the Eternal Man is Risen
She rises among flowers & looks toward the Eastern clearness
She walks yea runs her feet are wingd on the tops of the bending grass
Her garments rejoice in the vocal wind & her hair glistens with dew
She answerd thus Whose voice is this in the voice of the nourishing air
In the spirit of the morning awaking the Soul from its grassy bed
Where dost thou dwell for it is thee I seek & but for thee
I must have slept Eternally nor have felt the dew of thy morning
Look how the opening dawn advances with vocal harmony
Look how the beams foreshew the rising of some glorious power
The sun is thine he goeth forth in his majestic brightness
O thou creating voice that callest & who shall answer thee
Where dost thou flee O fair one where dost thou seek thy happy place
To yonder brightness there I haste for sure I came from thence
Or I must have slept eternally nor have felt the dew of morning
Eternally thou must have slept nor have felt the morning dew
But for yon nourishing sun tis that by which thou art arisen
The birds adore the sun the beasts rise up & play in his beams
And every flower & every leaf rejoices in his light
Then O thou fair one sit thee down for thou art as the grass
Thou risest in the dew of morning & at night art folded up
Alas am I but as a flower then will I sit me down
Then will I weep then Ill complain & sigh for immortality
And chide my maker thee O Sun that raisedst me to fall
So saying she sat down & wept beneath the apple trees"
Sorensen concludes, "the awakening here is to knowledge"; but the transition is difficult.
Caught in Materiality , Jerusalem Plate 57
Showing posts with label Women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
RECREATED
Blake's Sublime Allegory continues to be a fertile source for gaining understanding of Blake message. This is from the chapter, Blake's Radical Comedy, by W.J.T. Mitchell, page 305.
"The second thing we ought to notice is that the courage required for self-annihilation is not in itself sufficient to redeem either the self or the world. Milton's act would remain within the fruitless cycle of creation and destruction which continues to trap the male imagination, even after his descent, if it were not for Ololon's response, her renewal to life to balance his descent to death. Ololon's final transformation into an ark and a dove, the bearer and messenger of life amidst the annihilating flood, occurs when she casts off her false femininity. Her seeking out Milton reverses the traditional passive role of the virtuous heroine in epic and romance, but she does not escape this role by becoming a female warrior, a woman in the armor of a man. "A Female hidden in a Male, Religion hidden in War" (40:20). On the contrary, she sees that the stereotypes ruling the behavior of both sexes are the basis for the vicious cycle which entraps the best efforts of Milton and the sons of Los, and that these roles must be annihilated and recreated as human relationships before the cycle can be broken and transformed into the fruitful, liberating dialectic of contraries."
In this short passage and the pages surrounding it, we get help in understanding many of Blake's concepts.
1)First that annihilation is not the total solution for redemption. Annihilation is the 'bottom', the point where regeneration can begin in the individual and society.
2)The relationship of the male and female, the active and the receptive, are necessary ingredients in breaking the cyclical pattern called the Orc cycle (construction and destruction repeating itself.)
3)The female's role is not adopting the male's attitude of making the opposite sex into a 'commodity', but relinquishing the female attitude of jealousy of the males role as initiator.
4)The contribution of the female is to be the carrier of life and hope through which male and female can regenerate a relationship based on Human (unified), attitudes rather than Sexual (divided), attitudes.
5)Contraries are redeemed when the Negative of seeing them as being opposed to one another rather complementing one another, is annihilated.
Milton, Plate 35 [39], (E 135)
"O how the Starry Eight rejoic'd to see Ololon descended!
And now that a wide road was open to Eternity,"
Plate 40 [46] (E 142)
"But turning toward Ololon in terrible majesty Milton
Replied. Obey thou the Words of the Inspired Man
All that can be annihilated must be annihilated
That the Children of Jerusalem may be saved from slavery
There is a Negation, & there is a Contrary
The Negation must be destroyd to redeem the Contraries
The Negation is the Spectre; the Reasoning Power in Man
This is a false Body: an Incrustation over my Immortal
Spirit; a Selfhood, which must be put off & annihilated alway
To cleanse the Face of my Spirit by Self-examination.
PLATE 41 [48]
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
To cast aside from Poetry, all that is not Inspiration
Then trembled the Virgin Ololon & replyd in clouds of despair
Is this our Femin[in]e Portion the Six-fold Miltonic Female
Terribly this Portion trembles before thee O awful Man
Altho' our Human Power can sustain the severe contentions
Of Friendship, our Sexual cannot: but flies into the Ulro.
Hence arose all our terrors in Eternity! & now remembrance
Returns upon us! are we Contraries O Milton, Thou & I
O Immortal! how were we led to War the Wars of Death
Is this the Void Outside of Existence, which if enterd into
PLATE 42 [49]
Becomes a Womb? & is this the Death Couch of Albion
Thou goest to Eternal Death & all must go with thee
So saying, the Virgin divided Six-fold & with a shriek
Dolorous that ran thro all Creation a Double Six-fold Wonder!
Away from Ololon she divided & fled into the depths
Of Miltons Shadow as a Dove upon the stormy Sea.
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"
Jesus the Savior
"The second thing we ought to notice is that the courage required for self-annihilation is not in itself sufficient to redeem either the self or the world. Milton's act would remain within the fruitless cycle of creation and destruction which continues to trap the male imagination, even after his descent, if it were not for Ololon's response, her renewal to life to balance his descent to death. Ololon's final transformation into an ark and a dove, the bearer and messenger of life amidst the annihilating flood, occurs when she casts off her false femininity. Her seeking out Milton reverses the traditional passive role of the virtuous heroine in epic and romance, but she does not escape this role by becoming a female warrior, a woman in the armor of a man. "A Female hidden in a Male, Religion hidden in War" (40:20). On the contrary, she sees that the stereotypes ruling the behavior of both sexes are the basis for the vicious cycle which entraps the best efforts of Milton and the sons of Los, and that these roles must be annihilated and recreated as human relationships before the cycle can be broken and transformed into the fruitful, liberating dialectic of contraries."
In this short passage and the pages surrounding it, we get help in understanding many of Blake's concepts.
1)First that annihilation is not the total solution for redemption. Annihilation is the 'bottom', the point where regeneration can begin in the individual and society.
