The Complete Poems

by William Blake

  Sweep oer. the struggling copulation. in fell writhing pangs

  They lie in twisting agonies beneath the covring heavens

  The womb impressd Enion fled & hid in verdant mountains

  Yet here his heavenly orbs &c

  From Enion pours the seed of life & death in all her limbs

  Frozen in the womb of Tharmas rush the rivers of Enions pain

  10 Trembling he lay swelld with the deluge stifling in the anguish

  THREE POEMS,? c. 1800

  A fairy [leapt] skipd upon my knee

  Singing & dancing merrily

  I said Thou thing of patches rings

  Pins Necklaces & such like things

  Disguiser of the Female Form

  Thou paltry gilded poisnous worm

  Weeping he fell upon my thigh

  And thus in tears did soft reply

  Knowest thou not O Fairies Lord

  How much by us Contemnd Abhorrd

  Whatever hides the Female form

  That cannot bear the Mental storm

  Therefore in Pity still we give

  Our lives to make the Female live

  And what would turn into disease

  We turn to what will joy & please

  *

  Around the Springs of Gray my wild root weaves

  Traveller repose & Dream among my leaves.

  TO Mrs ANN FLAXMAN

  A little Flower grew in a lonely Vale

  Its form was lovely but its colours. pale

  One standing in the Porches of the Sun

  When his Meridian Glories were begun

  Leapd from the steps of fire & on the grass

  Alighted where this little flower was

  With hands divine he movd the gentle Sod

  And took the Flower up in its native Clod

  Then planting it upon a Mountains brow

  ’Tis your own fault if you dont flourish now

  POEMS FROM LETTERS

  TO JOHN FLAXMAN, 12 SEPTEMBER 1800 [POSTMARK]

  To My Dearest Friend, John Flaxman, these lines:

  I bless thee, O Father of Heaven & Earth, that ever I saw Flaxman’s face.

  Angels stand round my Spirit in Heaven, the blessed of Heaven are my friends upon Earth.

  When Flaxman was taken to Italy, Fuseli was given to me for a season,

  And now Flaxman hath given me Hayley his friend to be mine, such my lot upon Earth.

  Now my lot in the Heavens is this, Milton lov’d me in childhood & shew’d me his face.

  Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, but Shakespeare in riper years gave me his hand;

  Paracelsus & Behmen appear’d to me, terrors appear’d in the Heavens above

  And in Hell beneath, & a mighty & awful change threatened the Earth.

  The American War began. All its dark horrors passed before my face

  Across the Atlantic to France. Then the French

  10 Revolution commenc’d in thick clouds,

  And My Angels have told me that seeing such visions I could not subsist on the Earth,

  But by my conjunction with Flaxman, who knows to forgive Nervous Fear.

