The Complete Poems
Page 82
P1. 30 An inscription in mirror-writing around the words ‘Milton Book the Second’ reads ‘How wide the Gulf & Unpassable! between Simplicity & Insipidity/Contraries are Positives/A Negation is not a Contrary’. Then the narrative picks up from 21.60: ‘Jesus the Saviour appeard coming in the Clouds of Ololon.’
Pl. 31.10–17 In Isaiah 63:9 the Saviour suffers with Mankind: ‘In all their affliction he was afflicted.’ Here, the idea is reversed: As the Saviour approaches with lamentation, all spheres of the creation respond sympathetically.
20 Fairies, Nymphs, Gnomes, Genii Folklore divinities, not high in the scale of the divine imagination. They belong to air (Urizen), water (Tharmas), earth (Urthona) and fire (Luvah).
24 Element against Element, opposed in War The natural warfare of the four elements is a staple of natural philosophy from Lucretius down to the seventeenth century.
49 Og & Anak Threat-figures. See 20.33n.
62 sick with Love From Song of Solomon 2:5: ‘Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.’
P1. 32] This plate is a late addition.
1 And Milton… Couch of Death The narrative picks up from 15.1–7.
4 My Spectre… my Emanation The cruel ideology of courtship. See ‘My Spectre around me…’, Notebook, p. 494.
8 Hillel… Lucifer Lucifer (‘morning star’) is the first eye of God (13.17). In Isaiah 14:12, translated ‘Lucifer, son of the morning’, Lucifer is ‘Helel’. The Jewish Rabbi Hillel, who lived just before Christ, taught love of God and one’s brother, and hence was also a ‘morning star’.
10–22 The Seven Angels are ‘states’ or conditions which individuals may pass through (as in common usage we speak of a ‘state’ of happiness or a ‘state’ of sin). In the service of Divinity they are angels in human form. But in the service of Satan they are shapeless rocks, and their ‘holiness’ is that of ‘Length: Bredth & Highth’. Such ‘holiness’ can only admire itself, and thinks Imagination is a blasphemy against it. But these qualities (length, breadth and height) should obviously be Man’s servants, not his gods.
14 Not a correct Hebrew word, but a cross between Kerabim (‘as multitudes’) and Cherubim.
23 States Change Individuals may pass from one state to another, without losing their permanent individuality.
34–5 Reason is a State… Created One systematic philosophy wears out and is succeeded by another. But eternal forms – such as the prophet perceives – remain.
P1. 33.1–23 God’s song to Babylon – the Unholy City – as a jealous bride who has alienated her beloved. No people should set themselves up as the one Chosen People of God, denying his love to others. But even Babylon may be redeemed if she generously gives her handmaiden Jerusalem to her husband. This polygamous ideal of true love derives from several Old Testament stories in which wives give their handmaidens to their husbands. Oothoon offers such love in VDA, and Milton’s emanation is about to do the same.
16 intirely abstracting… loves Compare ‘Let us agree to give up Love,’ ‘My Spectre around me…’, Notebook, p. 494.
P1. 34 Ololon, who was a ‘Fiery Circle’ of Eternals in 20.43–50, is about to descend to Ulro, which is seen from above as a chaotic Polypus.
12–13 Alla… Al-Ulro… Or-Ulro These names are sub-classifications of the fallen world, which are never used again.
26 Twenty-seven fold For the twenty-seven evil Churches (see 35.63–4 and Dictionary of Proper Names) which encrust fallen Mankind.
27 Five Females Five senses; Zelophehad’s five daughters.
30 The River Storge A river of mortal birth. Storge is Gr. ‘parental affection’.
41 Chasms of the Mundane Shell Gaps left within the perimeters of the circles, when Man shrunk to his egg shape. See Diagram.
42 Southward & by the East Equally in the realms of Reason and Passion.
45 Four Immortals Four Zoas.
50 They said Ololon said.
50–52 Wars of man… Interior Vision Wars, which in Eternity are mental sport, are taken seriously by mortals.
P1. 35.7–13 Female forms… the dark Woof The females are Zelophehad’s five daughters (17.11,27.58) plus Rahab. The place-names are locations in the environs of London. The dark woof of the loom of Death opposes Enitharmon’s life-giving loom.
18–25 Immortals such as Ololon cannot see the City of Art until they descend to the material world, although those who dwell in the material world already can see it.
31–3 The crime of Ololon was to drive Milton into the Ulro.