2)The relationship of the male and female, the active and the receptive, are necessary ingredients in breaking the cyclical pattern called the Orc cycle (construction and destruction repeating itself.)
3)The female's role is not adopting the male's attitude of making the opposite sex into a 'commodity', but relinquishing the female attitude of jealousy of the males role as initiator.
4)The contribution of the female is to be the carrier of life and hope through which male and female can regenerate a relationship based on Human (unified), attitudes rather than Sexual (divided), attitudes.
5)Contraries are redeemed when the Negative of seeing them as being opposed to one another rather complementing one another, is annihilated.
Milton, Plate 35 [39], (E 135)
"O how the Starry Eight rejoic'd to see Ololon descended!
And now that a wide road was open to Eternity,"
Plate 40 [46] (E 142)
"But turning toward Ololon in terrible majesty Milton
Replied. Obey thou the Words of the Inspired Man
All that can be annihilated must be annihilated
That the Children of Jerusalem may be saved from slavery
There is a Negation, & there is a Contrary
The Negation must be destroyd to redeem the Contraries
The Negation is the Spectre; the Reasoning Power in Man
This is a false Body: an Incrustation over my Immortal
Spirit; a Selfhood, which must be put off & annihilated alway
To cleanse the Face of my Spirit by Self-examination.
PLATE 41 [48]
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
To cast aside from Poetry, all that is not Inspiration
Then trembled the Virgin Ololon & replyd in clouds of despair
Is this our Femin[in]e Portion the Six-fold Miltonic Female
Terribly this Portion trembles before thee O awful Man
Altho' our Human Power can sustain the severe contentions
Of Friendship, our Sexual cannot: but flies into the Ulro.
Hence arose all our terrors in Eternity! & now remembrance
Returns upon us! are we Contraries O Milton, Thou & I
O Immortal! how were we led to War the Wars of Death
Is this the Void Outside of Existence, which if enterd into
PLATE 42 [49]
Becomes a Womb? & is this the Death Couch of Albion
Thou goest to Eternal Death & all must go with thee
So saying, the Virgin divided Six-fold & with a shriek
Dolorous that ran thro all Creation a Double Six-fold Wonder!
Away from Ololon she divided & fled into the depths
Of Miltons Shadow as a Dove upon the stormy Sea.
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"
Jesus the Savior
Thursday, February 25, 2010
THEL II
Blake's pictures in The Book of Thel supplement the ideas he presents in the text. In this copy of the Book of Thel from the Library of Congress, Rare Books Collection, we can read the text and view the pictures together as they were meant to be understood.
Book of Thel
First you may notice that although Blake talks of clouds, lilies, worms and clods he pictures human beings. This reinforces the idea that he is not talking about nature in general or specific parts of it, but about humans and aspects of the psyche. So the answers given by the lily and her associates are our answers, the way we explain the puzzling inconsistencies of our experience to ourselves. We may open or close ourselves to Blake's reasonings, or we may try them on for size before searching elsewhere.
On the title page we notice that Thel, the shepherdess is the observer not the participant. The sexual imagery which many people notice in Thel is apparent in the male and female soaring images on this page. Erdman (The Illuminated Blake) says 'these lovers are the human form of the Dew and the Cloud'. The flowers on this page are not the lilies of the poetry but the pasqueflower 'said to require the wind to open the petals' for fertilization.
The images surrounding the word Thel at the top of the page 3 bring to mind the four Zoas although the characters remain to be fully developed as Blake continues to write. You may recognize the soaring lady with the flying infant from the Preludium to the First Book of Urizen - it is not Urizen but a tie to his book. The man in the sky reaching for the eagle is a reminder of Los who like the eagle can represent imagination. To the right carrying shield and flaming sword is the Zoa of emotions, Luvah, who for the first time is mentioned in this poem. Reclining on the seedpod of grain is a figure in a position reminiscent of the 'renovated man' who appears above the man entering death's door in the engraving for Blair's The Grave. The picture for The Grave and the appearance of Tharmas as man's body will be later inventions but the fourfold split is already present.
Plate 4 shows Thel looking very much like the Lilly with whom she converses. Plate 5 is all text. On Plate 6 which concerns the worm, we see an image of an infant on the ground and the matron clod soaring in the air as she discusses with Thel how 'we live not for ourselves.' Thel demonstrates her astonishment. In plate 7 Thel, the observer as usual, watches the mother and child, clod and worm, as they play together. Children happily ride the serpent as the poem ends with
plate 8.
If this poem is seen to address the issues which specifically face women, those of being expected to be gentle and receptive rather than assertive and active, we may contrast it to the poem "how sweet I roamed". The latter poem represents the adolescent beginning to be aware of opportunities and abilities and facing society's limitations on the expanding possibilities. In the poem Thel, the young woman seems to be offered limited possibilities to begin with: humility and service, basking in another's attention, not reasoning, and living for others instead of for herself. This may be what Thel rejects: accepting a subservient role in a household or in a society that undervalues women. Was Blake commenting on the role of women as well as the human condition of being born into the material world?
The poem does not specifically mention the world of Generation, but the images present Generation as the world to which Thel is invited. The rejection of the feminine role or the fear of sexuality may be impediments to Thel's accepting the opportunity to enter the material world. Read the words, read the pictures, read in the context of Blake's work, read according to your own light.
Thel I
Book of Thel
First you may notice that although Blake talks of clouds, lilies, worms and clods he pictures human beings. This reinforces the idea that he is not talking about nature in general or specific parts of it, but about humans and aspects of the psyche. So the answers given by the lily and her associates are our answers, the way we explain the puzzling inconsistencies of our experience to ourselves. We may open or close ourselves to Blake's reasonings, or we may try them on for size before searching elsewhere.
On the title page we notice that Thel, the shepherdess is the observer not the participant. The sexual imagery which many people notice in Thel is apparent in the male and female soaring images on this page. Erdman (The Illuminated Blake) says 'these lovers are the human form of the Dew and the Cloud'. The flowers on this page are not the lilies of the poetry but the pasqueflower 'said to require the wind to open the petals' for fertilization.
