The Complete Poems

by William Blake

  P1. 97.3–4 ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away, for, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone’ (Song of Solomon 2:10–11).

  P1. 98.1–11 The annihilation of the Spectre by the living bow and arrows of Love.

  98.9 Bacon & Newton & Locke The rational trinity, now included among the ‘Chariots of the Almighty’. The chariots – vehicles of human genius – are ‘Sexual Threefold’, not Human Fourfold, because all these men were mortals, working within the limits of the world of generation.

  11 Sexual Threefold] Mended from ‘Sexual Twofold’.

  12–27 The description of the Fourfold Man.

  28–56 The creative life of Man.

  39–40 clearly seen/And seeing ‘For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as… I am known’ (1 Corinthians 13:12). In Plotinus, ‘They see themselves in others. For all things are transparent, and there is nothing dark or resisting, but every one is manifest to every one… For every one has all things in himself… and the splendour is infinite.’

  44 The serpent of Sin, being forgiven, becomes human.

  45 the Covenant of Jehovah] Mended from ‘thy Covenant Jehovah’; restored to ‘thy’ in copy [f].

  46 the Covenant of Priam The classic set of values which encourages military might and conquest, instead of mutual love and forgiveness. This ‘Covenant’ is then linked to Graeco–Roman ‘virtue’, Hebraic–Christian ‘Good & Evil’, Druidic human sacrifice, and finally British colonial practices.

  52–3 the Triple Headed Gog–Magog… Nations ‘Gog and Magog’ were to be overthrown in the last days (Revelation 20:8–9). Hand, the leader of Albion’s sons, is triple-headed in 70.4. Statues of Gog and Magog stood outside London’s Guildhall. Thus: Commerce, the exploitation of the many poor by the few rich, was responsible for British imperialism.

  53 the Spectrous Oath Albion’s reasoning spectre, having overthrown him, announced (54.16) ‘I am God.’

  The Everlasting Gospel

  This late and fragmentary work consists of nine scattered entries in B.’s Notebook, and three sections on a separate scrap of paper watermarked 1818, which were probably – though not necessarily – intended for a single poem defining Blake’s unorthodox view of Jesus and the Christian Gospel. The present text follows Erdman’s conjecture that the prose and verse on the separate paper constitute a preliminary handling of the theme, and that the section on Notebook p. 120 (sewn in at the end of the Notebook) is probably also early. Though the work as it now stands is ‘rough’ in both tone and organization, it is well to remember that more ‘finished’ works such as The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and the fair draft of ‘Auguries of Innocence’ cultivate a not dissimilar air of spontaneous flourish. ‘The Everlasting Gospel’ is, in fact, an expanded version of ideas initially stated almost thirty years earlier in MHH Pl. 23.

  ‘IF MORAL VIRTUE WAS CHRISTIANITY…’

  14 Rhadamanthus In classic mythology, a son of Zeus and Europa, noted in life for justice, and made a judge in Hades.

  ‘WAS JESUS BORN OF A VIRGIN PURE…’

  4–5 In f Pl. 61, B. makes Mary an adulteress, though not a harlot, and she is forgiven by God. Mary Magdalene, from whom Jesus cast out seven devils (Mark 16:9), is also traditionally considered a ‘fallen’ woman.

  16 Caiaphas was the Jewish High Priest in Jesus’ time. In the following lines (17–48), B. has him list Jesus’ offences against the Law. But 11. 21–6, inserted from the bottom and margin of the page, are clearly Blake’s voice, not Caiaphas’.

  17 Jesus antagonized the Pharisees on several occasions by performing ‘unlawful’ acts such as healing on the Sabbath.

  20 The disciples Simon (called Peter), Andrew, James and John were fishermen. The idea that common men could be spiritual leaders would, of course, antagonize a priest.

  27 From the episode of the Gadarene swine, Luke 8:27–37, Mark 5:1–19.

  32 Jesus’ words to his mother at Cana (John 2:4).

  34 From the episode of young Jesus staying to question the doctors in the Temple instead of returning home with his parents (Luke 2:41–51).

  37 From Luke 10:1–20.

  47–8 From the episode of the woman taken in adultery (John 8:3–11).

  ‘THE VISION OF CHRIST THAT THOU DOST SEE…’

  3–4 a great hook nose… mine On Notebook p. 64 B. remarked: ‘I always thought Jesus Christ was a snubby or I should not have worshipd him if I had thought he had been one of those long spindle-nosed rascals.’