  TO MRS FLAXMAN, 14 SEPTEMBER 1800

  To my dear Friend Mrs Anna Flaxman

  H[ercules] B[uildings] Lambeth, 14 Sepr 1800

  This Song to the flower of Flaxmans joy

  To the blossom of hope for a sweet decoy

  Do all that you can or all that you may

  To entice him to Felpham & far away

  Away to Sweet Felpham for Heaven is there

  The Ladder of Angels descends thro the air

  On the Turret its spiral does softly descend

  Thro’ the village then winds at My Cot i[t] does end

  You stand in the village & look up to heaven

  10 The precious stones glitter on flights seventy seven

  And My Brother is there & My Friend & Thine

  Descend & Ascend with the Bread & the Wine

  The Bread of sweet Thought & the Wine of Delight

  Feeds the Village of Felpham by day & by night

  And at his own door the blessd Hermit does stand

  Dispensing Unceasing to all the whole Land

  TO THOMAS BUTTS, 2 OCTOBER 1800

  To my Friend Butts I write

  My first Vision of Light

  On the yellow sands sitting

  The Sun was Emitting

  His Glorious beams

  From Heavens high Streams

  Over Sea over Land

  My Eyes did Expand

  Into regions of air

  10 Away from all Care

  Into regions of fire

  Remote from Desire

  The Light of the Morning

  Heavens Mountains adorning

  In particles bright

  The jewels of Light

  Distinct shone & clear –

  Amazd & in fear

  I each particle gazed,

  20 Astonishd Amazed

  For each was a Man

  Human formd. Swift I ran

  For they beckond to me

  Remote by the Sea

  Saying. Each grain of Sand

  Every Stone on the Land

  Each rock & each hill

  Each fountain & rill

  Each herb & each tree

  30 Mountain hill Earth & Sea

  Cloud Meteor & Star

  Are Men Seen Afar

  I stood in the Streams

  Of Heavens bright beams

  And Saw Felpham sweet

  Beneath my bright feet

  In soft Female charms

  And in her fair arms

  My Shadow I knew

  And my wifes shadow too

  40 And My Sister & Friend.

  We like Infants descend

  In our Shadows on Earth

  Like a weak mortal birth

  My Eyes more & more

  Like a Sea without shore

  Continue Expanding

  The Heavens commanding

  Till the Jewels of Light

  50 Heavenly Men beaming bright

  Appeard as One Man

  Who Complacent began

  My limbs to infold

  In his beams of bright gold

  Like dross purgd away

  All my mire & my clay

  Soft consumd in delight

  In his bosom Sun bright

  I remaind. Soft he smild

  60 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

  70 O thou Ram hornd with gold

  And the voice faded mild

  I remaind as a Child

  All I ever had known

  Before me bright Shone

  I saw you & your wife

  By the fountains of Life

  Such the Vision to me

  Appeard on the Sea

  TO MRS BUTTS

  Wife of the Friend of those I most revere.

  Recieve this tribute from a Harp sincere

  Go on in Virtuous Seed sowing on Mold

  Of Human Vegetation & Behold

  Your Harvest Springing to Eternal life

  Parent of Youthful Minds & happy Wife

  TO THOMAS BUTTS, 22 NOVEMBER 1802

  With happiness stretchd across the hills

  In a cloud that dewy sweetness distills

  With a blue sky spread over with wings

  And a mild sun that mounts & sings

  With trees & fields full of Fairy elves

  And little devils who fight for themselves

  Remembring the Verses that Hayley sung

  When my heart knockd against the root of my tongue

  With Angels plant
ed in Hawthorn bowers

  10 And God himself in the passing hours

  With Silver Angels across my way

  And Golden Demons that none can stay

  With my Father hovering upon the wind

  And my Brother Robert just behind

  And my Brother John the evil one

  In a black cloud making his mone

  Tho dead they appear upon my path

  Notwithstanding my terrible wrath

  They beg they intreat they drop their tears

  20 Filld full of hopes filld full of fears

  With a thousand Angels upon the Wind

  Pouring disconsolate from behind

  To drive them off & before my way

  A frowning Thistle implores my stay

  What to others a trifle appears

  Fills me full of smiles or tears

  For double the vision my Eyes do see

  And a double vision is always with me

  With my inward Eye ’tis an old Man grey

  30 With my outward a Thistle across my way

  ‘If thou goest back the thistle said

  Thou art to endless woe betrayd

  For here does Theotormon lower

  And here is Enitharmons bower

  And Los the terrible thus hath sworn

  Because thou backward dost return

  Poverty Envy old age & fear

  Shall bring thy Wife upon a bier

  And Butts shall give what Fuseli gave

  40 A dark black Rock & a gloomy Cave.’

  I struck the Thistle with my foot

  And broke him up from his delving root

  ‘Must the duties of life each other cross’

  ‘Must every joy be dung & dross’

  ‘Must my dear Butts feel cold neglect’

  ‘Because I give Hayley his due respect’

  ‘Must Flaxman look upon me as wild’

  ‘And all my friends be with doubts beguild’

  ‘Must my Wife live in my Sisters bane’

  50 ‘Or my sister survive on my Loves pain’

  ‘The curses of Los the terrible shade’

  ‘And his dismal terrors make me afraid’

  So I spoke & struck in my wrath

  The old man weltering upon my path

  Then Los appeard in all his power

  In the Sun he appeard descending before

  My face in fierce flames in my double sight

  Twas outward a Sun: inward Los in his might

  ‘My hands are labourd day & night’

  ‘And Ease comes never in my sight’

  60 ‘My Wife has no indulgence given’

  ‘Except what comes to her from heaven’

  ‘We eat little we drink less’

  ‘This Earth breeds not our happiness’

  ‘Another Sun feeds our lifes streams’

  ‘We are not warmed with thy beams’

  ‘Thou measurest not the Time to me’

  ‘Nor yet the Space that I do see’

  ‘My Mind is not with thy light arrayd’

  70 ‘Thy terrors shall not make me afraid’