The images surrounding the word Thel at the top of the page 3 bring to mind the four Zoas although the characters remain to be fully developed as Blake continues to write. You may recognize the soaring lady with the flying infant from the Preludium to the First Book of Urizen - it is not Urizen but a tie to his book. The man in the sky reaching for the eagle is a reminder of Los who like the eagle can represent imagination. To the right carrying shield and flaming sword is the Zoa of emotions, Luvah, who for the first time is mentioned in this poem. Reclining on the seedpod of grain is a figure in a position reminiscent of the 'renovated man' who appears above the man entering death's door in the engraving for Blair's The Grave. The picture for The Grave and the appearance of Tharmas as man's body will be later inventions but the fourfold split is already present.
Plate 4 shows Thel looking very much like the Lilly with whom she converses. Plate 5 is all text. On Plate 6 which concerns the worm, we see an image of an infant on the ground and the matron clod soaring in the air as she discusses with Thel how 'we live not for ourselves.' Thel demonstrates her astonishment. In plate 7 Thel, the observer as usual, watches the mother and child, clod and worm, as they play together. Children happily ride the serpent as the poem ends with
plate 8.
If this poem is seen to address the issues which specifically face women, those of being expected to be gentle and receptive rather than assertive and active, we may contrast it to the poem "how sweet I roamed". The latter poem represents the adolescent beginning to be aware of opportunities and abilities and facing society's limitations on the expanding possibilities. In the poem Thel, the young woman seems to be offered limited possibilities to begin with: humility and service, basking in another's attention, not reasoning, and living for others instead of for herself. This may be what Thel rejects: accepting a subservient role in a household or in a society that undervalues women. Was Blake commenting on the role of women as well as the human condition of being born into the material world?
The poem does not specifically mention the world of Generation, but the images present Generation as the world to which Thel is invited. The rejection of the feminine role or the fear of sexuality may be impediments to Thel's accepting the opportunity to enter the material world. Read the words, read the pictures, read in the context of Blake's work, read according to your own light.
Thel I
Thursday, October 29, 2009
FEMALE & MALE
Nobody can really explain Blake, and that's the way he wanted it. We can listen to him, try to experience with him, and draw from our own lives scraps and pictures to associate with his words and images. So do what you can with what he says here.
Four Zoas, Night 5, Verse 2 (E302)
"In Eden Females sleep the winter in soft silken veils
But Males immortal live renewd by female deaths. in soft
Delight they die & they revive in spring with music & songs
Enion said Farewell I die I hide from thy searching eyes"
Milton Percival says in Circle of Destiny on page 56:
"The form dies in order that the imaginative impulse may be released for new expression. The masculine creative world of Eden is continually sustained by feminine self-sacrifice in Beulah."Males immortal live, renewed by female deaths." The obedience of outward form to inner vision extends even to the landscape....(spaces of Beulah)...are merciful illusions, provided for the repose of the mind which has wearied of the visionary reality of Eden. They characterize the hypothetical age in which the visionary life that Blake enjoyed in ecstasy was a habitual experience. In contrast to the spaces of Beulah, which are so readily transcended, are the "Satanic spaces" of Ulro, which limit and enslave the mind that beholds them."
Damon called the Emanation the '''counterpart" of the fundamentally bisexual male.'
In Jerusalem, plate 88 (E246), we learn why the female Emanations are so essential to man.
"When in Eternity Man converses with Man they enter
Into each others Bosom (which are Universes of delight)
In mutual interchange. and first their Emanations meet
Surrounded by their Children. if they embrace & comingle
The Human Four-fold Forms mingle also in thunders of Intellect
But if the Emanations mingle not; with storms & agitations
Of earthquakes & consuming fires they roll apart in fear
For Man cannot unite with Man but by their Emanations
Which stand both Male & Female at the Gates of each Humanity"
Blake didn't depreciate the role of the female, nor did he mean what we usually mean when we use the term. The female to Blake is an image which carries many meanings but without her, man would never reach Eternity.
Albion Asleep, Jerusalem as Butterfly
Four Zoas, Night 5, Verse 2 (E302)
"In Eden Females sleep the winter in soft silken veils
But Males immortal live renewd by female deaths. in soft
Delight they die & they revive in spring with music & songs
Enion said Farewell I die I hide from thy searching eyes"
Milton Percival says in Circle of Destiny on page 56:
"The form dies in order that the imaginative impulse may be released for new expression. The masculine creative world of Eden is continually sustained by feminine self-sacrifice in Beulah."Males immortal live, renewed by female deaths." The obedience of outward form to inner vision extends even to the landscape....(spaces of Beulah)...are merciful illusions, provided for the repose of the mind which has wearied of the visionary reality of Eden. They characterize the hypothetical age in which the visionary life that Blake enjoyed in ecstasy was a habitual experience. In contrast to the spaces of Beulah, which are so readily transcended, are the "Satanic spaces" of Ulro, which limit and enslave the mind that beholds them."
Damon called the Emanation the '''counterpart" of the fundamentally bisexual male.'
In Jerusalem, plate 88 (E246), we learn why the female Emanations are so essential to man.
"When in Eternity Man converses with Man they enter
Into each others Bosom (which are Universes of delight)
In mutual interchange. and first their Emanations meet
Surrounded by their Children. if they embrace & comingle
The Human Four-fold Forms mingle also in thunders of Intellect
But if the Emanations mingle not; with storms & agitations
Of earthquakes & consuming fires they roll apart in fear
For Man cannot unite with Man but by their Emanations
Which stand both Male & Female at the Gates of each Humanity"
Blake didn't depreciate the role of the female, nor did he mean what we usually mean when we use the term. The female to Blake is an image which carries many meanings but without her, man would never reach Eternity.
Albion Asleep, Jerusalem as Butterfly
FEMALE & MALE
Nobody can really explain Blake, and that's the way he wanted it. We can listen to him, try to experience with him, and draw from our own lives scraps and pictures to associate with his words and images. So do what you can with what he says here.
Four Zoas, Night 5, Verse 2 (E302)
"In Eden Females sleep the winter in soft silken veils
But Males immortal live renewd by female deaths. in soft
Delight they die & they revive in spring with music & songs
Enion said Farewell I die I hide from thy searching eyes"
Milton Percival says in Circle of Destiny on page 56:
"The form dies in order that the imaginative impulse may be released for new expression. The masculine creative world of Eden is continually sustained by feminine self-sacrifice in Beulah."Males immortal live, renewed by female deaths." The obedience of outward form to inner vision extends even to the landscape....(spaces of Beulah)...are merciful illusions, provided for the repose of the mind which has wearied of the visionary reality of Eden. They characterize the hypothetical age in which the visionary life that Blake enjoyed in ecstasy was a habitual experience. In contrast to the spaces of Beulah, which are so readily transcended, are the "Satanic spaces" of Ulro, which limit and enslave the mind that beholds them."