  9 Melitus One of the accusers in the trial of Socrates.

  ‘WAS JESUS CHASTE…’

  4 The adulteress of John 8 is not named, but B. identifies her with Mary Magdalene and perhaps with the Virgin Mary.

  29 Jehovah in Exodus 33:14 promises to accompany Moses with ‘my presence’, to show his favour. B. elsewhere calls Jehovah, the law-given and punisher of the Old Testament, ‘leprous’.

  47–8 Quotes John 8:10–11. The remainder of the colloquy is of course B.’s invention.

  54 From the curse on the serpent in Genesis 3:14: ‘dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life’.

  64 From I Corinthians 6:19: ‘your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you’.

  81 the shadowy Man Revealed in 1. 96 as the serpent, Satan, who demands punishment rather than forgiveness, and who devours Man’s material body.

  ‘SEEING THIS FALSE CHRIST…’

  Brief fragment written below the previous section, and apparently referring to another passage, now lost.

  ‘DID JESUS TEACH DOUBT…’

  Written sideways in the margin of p. 52, possibly related to the note at the top of the page: ‘This was spoke by My Spectre to Voltaire Bacon etc.’

  ‘WAS JESUS GENTLE…’

  3 From the episode in Luke 2:41–51.

  15 From the temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness, Matthew 4, Luke 4. Satan bids Jesus turn stones to bread, Matthew 4:3, and offers him the Kingdoms of the world ‘if thou wilt fall down and worship me’, Matthew 4:9.

  17 John the Baptist was killed by King Herod.

  32 From the vision in Revelation 20:2.

  48 From the scourging of merchants and money-changers in the temple, John 2:13–16.

  ‘WAS JESUS HUMBLE…’

  A first draft followed by an expanded second draft.

  THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL, ‘WAS JESUS HUMBLE…’ REVISED

  4 From Matthew 7:9, Luke 11:11: ‘what man… if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?’

  11 the rich learned Pharisee Nicodemus, in John 3:1–21, to whom Jesus declares, ‘Ye must be born again.’

  16 From the response of the congregation in Capernaum, Matthew 7:29.

  18 From Matthew 11:28–9.

  41 dr Priestly Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen.

  83 Jesus on the cross prayed, ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do’ (Luke 23:34).

  86 I never will Pray for the World From John 17:9: ‘I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.’

  89 Refers to Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, ‘O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,’ immediately retracted with ‘nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt’ (Matthew 26:39, Mark 14:36, Luke 22:42). B.’s sense in this passage may be that Jesus rejects God’s interpretation of the Crucifixion as an act of humility to be followed by revenge. Instead, he scorns the death of the body – which is only a ‘fiction’ – and thus does not need to be either humble now or vengeful at Judgement Day.

  103–6 These final lines are adapted from ‘Auguries of Innocence’, 11. 125–8, p. 510.

  ‘I AM SURE THIS JESUS WILL NOT DO…’

  A couplet written marginally near the end of the previous section.

  For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise

  In 1793 B. published an emblem-book entitled For Children: The Gates of Paradise, consisting of a frontispiec
e and sixteen designs with brief legends, symbolically depicting the sufferings and limitations of mortal life. Years later (estimates of the date range between 1806 and 1818) he reissued this book with a new title, expanded inscriptions, a prologue and three new pages of text. Five complete copies, and seven incomplete, are known. The designs are reproduced in Keynes and Erdman, among other editions, as well as in J. Beer, Blake’s Humanism, with a commentary. Facsimiles may be found in the Blake Trust edition (1969).

  PROLOGUE

  8 The ‘corpse’ (a pun on corpus?) of the Law: the Ten Commandments, placed beneath the Mercy Seat in the Temple.

  THE KEYS OF THE GATES

  The Keys The numbers to the left of the lines refer to the designs on which they comment.

  1 The frontispiece design depicts a caterpillar above a baby-faced chrysalis.

  5 Emblem I depicts a woman plucking an infant from under a tree-root.

  9–12 Emblems 2–5 depict water, earth, air and fire. Their inscriptions form another quatrain:

  Water: Thou waterest him with Tears

  Earth: He struggles into Life

  Air: On Cloudy Doubts and Reasoning Cares

  Fire: That end in endless strife.