42 There is a Moment The moment of inspiration in which an individual’s fragmentary understanding suddenly becomes integrated and unified. This is the crucial moment in which ‘the Poets Work is done’ (29.1). Here it is the moment in which Ololon, Los, Milton, and all the forces which oppose them, finally converge in Blake’s garden.
59 Luvahs empty Tomb associates Luvah with the crucified and risen Christ.
60 Ololon… on the Rock associates Ololon with the women who waited at Christ’s tomb.
63–4 Twenty-seven churches (see Dictionary of Proper Names) fill the firmament in concentric folds of increasing opacity. The SEVEN EYES OF GOD each preside over four Churches – but the count of Churches is incomplete (should amount to twenty-eight, a more ‘perfect’ number). The place of the twenty-eight, then, is taken by Truth in the form of Ololon (and Jesus) whom the twenty-eighth lark meets (36.9–10).
P1. 36.16–17 One Female… a Virgin of twelve years Ololon is now the embodiment of Milton’s lost emanation.
31–2 my Shadow of Delight… is sick Catherine Blake, who was often ill while at Felpham.
P1. 37.6–8 Milton’s Shadow becomes the condensation of his errors as a thinker, here identified with the COVERING CHERUB which keeps men expelled from Paradise and separated from God.
11 the Wicker Man of Scandinavia Caesar’s Commentaries mention a Druid form of human sacrifice, burning men within a huge wicker image.
15–18 Milton’s erroneous puritanism contains and implies all religious errors throughout history, including those that Milton himself denounced.
20–34 The twelve gods of Ulro are pagan deities, their names taken from Milton’s list in Paradise Lost 1.392–521.
50 Og… Sihon These lands, hostile to Israel, exist also among the stars.
54 Forty-eight deformed Human Wonders The constellations.
57–9 none can pass… Entuthon Benython The passage to Eternity is not through contemplation of the stars but through the labours of Prophecy.
P1. 38 The meeting of Milton and Satan is Milton’s final temptation.
10 Milton within his sleeping Humanity Milton has descended to this world, and so is asleep compared to his waking life in Eternity.
23–6 Mystery Babylon… her Cup… her scarlet Veil Within Satan is the Whore of Babylon, who in Revelation 17:4 has ‘a golden cup in her hand full of abominations’, and is ‘arrayed in purple and scarlet colour’.
28 the Eastern porch The gate of Passion.
29–32 Compare ‘The iron hand crushd the Tyrants head/And became a Tyrant in his stead,’ ‘The Grey Monk’, Pickering MS, p. 506 above. Milton’s triumph over temptation means renunciation of the self-righteous virtue exhibited in his literary and political careers.
50 Satan.… Coming in a cloud As does God over Mt Sinai.
52 Fall therefore down & worship me So Satan tempts Jesus in Luke 4:7, ‘If thou there fore wilt worship me, all shall be thine,’ and in Paradise Regained IV.166–7, ‘if thou wilt fall down/And worship me as thy superior Lord’.
P1. 39. 11 Cast him… into the Lake From Revelation 20:10: ‘And the devil… was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.’
32 Then Albion rose B. describes Albion’s attempt to rise and walk in terms of place-names throughout Great Britain and in the City of London.
43–4 York. Norwich Cathedral cities of England. In f the theme of the cathedral cities as ‘Albion’s Friends’ is developed.
P1. 40.9 those who contemn Religion Those such as Milton who consciously oppose religious tyranny, yet unconsciously support it.
12 Voltaire & Rousseau… Hume & Gibbon & Bolingbroke all mocked Christianity and were felt by Blake to believe only in a ‘dead’ Newtonian universe.
17 Rahab Moral Virtue, of which Milton had approved. Moral Virtue is a two-fold monster because it promotes self-righteous War and because it hides suppressed Lust.
P1. 41.5 Bacon, Locke & Newton B.’s trinity of Reasoners.
25 the Sexual Garments The clothing of flesh worn by mortals.
27 Which Jesus rent The rending of the veil of the Temple when Jesus died (Matthew 27:51) and the old Law died with him.
28 Generation… swallowd up in Regeneration From Isaiah 25:7–8: ‘And he will destroy… the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory.’
P1. 42.3–6 the Virgin divided… Miltons Shadow Error splits from Truth and gives herself to annihilation with the shadow.
7 a Moony Ark The ark of Noah was shaped like a crescent moon.
18 the Immortal Four The Zoas, or the four cities named in f as Albion’s faithful friends: Verulam, London, York, Edinburgh.