Damon called the Emanation the '''counterpart" of the fundamentally bisexual male.'
In Jerusalem, plate 88 (E246), we learn why the female Emanations are so essential to man.
"When in Eternity Man converses with Man they enter
Into each others Bosom (which are Universes of delight)
In mutual interchange. and first their Emanations meet
Surrounded by their Children. if they embrace & comingle
The Human Four-fold Forms mingle also in thunders of Intellect
But if the Emanations mingle not; with storms & agitations
Of earthquakes & consuming fires they roll apart in fear
For Man cannot unite with Man but by their Emanations
Which stand both Male & Female at the Gates of each Humanity"
Blake didn't depreciate the role of the female, nor did he mean what we usually mean when we use the term. The female to Blake is an image which carries many meanings but without her, man would never reach Eternity.
Albion Asleep, Jerusalem as Butterfly
Four Zoas, Night 5, Verse 2 (E302)
"In Eden Females sleep the winter in soft silken veils
But Males immortal live renewd by female deaths. in soft
Delight they die & they revive in spring with music & songs
Enion said Farewell I die I hide from thy searching eyes"
Milton Percival says in Circle of Destiny on page 56:
"The form dies in order that the imaginative impulse may be released for new expression. The masculine creative world of Eden is continually sustained by feminine self-sacrifice in Beulah."Males immortal live, renewed by female deaths." The obedience of outward form to inner vision extends even to the landscape....(spaces of Beulah)...are merciful illusions, provided for the repose of the mind which has wearied of the visionary reality of Eden. They characterize the hypothetical age in which the visionary life that Blake enjoyed in ecstasy was a habitual experience. In contrast to the spaces of Beulah, which are so readily transcended, are the "Satanic spaces" of Ulro, which limit and enslave the mind that beholds them."
Damon called the Emanation the '''counterpart" of the fundamentally bisexual male.'
In Jerusalem, plate 88 (E246), we learn why the female Emanations are so essential to man.
"When in Eternity Man converses with Man they enter
Into each others Bosom (which are Universes of delight)
In mutual interchange. and first their Emanations meet
Surrounded by their Children. if they embrace & comingle
The Human Four-fold Forms mingle also in thunders of Intellect
But if the Emanations mingle not; with storms & agitations
Of earthquakes & consuming fires they roll apart in fear
For Man cannot unite with Man but by their Emanations
Which stand both Male & Female at the Gates of each Humanity"
Blake didn't depreciate the role of the female, nor did he mean what we usually mean when we use the term. The female to Blake is an image which carries many meanings but without her, man would never reach Eternity.
Albion Asleep, Jerusalem as Butterfly
Sunday, October 25, 2009
URIZEN & AHANIA
Contained in The Book of Ahania, is the account of the anger of Urizen at Fuzon for assuming leadership of the of the children of Urizen, as he did at the end of the Book of Urizen. The struggle between the father and son leaves them both maimed. Following that account Urizen's Emanation, Ahania, laments the disintegration of Urizen and reminisces on the happy days they shared in Eternity.
Book of Ahania, Chap V
4: "Weeping I walk over rocks
Over dens & thro' valleys of death
Why didst thou despise Ahania
To cast me from thy bright presence
Into the World of Loneness
5: I cannot touch his hand:
Nor weep on his knees, nor hear
His voice & bow, nor see his eyes
And joy, nor hear his footsteps, and
My heart leap at the lovely sound!"
The downward spiral has not yet reached its nadir.
Book of Ahania, Chap V
4: "Weeping I walk over rocks
Over dens & thro' valleys of death
Why didst thou despise Ahania
To cast me from thy bright presence
Into the World of Loneness
5: I cannot touch his hand:
Nor weep on his knees, nor hear
His voice & bow, nor see his eyes
And joy, nor hear his footsteps, and
My heart leap at the lovely sound!"
Ahania's LamentUnfortunately for Urizen, he is worse off without Ahania than he was with her. Percival, on page 28 of Circle of Destiny, explains it thus: "Separated from Ahania, Urizen becomes the 'selfish father of men.' A spirit of wrath replaces the tolerance toward which his feminine desire inclined him....So long as an intuitive understanding of the objects of sense is maintained, the senses are the feeders of the mind; when that understanding is lost they are the mind's destroyers. With Ahania cast out and his intuitive comprehension gone, Urizen is overwhelmed by the world of sense, incapable of seeing that it, too, is holy. Thus overcome he loses the power to create and becomes an impotent figure."
Seeing the conditions that Urizen's system have created,
Ahania attempts to show Urizen the consequences of the
path that that he is following. The results of her
entreaties are not what she desires.
Image of Urizen and Ahania
In Four Zoas, Plate 38:12,(E 326) we read:
"Ahania bow'd her head & wept seven days before the King
And on the eighth day when his clouds unfolded from his throne
She rais'd her bright head sweet perfumd & thus with heavenly
voice
O Prince the Eternal One hath set thee leader of his hosts
Leave all futurity to him Resume thy fields of Light
Why didst thou listen to the voice of Luvah that dread morn
To give the immortal steeds of light to his deceitful hands
No longer now obedient to thy will thou art compell'd
To forge the curbs of iron & brass to build the iron mangers
To feed them with intoxication from the wine presses of Luvah
Till the Divine Vision & Fruition is quite obliterated"
Plate 43:1 (E 328)
"Then thunders rolld around & lightnings darted to & fro
His visage changd to darkness & his strong right hand came forth
To cast Ahania to the Earth be siezd her by the hair
And threw her from the steps of ice that froze around his throne"
The downward spiral has not yet reached its nadir.
URIZEN & AHANIA
Contained in The Book of Ahania, is the account of the anger of Urizen at Fuzon for assuming leadership of the of the children of Urizen, as he did at the end of the Book of Urizen. The struggle between the father and son leaves them both maimed. Following that account Urizen's Emanation, Ahania, laments the disintegration of Urizen and reminisces on the happy days they shared in Eternity.