  15 The female and her child constitute a hermaphrodite pair because they cannot unite in transcendence of sexuality.

  20 Emblem 6 depicts a winged child emerging from a shell. The inscription reads ‘At length for hatching ripe he breaks the shell’ (from Dryden’s Palamon and Arcite, 1069).

  21 When Man is born in a mortal body. The cave, grave and garments of flesh are all neo-Platonic symbols of birth.

  27 Emblem 7 depicts a boy catching small winged figures in his hat. One lies on the ground, and one is fleeing. The source of the design may well be King Lear (IV.i.38): ‘As flies to wanton boys are we to the Gods/They kill us for their sport.’ The inscription reads: ‘What are these? Alas! the Female Martyr/Is She also the Divine Image?’

  31 My Son! my Son! This is the inscription to Emblem 8, which depicts a youth aiming a spear at an old man. The words are King David’s (2 Samuel 18:33) at the death of his rebel son: ‘Would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!’

  33 Emblem 9 depicts a man preparing to climb a ladder to the moon. The inscription reads: ‘I want! I want!’

  35 Emblem 10 depicts a man drowning with arm upraised. The inscription reads: ‘Help! Help!’

  37 Emblem 11 depicts an old bespectacled man, with closed eyes, clipping the wings of a young boy who tries to escape towards the sun. The inscription reads: ‘Aged Ignorance/Perceptive Organs closed, their Objects close.’

  39 Emblem 12 depicts Ugolino and his sons in prison. The inscription reads: ‘Does thy God, O Priest, take such vengeance as this?’

  42 Emblem 13 depicts an old man’s spirit rising from his deathbed while his family watches. The inscription reads: ‘Fear and Hope are – Vision.’

  43 Emblem 14 depicts a traveller with walking stick. The inscription reads: ‘The Traveller hasteth in the Evening.’

  45 Emblem 15 depicts an old man entering a stone doorway. The inscription reads: ‘Death’s Door’.

  47 Emblem 16 depicts a hooded woman sitting in shadow with a worm winding about. The inscription reads: ‘I have said to the Worm:/Thou art my mother and my sister.’

  TO THE ACCUSER…

  1 From Young’s Night Thoughts VIII.1417: ‘Satan, thy master, I dare call a dunce.’

  8 The lost Travellers Dream The lost traveller is man, and Satan is but his dream.

  The Ghost of Abel

  B.’s final etched work, dated 1822, responds to Byron’s romantic drama Cain, A Mystery, which had appeared in 1821. Byron dwells at length on the despair and the agonized guilt of Cain, and indicts the God responsible for death. If life ends in death, it is meaningless. But B. argues in effect that a poet should see beyond the sufferings of this world: spiritual vision should reveal Eternity, in which there is no death – hence no cause for despair. The central issues in The Ghost of Abel are Faith versus Doubt and Vengeance for sin versus Forgiveness for sin. The central action is that the ghost of Abel, inspired by Satan, demands vengeance, while Jehovah offers the covenant of forgiveness.

  Pl. 1.1 What doest thou here Elijah? B. addresses Byron in the words of God to Elijah (1 Kings 19:9, 13), when the prophet had fled to the wilderness out of fear for his life, and was lapsing into despair. As God commands Elijah to resume his prophetic labours, so, B. implies, should Byron. As a poet, Byron should have faith in ‘Visions of Jehovah’ which are one with his own imagination.

  6 I will not hear thee… Voice Adam rejects Jehovah, as Albion in the opening of Jerusalem rejects Jesus. He refuses to believe in the spiritual, insisting it is ‘delusion’.

  8–9 the Womans Seed… head From Genesis 3:15, God’s promise to Adam and Eve.

  15 Among the Elohim… I wander Elohim is the title for the Creator–God in Genesis 1. It is a plural form, implying a polytheistic creation. On Pl. 2 of The Ghost of Abel, we find that both Jehovah and Satan are Elohim.

  16–17 Prince of the Air… Avenger Satan (who appears on Pl. 2) has entered into Abel, and speaks through him.

  P1. 2. 19–20 that Thou Thyself… Self Annihilation To go down to eternal death in self-annihilation is the heroic task Milton sets for himself in M Pls. 14, 38, 41. Does Jehovah imply that by willingly sacrificing himself on Calvary, he will teach even Satan to do the same, so that Satan too may eventually be redeemed? The Chorus of Angels at the close of the drama suggests that the vengeful Elohim are converted to peace, brotherhood and love.