28 Shadow of Delight Catherine Blake.
P1. 43.1 the Great Harvest & Vintage of the Nations Described in Revelation 14:14–20, and by B. in FZ IX. Pp. 131–5.
Dedication to Blake’s Illustrations to Blair’s Grave
TO THE QUEEN
Dedication to the illustrations for Cromek’s edition of Blair’s Grave (1808), designed by B. and engraved by Schiavonetti.
Notebook Epigrams and Satiric Verses, c. 1808–12
Most of these pieces vent B.’s spleen against fools and foes in the world of art. After his return from Felpham B. was having difficulty making a living, felt himself surrounded by misunderstanding and malice, and believed that bad artists and bad principles of art were ruining the culture of England. See Bentley, Blake Records, 166–223 passim.
His prose works of this period – including the Advertisement of his Exhibition (15 May 1809), his Descriptive Catalogue (1809), ‘Public Address’ (c. 1810) and A Vision of the Last Judgment (1810) – more fully enunciate his artistic theories and opinions on public taste, as do his Annotations (c. 1808) to the Discourses on Art of Sir Joshua Reynolds.
‘YOU DONT BELIEVE…’
11 Only Believe Believe & try A collation of Jesus’ words to Jairus, whose daughter had died, ‘Be not afraid, only believe’ (Mark 5:36), and the episode of Doubting Thomas (John 20:24–9). However, no-where in the Gospels does Jesus use the word ‘try’.
‘NO REAL STYLE OF COLOURING…’
3 S’ Joshuas Colouring Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–92), President of the Royal Academy from 1769 to 1790. His Discourses on Art (published 1798) enraged Blake; see the verses written among B.’s marginalia, p. 632. As to ‘colouring’, B. disapproved of painting in oils, which he considered muddy and inclined to yellow. He also disapproved of emphasis on colouring, rather than firm drawing and outline in art.
‘AND HIS LEGS CARRIED IT…’
The opening of this poem is missing. It is written in a fair hand, then emended. The matters referred to are: 1. In 1803 B. was accused of sedition by Private John Scholfield, a dragoon whom he had ejected from his Felpham garden. His patron, Hayley, retained a lawyer, Samuel Rose, to defend him. B. was tried and acquitted January 1804. Rose died shortly afterwards. 2. In 1805, the publisher Cromek asked B. to design forty illustrations to Blair’s Grave, promised he could do half the engravings for this volume, then gave all the engraving work to the more fashionable Schiavonetti. Schiavonetti died in 1810, Cromek in 1812. 3. In 1806, Cromek took B.’s idea for a painting of Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Pilgrims’ and suggested it to Stothard, who exhibited the ensuing work in 1807 – to B.’s fury. 4. In 1809 B. held an unsuccessful exhibition of his own paintings. The Examiner, edited by Leigh and Robert Hunt, called him ‘an unfortunate lunatic’.
In the present poem, the supposed speaker is Stothard (‘Stewhard’). The soul-stealer of the opening lines is Cromek (called ‘Screwmuch’ in the closing lines). ‘Yorkshire Jack Hemp’ and ‘daw’ are John and Ann Flaxman, by whom B. during this period did not feel sufficiently appreciated. ‘Felpham Billy’ is William Hayley. ‘Billy’s lawyer’ was Samuel Rose. ‘Cur’ and ‘Dady’ have not been identified. ‘Assassinetti’ is Schiavonetti. ‘Death’ is Blake himself.
17 Hare Puns on Hunt.
weakly Puns on ‘weekly’.
‘WAS I ANGRY…’
4–5 Flaxman, Cromek, Stothard, Schiavonetti See note to previous poem.
6 Macklin, Boydel, Bowyer All had employed Blake as an engraver.
‘THE SUSSEX MEN ARE NOTED FOOLS…’
3 H[aines] the painter Blake and Samuel Haines both did illustrations for Boydell’s Shakespeare (1802) and Hayley’s Romney (1809).
TO H[UNT]
1 Fuseli B.’s artist-friend and supporter Henry Fuseli (1741–1825) was attacked along with Blake in Hunt’s Examiner in 1808 (see Bentley, Blake Records, 195).
‘HE IS A COCK WOULD…’
Private Cock supported the charge of sedition made against B. in 1803–4.
FLORENTINE INGRATITUDE
Sir Joshua Reynolds was elected in 1775 to the Florentine Academy, which required him to send a self-portrait.
15 an English Fetch An English trick.