Book of Ahania, Chap V
4: "Weeping I walk over rocks
Over dens & thro' valleys of death
Why didst thou despise Ahania
To cast me from thy bright presence
Into the World of Loneness
5: I cannot touch his hand:
Nor weep on his knees, nor hear
His voice & bow, nor see his eyes
And joy, nor hear his footsteps, and
My heart leap at the lovely sound!"
The downward spiral has not yet reached its nadir.
Book of Ahania, Chap V
4: "Weeping I walk over rocks
Over dens & thro' valleys of death
Why didst thou despise Ahania
To cast me from thy bright presence
Into the World of Loneness
5: I cannot touch his hand:
Nor weep on his knees, nor hear
His voice & bow, nor see his eyes
And joy, nor hear his footsteps, and
My heart leap at the lovely sound!"
Ahania's LamentUnfortunately for Urizen, he is worse off without Ahania than he was with her. Percival, on page 28 of Circle of Destiny, explains it thus: "Separated from Ahania, Urizen becomes the 'selfish father of men.' A spirit of wrath replaces the tolerance toward which his feminine desire inclined him....So long as an intuitive understanding of the objects of sense is maintained, the senses are the feeders of the mind; when that understanding is lost they are the mind's destroyers. With Ahania cast out and his intuitive comprehension gone, Urizen is overwhelmed by the world of sense, incapable of seeing that it, too, is holy. Thus overcome he loses the power to create and becomes an impotent figure."
Seeing the conditions that Urizen's system have created,
Ahania attempts to show Urizen the consequences of the
path that that he is following. The results of her
entreaties are not what she desires.
Image of Urizen and Ahania
In Four Zoas, Plate 38:12,(E 326) we read:
"Ahania bow'd her head & wept seven days before the King
And on the eighth day when his clouds unfolded from his throne
She rais'd her bright head sweet perfumd & thus with heavenly
voice
O Prince the Eternal One hath set thee leader of his hosts
Leave all futurity to him Resume thy fields of Light
Why didst thou listen to the voice of Luvah that dread morn
To give the immortal steeds of light to his deceitful hands
No longer now obedient to thy will thou art compell'd
To forge the curbs of iron & brass to build the iron mangers
To feed them with intoxication from the wine presses of Luvah
Till the Divine Vision & Fruition is quite obliterated"
Plate 43:1 (E 328)
"Then thunders rolld around & lightnings darted to & fro
His visage changd to darkness & his strong right hand came forth
To cast Ahania to the Earth be siezd her by the hair
And threw her from the steps of ice that froze around his throne"
The downward spiral has not yet reached its nadir.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
ANIMA & EMANATION
Blake’s women - Enitharman, Enion, Ahania, Vala, and Jerusalem are each associated with a male - Los, Tharmas, Urizen, Luvah, and Albion as an Emanation. In Eternity the Emanations do not have a separate existence. As the fall occurs they acquire outer forms, independent wills and the desire to dominate. Daman says they ”fight regeneration (which seems to them like annihilation).”
Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Title page (How many paired figures do you see? and Why is she suspended above the abyss?)
In Jungian psychology there is an aspect of the unconscious which is called the Anima. In the process of individuation, the Anima which has been projected on the people to whom one is related (mother, sister, wife, boss) is explored and assimilated through bringing unconscious material to light. Since the unconscious inner Anima determines relationships to outer persons by projecting the inner content onto real people, outer relationships are repaired by withdrawing projections (removing the Anima’s will or ability to dominate.)
Carl Jung states:
“The projection-forming factor is the anima. Wherever she appears in dreams, phantasies or visions, she appears personified, thereby demonstrating that basically she possesses all the outstanding characteristics of a female person. She is not an invention of the conscious, but a spontaneous production of the unconscious; neither is she a substitute figure for the mother. On the contrary, there is every likelihood that those numinous attributes which make the Mother imago so dangerously powerful derive from the collective archetype, the anima, which is incarnated anew in every male child." (Spring, 1950, p. 5)
Quoted in an article By Paul Watsky
As Blake dealt with unconscious factors in the psyche as characters in his mythic constructions, he explored the relationships and the dynamics of achieving mental wholeness which he associated with Albion and his Emanation Jerusalem. In describing the conclusion of Jerusalem Damon says, “Albion awakes and rises; Jesus appears; and Albion sacrifices himself;...Then Eternity is re-established, and all becomes one in the Divine Vision.” (A Blake Dictionary, page 213)
The following interchange between Enitharmon and Los (Jerusalem, Plate 92) expresses Enitharmon’s fear that she will be replaced by another female if she accepts annihilation but Los reveals that there will be no division into sexes in Eternity.
“My Looms will be no more & I annihilate vanish for ever
Then thou wilt Create another Female according to thy Will.
Los answerd swift as the shuttle of gold. Sexes must vanish & cease
To be, when Albion arises from his dread repose O lovely Enitharmon:”
But as Los states, it is not that the Emanations are lost in Eternity, but that the division into ‘sexes‘ will be no more. The multiple facets of the psyche will be acknowledged, balanced, and restored to their proper roles as they are integrated into a unified functioning whole.
In Blake as in Jung, masculine and feminine aspects of the personality contribute to the complete individual. The Anima in Jung and the Emanations in Blake can be the root of harmful behaviors; but when properly recognized and attended to, they fulfill vital roles in the human psyche.
Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Title page (How many paired figures do you see? and Why is she suspended above the abyss?)
In Jungian psychology there is an aspect of the unconscious which is called the Anima. In the process of individuation, the Anima which has been projected on the people to whom one is related (mother, sister, wife, boss) is explored and assimilated through bringing unconscious material to light. Since the unconscious inner Anima determines relationships to outer persons by projecting the inner content onto real people, outer relationships are repaired by withdrawing projections (removing the Anima’s will or ability to dominate.)