  The design at the foot of the text shows a figure rising from Abel’s body, inscribed ‘The Voice of Abels Blood’.

  Dictionary of Proper Names

  THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION: A Biblical phrase signifying unutterable heathen idols (Old Testament) and the ANTICHRIST (New Testament).

  ABRAM: The first Hebrew Patriarch. A native of CHALDEA, he was led to CANAAN by God, who changed his name to Abraham (‘father of multitudes’) and promised blessing to his seed.

  ADAM: Heb. ‘red earth’. The ‘limit of contraction’ created at a late stage of the Fall to prevent further degeneration of the Universal Man. See SATAN.

  AHANIA: Athena? The emanation of URIZEN. Idealism, true Wisdom. See FOUR ZOAS; EMANATION.

  ALBION: Archaic and poetic name for Great Britain. In B. he is a giant, sometimes England, but usually Mankind or ‘Eternal Man’. Originally a member of the DIVINE FAMILY of Eternals who are one with Jesus, he sinks into a deadly sleep in which he becomes divided from Eternity. The FOUR ZOAS – his Reason, Passion, Sensation and Instincts – once integrated, divide and war against each other and against him. This Fall is in B. identical with the formation of the created universe. Its effects form the substance of his prophetic books.

  ALBION, DAUGHTERS OF: In VDA, Englishwomen enslaved by social convention. In f, Albion’s twelve daughters typify the ‘female will’, beautiful but cruel. Their names derive from ancient queens and princesses (except Gwinifred, from the virgin-martyr Winifred) in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Britonum and Milton’s History of Britain. Most are ruthless and ambitious characters. The first five, Cambel (EMANATION of Hand), Gwendolen (Hyle), Conwenna (Bowen), Cordella (Gwantok), Ignoge (Coban), collectively comprise TIRZAH. The last seven, Gwineverra (Scofield), Gwinefred (Hutton), Gonorill (Slade), Sabrina (Kotope), Estrild (Kox), Mehetabel (Peachey), Ragan (Brereton), collectively comprise RAHAB. Boadicea appears in FZ list of Daughters and in f is identified with Cambel. All the daughters, as well as Rahab and Tirzah, are aspects of VALA.

  ALBION, FRIENDS OF: The twenty-eight cathedral cities of the Church of England (Edinburgh is included to represent Presbyterian Scotland), acting as Albion’s conscience. The four chief cities are Canterbury–Verulam, Edinburgh, London and York.

  ALBION, SONS OF: Albion’s twelve sons are treacherous rationalist destroyers. They are associated in f with figures from Hebrew history. They have
modern names, derived from B.’s personal enemies: Hand (the brothers Hunt, whose Examiner editorials – signed with a hand-insignia – ridiculed B. and his art. Hand is the chief son, and at times represents them all); Hyle (Hayley, B.’s patron, and hyle, Gr. ‘matter’); Coban or Koban (not identified); Guantok or Kwantok (John Guantock, a judge at B.’s sedition trial); Peachey (John Peachey, a judge at B.’s trial); Brereton (William Brereton, an assisting justice at B.’s trial); Slade or Slayd (not identified); Hutton (Lt George Hutton, a soldier involved in B.’s trial); Scofield (Private John Scholfield, who accused B. of treason); Kox (Private Cock, Scholfield’s friend and fellow-accuser of B.); Kotope (not identified); Bowen (possibly Thomas Bowen, a Sussex lawyer who might have assisted at B.’s trial).

  ALLAMANDA: A workshop of LOS in GOLGONOOZA; Man’s circulatory system; Commerce. Associated with BOWLAHOOLA, the digestive system.

  AMALEK: Biblical heathen nation south of Palestine, foe of Israel. Amalekite females in B. symbolize sexual temptation and cruelty. Commonly coupled with CANAAN and MOAB, or CANAAN, MOAB and EGYPT.

  AMERICA: Symbol of Liberty, unfortunately separated from England by the Atlantic. In VDA, symbol of Liberty Enslaved.

  AMMON: Biblical heathen nation east of the River JORDAN.

  ANAK: See OG.

  ANNANDALE: Valley of the river Annan in Dumfries, Scotland. In B., a place of Druid worship.

  ANTAMON: A son of LOS and ENITHARMON, ‘prince of the pearly dew’, probably the Cloud in Thel, seminal fluid, youthful gratified desire, shaper of bodies for the unborn.