  When I had my Defiance given

  The Sun stood trembling in heaven

  The Moon that glowd remote below

  Became leprous & white as snow

  And every Soul of men on the Earth

  Felt affliction & sorrow & sickness & dearth

  Los flamd in my path & the Sun was hot

  With the bows of my Mind & the Arrows of Thought

  My bowstring fierce with Ardour breathes

  80 My arrows glow in their golden sheaves

  My brothers & father march before

  The heavens drop with human gore

  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

  TO THOMAS BUTTS, 16 AUGUST 1803

  O why was I born with a different face

  Why was I not born like the rest of my race

  When I look each one starts! when I speak I offend

  Then I’m silent & passive & lose every Friend

  Then my verse I dishonour. My pictures despise

  My person degrade & my temper chastise

  And the pen is my terror. the pencil my shame

  All my Talents I bury, and dead is my Fame

  I am either too low or too highly prizd

  10 When Elate I am Envy’d, When Meek I’m despis’d

  NOTEBOOK POEMS, c. 1800–1806

  When Klopstock England defied

  Uprose terrible Blake in his pride

  For old Nobodaddy aloft

  Farted & Belchd & coughd

  Then swore a great oath that made heavn quake

  And calld aloud to English Blake

  Blake was giving his body ease

  At Lambeth beneath the poplar trees

  From his seat then started he

  10 And turnd himself round three times three

  The Moon at that sight blushd scarlet red

  The stars threw down their cups & fled

  And all the devils that were in hell

  Answered with a ninefold yell

  Klopstock felt the [ninefold] intripled turn

  And all his bowels began to [burn] churn

  [They/And] And his bowels turned round three times three

  And lockd in his soul with a ninefold key

  That from his body it neer could be parted

  20 Till to the last trumpet it was farted

  Then again old nobodaddy swore

  He neer had seen such a thing before

  Since Noah was shut in the ark

  Since Eve first chose her hell fire spark

  Since twas the fashion to go naked

  Since the old anything was created

  And so feeling he begd him to turn again

  And ease poor Klopstocks nine fold pain

  [Then after] From pity then he redend round

  And the Spell removed unwound

  [If thus Blake could Shite what Klopstock did write]

  If Blake could do this when he[sat down to] rose up from shite

  What might he not do if he sat down to write 30

  ON THE VIRGINITY OF THE VIRGIN

  MARY & JOHANNA SOUTHCOTT

  Whateer is done to her she cannot know

  And if youll ask her she will swear it so

  Whether tis good or evil none’s to blame

  No one can take the pride no one the shame

  *

  Beneath the white thorn lovely May

  [Three Virgins at the Break of day

  Whither Young Man whither away]

  Alas for wo alas for wo alas for wo

  They cry & tears for ever flow

  The one was clothd in flames of fire

  The other clothd in [sweet desire] Iron wire

  The other clothd in [sighs] & tears & sighs

  Dazzling bright before my Eyes

  10 They bore a Net of Golden twine

  To hang upon the branches fine

  [Pitying I wept to see the woe

  That Love & Beauty undergo

  To be consumd in burning fires

  And in ungratified desires]

  [Wings they had (& when they chose) that soft inclose

  Round their body when they chose

  They would let them down at will

  Or make translucent]

  20 And in tears clothd night & day

  Melted all my soul away

  When they saw my tears a smile

  That did heaven itself beguile

  Bore the Golden net aloft

  As by downy pinions soft

  Oer the morning of my day

  Underneath the net I stray

  Now intreating flaming fire

  Now intreating [sweet d
esire] iron wire

  30 Now intreating tears & sighs

  [When] O when will the Morning rise

  THE BIRDS

  He. Where thou dwellest in what Grove

  Tell me Fair one tell me love

  Where thou thy charming Nest dost build

  O thou pride of every field

  She. Yonder stands a lonely tree

  There I live & mourn for thee

  Morning drinks my silent tear

  And evening winds my sorrows bear

  He. O thou Summers harmony

  10 I have livd & mournd for theeb

  Each day I mourn along the wood

  And night hath heard my sorrows loud

  She. Dost thou truly long for me

  And am I thus sweet to thee

  Sorrow now is at an End

  O my Lover & my Friend

  He. Come on wings of joy well fly

  To where my Bower hangs on high

  Come & make thy calm retreat

  20 Among green leaves & blossoms sweet

  *

  I saw a Monk of [Constantine] Charlemaine

  Arise before my sight

  I talkd to the Grey Monk where he stood

  In beams of infernal light

  Gibbon arose with a lash of steel

  And Voltaire with a wracking wheel

  [Charlemaine and his barons bold]

  The Schools in Clouds of Learning rolld

  Arose with War in iron and gold

  [Seditious] Thou Lazy Monk [said Charlemaine] they

  10 sound afar

  [The Glory of War thou condemnst in vain]

  In vain condemning Glorious War

  And in thy Cell thou shall ever dwell

  Rise War & bind him in his Cell

  The blood red ran from the Grey monks side

  His hands & feet were wounded wide

  His body bent his arms & knees

  Like to the roots of ancient trees

  I die I die the Mother said

  20 My Children will die for lack of bread

  What more has the merciless tyrant said

  The Monk sat down on her stony bed

  His Eye was dry no tear coud flow

  A hollow groan first spoke his woe

  [From his dry tongue these accents flow]

  He trembled & shudderd upon the bed

  At length with a feeble cry he said

  When God commanded this hand to write

  In the studious hours of deep midnight

  30 He told me that All I wrote should prove

  The bane of all that on Earth I love

  My brother starvd between two walls

  His childrens cry my soul appalls

  [But] I mockd at the wrack & griding chain

  My bent body mocks at their torturing pain

  Thy father drew his sword in the north

  With his thousands strong he is marched forth