Carl Jung states:
“The projection-forming factor is the anima. Wherever she appears in dreams, phantasies or visions, she appears personified, thereby demonstrating that basically she possesses all the outstanding characteristics of a female person. She is not an invention of the conscious, but a spontaneous production of the unconscious; neither is she a substitute figure for the mother. On the contrary, there is every likelihood that those numinous attributes which make the Mother imago so dangerously powerful derive from the collective archetype, the anima, which is incarnated anew in every male child." (Spring, 1950, p. 5)
Quoted in an article By Paul Watsky
As Blake dealt with unconscious factors in the psyche as characters in his mythic constructions, he explored the relationships and the dynamics of achieving mental wholeness which he associated with Albion and his Emanation Jerusalem. In describing the conclusion of Jerusalem Damon says, “Albion awakes and rises; Jesus appears; and Albion sacrifices himself;...Then Eternity is re-established, and all becomes one in the Divine Vision.” (A Blake Dictionary, page 213)
The following interchange between Enitharmon and Los (Jerusalem, Plate 92) expresses Enitharmon’s fear that she will be replaced by another female if she accepts annihilation but Los reveals that there will be no division into sexes in Eternity.
“My Looms will be no more & I annihilate vanish for ever
Then thou wilt Create another Female according to thy Will.
Los answerd swift as the shuttle of gold. Sexes must vanish & cease
To be, when Albion arises from his dread repose O lovely Enitharmon:”
But as Los states, it is not that the Emanations are lost in Eternity, but that the division into ‘sexes‘ will be no more. The multiple facets of the psyche will be acknowledged, balanced, and restored to their proper roles as they are integrated into a unified functioning whole.
In Blake as in Jung, masculine and feminine aspects of the personality contribute to the complete individual. The Anima in Jung and the Emanations in Blake can be the root of harmful behaviors; but when properly recognized and attended to, they fulfill vital roles in the human psyche.
Monday, October 12, 2009
PICTURES ADDED
We have added pictures links to many of the older posts. These are not necessarily images which appear with the text quoted, but other of Blake's pictures which illustrate some aspect of the material treated in the post. Many of the links are to the Blake Archive but we also link to the Tate, the Huntington, other museums, and to a site called the Complete Blake.
Blake continued to produced watercolors, sketches, engravings and, temperas throughout his life. Much of his output is now in museum collections, and made available to the public through the internet. His poetry and pictures complement each other; they both focus our attention on his vision of the Infinite which he felt compelled to communicate.
To understand Blake it's best to read both the words and pictures.Jerusalem, Plate 40 Click on next link and then on the picture for Enlargement On the right margin of this image Erdman (in The Illuminated Blake) identifies the figures as Los and Enitharmon, but in their "mundane vehicles" as William and Catherine Blake. "Here he is walking in the line, which his right foot sends spiraling down to Catherine's arms and feet." Their exuberance in decorating this plate seems to come from these lines in the passage:
"But Glory to the Merciful One for he is of tender mercies!
And the Divine Family wept over him as One Man."
Blake continued to produced watercolors, sketches, engravings and, temperas throughout his life. Much of his output is now in museum collections, and made available to the public through the internet. His poetry and pictures complement each other; they both focus our attention on his vision of the Infinite which he felt compelled to communicate.
To understand Blake it's best to read both the words and pictures.Jerusalem, Plate 40 Click on next link and then on the picture for Enlargement On the right margin of this image Erdman (in The Illuminated Blake) identifies the figures as Los and Enitharmon, but in their "mundane vehicles" as William and Catherine Blake. "Here he is walking in the line, which his right foot sends spiraling down to Catherine's arms and feet." Their exuberance in decorating this plate seems to come from these lines in the passage:
"But Glory to the Merciful One for he is of tender mercies!
And the Divine Family wept over him as One Man."
PICTURES ADDED
We have added pictures links to many of the older posts. These are not necessarily images which appear with the text quoted, but other of Blake's pictures which illustrate some aspect of the material treated in the post. Many of the links are to the Blake Archive but we also link to the Tate, the Huntington, other museums, and to a site called the Complete Blake.
Blake continued to produced watercolors, sketches, engravings and, temperas throughout his life. Much of his output is now in museum collections, and made available to the public through the internet. His poetry and pictures complement each other; they both focus our attention on his vision of the Infinite which he felt compelled to communicate.
To understand Blake it's best to read both the words and pictures.Jerusalem, Plate 40 Click on next link and then on the picture for Enlargement On the right margin of this image Erdman (in The Illuminated Blake) identifies the figures as Los and Enitharmon, but in their "mundane vehicles" as William and Catherine Blake. "Here he is walking in the line, which his right foot sends spiraling down to Catherine's arms and feet." Their exuberance in decorating this plate seems to come from these lines in the passage:
"But Glory to the Merciful One for he is of tender mercies!
And the Divine Family wept over him as One Man."
Blake continued to produced watercolors, sketches, engravings and, temperas throughout his life. Much of his output is now in museum collections, and made available to the public through the internet. His poetry and pictures complement each other; they both focus our attention on his vision of the Infinite which he felt compelled to communicate.
To understand Blake it's best to read both the words and pictures.Jerusalem, Plate 40 Click on next link and then on the picture for Enlargement On the right margin of this image Erdman (in The Illuminated Blake) identifies the figures as Los and Enitharmon, but in their "mundane vehicles" as William and Catherine Blake. "Here he is walking in the line, which his right foot sends spiraling down to Catherine's arms and feet." Their exuberance in decorating this plate seems to come from these lines in the passage:
"But Glory to the Merciful One for he is of tender mercies!
And the Divine Family wept over him as One Man."
Friday, October 9, 2009
BLAKE'S GENERATION
.
From the Book of Genesis
Milton Percival in Circle of Destiny, explains the level or 'world' which Blake calls generation.
"..This is double vision, a correlative of the sexual world of
Generation. The object is outward, corporeal, feminine; the
imaginative image is masculine. Both assert themselves,
each challenging the other's right. The world of generation
might indeed be thought of as a training school in vision.
It may slip back into Ulro, or ascend to Beulah. This is
Los's world, the world of the loins, twofold and sexual;
corporeal, yet struggling to be spiritual" (272-3)
Percival describes the world of generation as Los's world. It
is our world too, a divided world, pulled upward and
downward. The contraries manifest themselves in such
conditions.
"Since there is no chasm, in Blake's system, between man
and nature, the struggle toward regeneration in the natural
world must be thought of, equally with the struggle in the
spiritual world, as the work of Los. Los with his hammer
vehemently constricting, hardening and fixing, eternally
creating only to destroy the false work he has created, is
Blake's dramatization of the process he saw as constantly
at work. For destruction is as essential as creation. For
this reason the natural world is cast in mortal form. Death
and decay are its attributes. It's vegetable life, like Los's
systems, is "continually building and continually decaying."