26 Ghiottos Circle or Appelles Line Giotto (1266–1377), when asked to send Pope Benedict IX a sample of his work, drew a perfect circle freehand. Apelles (4th century BC) challenged Protogenes in drawing freehand straight lines.
A PITIFUL CASE
8 Michael Angelo Reynolds’s concluding words in the Discourses are in praise of Michael Angelo.
‘IF IT IS TRUE WHAT THE PROPHETS WRITE…’
5 Bezaleel & Aholiab The two master craftsmen who designed the Hebrew Tabernacle, its furnishings and ornaments (Exodus 31:1–11, 35:30–35).
‘P[HILLIPS] LOVED ME, NOT…’
Thomas Phillips did the portrait of B. for Cromek’s edition of Blair’s Grave (see note to ‘And his legs carried it…’ above).
ON H[AYLE]YS FRIENDSHIP
5 act upon my wife Did Hayley try to make Catherine influence her husband in the direction of greater conventionality?
6 Hired a Villain No evidence exists to connect Hayley with Schol-field, and Hayley did his best to support Blake through his sedition trial. Perhaps Blake considered Rose, the lawyer Hayley got to defend him, ‘a villain’. The line is from ‘Fair Elenor’, PS, p. 24 above.
‘COSWAY FRAZER & BALDWIN OF EGYPTS LAKE…’
Richard Cosway, a fashionable miniature painter and Swedenborgian;? Alexander Fraser, a painter (who, however, came to London only in 1813); George Baldwin, a traveller, mystic and one-time consul-general n Egypt.
‘I RUBENS…’
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) was a sometime diplomat as well as prolific painter.
‘SWELLD LIMBS WITH NO OUTLINE…’
Rubens’s figures are consistently large and opulent.
4 an hundred Journeymens how dye do Many paintings issued from Rubens’s studio were executed mainly by assistants.
‘THE CRIPPLE EVERY STEP DRUDGES & LABOURS…’
6 Newton & Bacon B. uses the two great English scientists here as advocates of careful ‘labour’ in scientific experiment, hence approving ‘labour’ in an artistic cripple.
9 high labourd A term for a carefully finished and polished work of art.
ON THE GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT GIVEN… DUCROWE & DILBURY DOODLE
Pierre Ducros (1745–1810) was a Swiss landscape artist. ‘Dilbury Doodle’ is a nonsense name; ‘doodle’ means simpleton, noodle; but as a verb means to fool, cheat.
5 Colonel Wardle Gwyllym Lloyd Wardle, soldier and
Member of Parliament who assailed the Duke of York for corruption in 1809.
6 a dose of Cawdle Medicinal drink; but also: to lecture, harangue; and a ‘hempen caudle’ means hanging (obs.).
THE CUNNING SURES & THE AIM AT YOURS
‘Connoisseurs and amateurs’, a phrase from ‘Public Address’, p. 634.
‘ALL PICTURES THATS PANTED…’
‘Panted’ and ‘pant’ are presumably Cromekian mispronunciations; see also ‘English Encouragement of Art’ and ‘I ask’d my Dear Friend Orator Prigg…’, below.
ENGLISH ENCOURAGEMENT OF ART
A much-revised piece. B. added the subtitle and altered the language to burlesque Cromek’s speech. In the final reading:
2 Menny wouver Manoeuvre.
3 a great Conquest are Bunglery A great congress? corpus? are bunglers.
4 Jenous looks to ham Genius looks to them.
9–12 These lines may belong to the close of the following poem, but the sense suits this one.
‘WHEN YOU LOOK AT A PICTURE…’
4 Jenny suck awa’ Je ne sais quoi.
‘I GIVE YOU THE END OF A GOLDEN STRING…’
Used in f Pl. 77 (p. 797, below) and entitled ‘To the Christians’.
WILLIAM COWPER ESQRE
The poet Cowper (1731–1800) was a religious enthusiast, and was subject to fits of depression and madness. B. accuses Hayley (the name can be made out in the erased first stanza) – who tried to help Cowper, and wrote his posthumous biography – of helping too late, and understanding too little. His own identification with Cowper is clear. Annotating Spurzheim’s Observations on Insanity (1817), he commented on the assertion that ‘religion is another fertile cause of insanity’, as follows: ‘Cowper came to me & said. O that I were insane always I will never rest. Can you not make me truly insane. I will never rest till I am so. O that in the bosom of God I was hid. You retain health and yet are as mad as any of us all – over us all – mad as a refuge from unbelief – from Bacon Newton & Locke.’