The invisible fires in which these vegetable forms consume
are the fires of vegetation or generation which also light
the furnaces of Los. Just as the Soul of man is purified in
the "furnaces of affliction," so is the physical world
destroyed and renewed in the fires of "generation or
vegetation." The necessary change is in both cases
accomplished by death in fire."
Blake prefers not to use the terms 'good and evil' in talking
about his worlds because the outcome has already been
decided. Whatever happens along the way, whether it
appears to be constructive or destructive, moves the
process toward wholeness, reintegration, regeneration -
the Eternal completeness in which nothing is lost and
nothing wasted.
From the Book of Genesis
Milton Percival in Circle of Destiny, explains the level or 'world' which Blake calls generation.
"..This is double vision, a correlative of the sexual world of
Generation. The object is outward, corporeal, feminine; the
imaginative image is masculine. Both assert themselves,
each challenging the other's right. The world of generation
might indeed be thought of as a training school in vision.
It may slip back into Ulro, or ascend to Beulah. This is
Los's world, the world of the loins, twofold and sexual;
corporeal, yet struggling to be spiritual" (272-3)
Percival describes the world of generation as Los's world. It
is our world too, a divided world, pulled upward and
downward. The contraries manifest themselves in such
conditions.
"Since there is no chasm, in Blake's system, between man
and nature, the struggle toward regeneration in the natural
world must be thought of, equally with the struggle in the
spiritual world, as the work of Los. Los with his hammer
vehemently constricting, hardening and fixing, eternally
creating only to destroy the false work he has created, is
Blake's dramatization of the process he saw as constantly
at work. For destruction is as essential as creation. For
this reason the natural world is cast in mortal form. Death
and decay are its attributes. It's vegetable life, like Los's
systems, is "continually building and continually decaying."
The invisible fires in which these vegetable forms consume
are the fires of vegetation or generation which also light
the furnaces of Los. Just as the Soul of man is purified in
the "furnaces of affliction," so is the physical world
destroyed and renewed in the fires of "generation or
vegetation." The necessary change is in both cases
accomplished by death in fire."
Blake prefers not to use the terms 'good and evil' in talking
about his worlds because the outcome has already been
decided. Whatever happens along the way, whether it
appears to be constructive or destructive, moves the
process toward wholeness, reintegration, regeneration -
the Eternal completeness in which nothing is lost and
nothing wasted.
BLAKE'S GENERATION
.
From the Book of Genesis
Milton Percival in Circle of Destiny, explains the level or 'world' which Blake calls generation.
"..This is double vision, a correlative of the sexual world of
Generation. The object is outward, corporeal, feminine; the
imaginative image is masculine. Both assert themselves,
each challenging the other's right. The world of generation
might indeed be thought of as a training school in vision.
It may slip back into Ulro, or ascend to Beulah. This is
Los's world, the world of the loins, twofold and sexual;
corporeal, yet struggling to be spiritual" (272-3)
Percival describes the world of generation as Los's world. It
is our world too, a divided world, pulled upward and
downward. The contraries manifest themselves in such
conditions.
"Since there is no chasm, in Blake's system, between man
and nature, the struggle toward regeneration in the natural
world must be thought of, equally with the struggle in the
spiritual world, as the work of Los. Los with his hammer
vehemently constricting, hardening and fixing, eternally
creating only to destroy the false work he has created, is
Blake's dramatization of the process he saw as constantly
at work. For destruction is as essential as creation. For
this reason the natural world is cast in mortal form. Death
and decay are its attributes. It's vegetable life, like Los's
systems, is "continually building and continually decaying."
The invisible fires in which these vegetable forms consume
are the fires of vegetation or generation which also light
the furnaces of Los. Just as the Soul of man is purified in
the "furnaces of affliction," so is the physical world
destroyed and renewed in the fires of "generation or
vegetation." The necessary change is in both cases
accomplished by death in fire."
Blake prefers not to use the terms 'good and evil' in talking
about his worlds because the outcome has already been
decided. Whatever happens along the way, whether it
appears to be constructive or destructive, moves the
process toward wholeness, reintegration, regeneration -
the Eternal completeness in which nothing is lost and
nothing wasted.
From the Book of Genesis
Milton Percival in Circle of Destiny, explains the level or 'world' which Blake calls generation.
"..This is double vision, a correlative of the sexual world of
Generation. The object is outward, corporeal, feminine; the
imaginative image is masculine. Both assert themselves,
each challenging the other's right. The world of generation
might indeed be thought of as a training school in vision.
It may slip back into Ulro, or ascend to Beulah. This is
Los's world, the world of the loins, twofold and sexual;
corporeal, yet struggling to be spiritual" (272-3)
Percival describes the world of generation as Los's world. It
is our world too, a divided world, pulled upward and
downward. The contraries manifest themselves in such
conditions.
"Since there is no chasm, in Blake's system, between man
and nature, the struggle toward regeneration in the natural
world must be thought of, equally with the struggle in the
spiritual world, as the work of Los. Los with his hammer
vehemently constricting, hardening and fixing, eternally
creating only to destroy the false work he has created, is
Blake's dramatization of the process he saw as constantly
at work. For destruction is as essential as creation. For
this reason the natural world is cast in mortal form. Death
and decay are its attributes. It's vegetable life, like Los's
systems, is "continually building and continually decaying."
The invisible fires in which these vegetable forms consume
are the fires of vegetation or generation which also light
the furnaces of Los. Just as the Soul of man is purified in
the "furnaces of affliction," so is the physical world
destroyed and renewed in the fires of "generation or
vegetation." The necessary change is in both cases
accomplished by death in fire."
Blake prefers not to use the terms 'good and evil' in talking
about his worlds because the outcome has already been
decided. Whatever happens along the way, whether it
appears to be constructive or destructive, moves the
process toward wholeness, reintegration, regeneration -
the Eternal completeness in which nothing is lost and
nothing wasted.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
Blake's Women
This is not about Catherine, Blake's wife, with whom he lived in happy conjugal relationship for 40 years (her only complaint was that he spent too much time in heaven).
Nor is it about the fictional Catherine, who only serves to titillate the gossip lover.
Nor is it about Mary Wollencraft, although the story goes that William once proposed to Catherine that he bring Mary in as a concubine; Catherine cried, and William abandoned the idea. Blake hated and dispised 'jealousy', but it seems that Catherine's jealousy on this occasion solidified a very solid marriage relationship.
None of these, this post is about the women Blake met in heaven:
Thel was a kind of foretaste of the women to come; she exposed the seediness of mortal life and went back to heaven. In her life Blake posed the question 'is mortal life of any value?' (Raine).
Lyca is a microcosm of the three main women that Blake met in heaven. In Plate 6, 7, and 8 read two ethereally beautiful poems that reveal the kernel of the 'system' Blake developed after he said, "I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's".
Vala is the main woman in Blake's myth (The Four Zoas was originally named Vala). In the development of his story Blake splits Vala into two: Tirzah (the earthly woman) and Jerusalem (the heavenly one).
In To Tirzah Blake starkly presents the dichotomy:
"[Woman], what have I do to with thee?".
From a purely material viewpoint Blake has Jesus say this to his mother, actually a quotation from The Gospel of John 2:4. From a more significant viewpoint the woman represents mortality (Mary was his mortal mother). Jesus of course is something other than mortal. From the most significant viewpoint Blake is talking about you and me: we are made of clay, but an immortal spirit resides within the 'matter'.
Jerusalem of course is the obvious biblical metaphor for the "bride of Christ" and the heavenly (eternal) kingdom.
Nor is it about the fictional Catherine, who only serves to titillate the gossip lover.
Nor is it about Mary Wollencraft, although the story goes that William once proposed to Catherine that he bring Mary in as a concubine; Catherine cried, and William abandoned the idea. Blake hated and dispised 'jealousy', but it seems that Catherine's jealousy on this occasion solidified a very solid marriage relationship.
None of these, this post is about the women Blake met in heaven:
Thel was a kind of foretaste of the women to come; she exposed the seediness of mortal life and went back to heaven. In her life Blake posed the question 'is mortal life of any value?' (Raine).
Lyca is a microcosm of the three main women that Blake met in heaven. In Plate 6, 7, and 8 read two ethereally beautiful poems that reveal the kernel of the 'system' Blake developed after he said, "I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's".
Vala is the main woman in Blake's myth (The Four Zoas was originally named Vala). In the development of his story Blake splits Vala into two: Tirzah (the earthly woman) and Jerusalem (the heavenly one).
In To Tirzah Blake starkly presents the dichotomy:
"[Woman], what have I do to with thee?".
From a purely material viewpoint Blake has Jesus say this to his mother, actually a quotation from The Gospel of John 2:4. From a more significant viewpoint the woman represents mortality (Mary was his mortal mother). Jesus of course is something other than mortal. From the most significant viewpoint Blake is talking about you and me: we are made of clay, but an immortal spirit resides within the 'matter'.
Jerusalem of course is the obvious biblical metaphor for the "bride of Christ" and the heavenly (eternal) kingdom.
Blake's Women
This is not about Catherine, Blake's wife, with whom he lived in happy conjugal relationship for 40 years (her only complaint was that he spent too much time in heaven).
Nor is it about the fictional Catherine, who only serves to titillate the gossip lover.
Nor is it about Mary Wollencraft, although the story goes that William once proposed to Catherine that he bring Mary in as a concubine; Catherine cried, and William abandoned the idea. Blake hated and dispised 'jealousy', but it seems that Catherine's jealousy on this occasion solidified a very solid marriage relationship.
None of these, this post is about the women Blake met in heaven:
Thel was a kind of foretaste of the women to come; she exposed the seediness of mortal life and went back to heaven. In her life Blake posed the question 'is mortal life of any value?' (Raine).
Lyca is a microcosm of the three main women that Blake met in heaven. In Plate 6, 7, and 8 read two ethereally beautiful poems that reveal the kernel of the 'system' Blake developed after he said, "I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's".
Vala is the main woman in Blake's myth (The Four Zoas was originally named Vala). In the development of his story Blake splits Vala into two: Tirzah (the earthly woman) and Jerusalem (the heavenly one).
In To Tirzah Blake starkly presents the dichotomy:
"[Woman], what have I do to with thee?".
From a purely material viewpoint Blake has Jesus say this to his mother, actually a quotation from The Gospel of John 2:4. From a more significant viewpoint the woman represents mortality (Mary was his mortal mother). Jesus of course is something other than mortal. From the most significant viewpoint Blake is talking about you and me: we are made of clay, but an immortal spirit resides within the 'matter'.
Jerusalem of course is the obvious biblical metaphor for the "bride of Christ" and the heavenly (eternal) kingdom.
Nor is it about the fictional Catherine, who only serves to titillate the gossip lover.
Nor is it about Mary Wollencraft, although the story goes that William once proposed to Catherine that he bring Mary in as a concubine; Catherine cried, and William abandoned the idea. Blake hated and dispised 'jealousy', but it seems that Catherine's jealousy on this occasion solidified a very solid marriage relationship.
None of these, this post is about the women Blake met in heaven:
Thel was a kind of foretaste of the women to come; she exposed the seediness of mortal life and went back to heaven. In her life Blake posed the question 'is mortal life of any value?' (Raine).
Lyca is a microcosm of the three main women that Blake met in heaven. In Plate 6, 7, and 8 read two ethereally beautiful poems that reveal the kernel of the 'system' Blake developed after he said, "I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's".
Vala is the main woman in Blake's myth (The Four Zoas was originally named Vala). In the development of his story Blake splits Vala into two: Tirzah (the earthly woman) and Jerusalem (the heavenly one).
In To Tirzah Blake starkly presents the dichotomy:
"[Woman], what have I do to with thee?".
From a purely material viewpoint Blake has Jesus say this to his mother, actually a quotation from The Gospel of John 2:4. From a more significant viewpoint the woman represents mortality (Mary was his mortal mother). Jesus of course is something other than mortal. From the most significant viewpoint Blake is talking about you and me: we are made of clay, but an immortal spirit resides within the 'matter'.
Jerusalem of course is the obvious biblical metaphor for the "bride of Christ" and the heavenly (eternal) kingdom.
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