posts to show it all. Here we can only make a few scattered remards; I will
only touch on somed words that might seem mysterious to the reader:
Jerusalem the Emanation of the Giant Albion! I wonder if Blake wasn't
expressing amazement at the idea: Jerusalem is a place in Palestine for most
of us, but it meant something very differenent to Blake; for him it
poetically connotes the better side of Abion (Mankind), the spiritual or
Eternal side. In the same way Vala expressed the material, temporal side
of Albion.
The idea that Jerusalem was the 'Seat' of universal religion; it was the
The Religion of Jesus! (This he said to the Jews.)
Jerusalem was also a song at the beginning of Milton, a song that voters in
the Labor party in England considered their national anthem.
To study and enjoy Blake, or any meaningful poetry you have to be willing
to entertain (in your imagination at least) multiple meanings or
connotations of words. Jerusalem became the name of Blake's epic poem and
prophecy.
It goes on to relate the Old Testament patriarches to Druidism, and he
equates the patriarches with oak groves. (That's poetry!!)
What follows is a beautiful nature poem, reminiscent of the time when the
boy went gamboling over the environs of London, filled with pleasant
memories, among the boys was the lamb of God with Jerusalem, his bride:
(exquisite!) with forgiveness for all.
But it's interrupted by the 'mighty ruin' (the fallen Garden of Eden)
with the 'fatal tree' of mystery (often thought of as an apple tree)
that Adam and Eve disobediently ate, the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
And here we have one of so many pointed and succinct oppositions
between Innocence and Experience. It's the fate of all to begin in
Innocence and proceed to Experience.
Blake's work is poetic, philosophic and sermonic.
Albion's Spectre brings forth Satan and cataclysm.
Beginning on page 173, after a paragraph of woe we find
"The Divine Vision still was seen" in the form of Jesus, who
'entered through the Gates of Birth' and passed through
'the Gates of Death' (pure gospel).
Then Blake(?) confesses that he killed Jesus in his self-righteous
pride and asks for the 'Spirit of his Love' and claims the
Spectre as his own Selfhood (Satan)
(Satan is not a person, but a State we may at any time enter.)
Text of PLATE 27
To the Jews.
Jerusalem the Emanation of the Giant Albion! Can it be? Is it a
Truth that the Learned have explored? Was Britain the Primitive
Seat of the Patriarchal Religion? If it is true: my title-page is
also True, that Jerusalem was & is the Emanation of the Giant
Albion. It is True, and cannot be controverted. Ye are united O
ye Inhabitants of Earth in One Religion. The Religion of Jesus:
the most Ancient, the Eternal: & the Everlasting Gospel--The
Wicked will turn it to Wickedness,
the Righteous to Righteousness. Amen! Huzza! Selah!
"All things Begin & End in Albions Ancient Druid Rocky Shore."
Your Ancestors derived their origin from Abraham, Heber, Shem,
and Noah, who were Druids: as the Druid Temples (which are the
Patriarchal Pillars & Oak Groves) over the whole Earth witness to
this day.
You have a tradition, that Man anciently containd in his mighty
limbs all things in Heaven & Earth: this you recieved from the
Druids.
"But now the Starry Heavens are fled from the mighty limbs of
Albion"
Albion was the Parent of the Druids; & in his Chaotic State of
Sleep Satan & Adam & the whole World was Created by the Elohim.
The fields from Islington to Marybone,
To Primrose Hill and Saint Johns Wood:
Were builded over with pillars of gold,
And there Jerusalems pillars stood.
Her Little-ones ran on the fields
The Lamb of God among them seen
And fair Jerusalem his Bride:
Among the little meadows green.
- 171 -
Pancrass & Kentish-town repose
Among her golden pillars high:
Among her golden arches which
Shine upon the starry sky.
The Jews-harp-house & the Green Man;
The Ponds where Boys to bathe delight:
The fields of Cows by Willans farm:
Shine in Jerusalems pleasant sight.
She walks upon our meadows green:
The Lamb of God walks by her side:
And every English Child is seen,
Children of Jesus & his Bride,
Forgiving trespasses and sins
Lest Babylon with cruel Og,
With Moral & Self-righteous Law
Should Crucify in Satans Synagogue!
What are those golden Builders doing
Near mournful ever-weeping Paddington
Standing above that mighty Ruin
Where Satan the first victory won.
Where Albion slept beneath the Fatal Tree
And the Druids golden Knife,
Rioted in human gore,
In Offerings of Human Life
They groan'd aloud on London Stone
They groand aloud on Tyburns Brook
Albion gave his deadly groan,
And all the Atlantic Mountains shook
Albions Spectre from his Loins
Tore forth in all the pomp of War!
Satan his name: in flames of fire
He stretch'd his Druid Pillars far.
Jerusalem fell from Lambeth's Vale,
Down thro Poplar & Old Bow;
Thro Malden & acros the Sea,
In War & howling death & woe.
The Rhine was red with human blood:
The Danube rolld a purple tide:
On the Euphrates Satan stood:
And over Asia stretch'd his pride.
- 172 -
He witherd up sweet Zions Hill,
From every Nation of the Earth:
He witherd up Jerusalems Gates,
And in a dark Land gave her birth.
He witherd up the Human Form,
By laws of sacrifice for sin:
Till it became a Mortal Worm:
But O! translucent all within.
The Divine Vision still was seen
Still was the Human Form, Divine
Weeping in weak & mortal clay
O Jesus still the Form was thine.
And thine the Human Face & thine
The Human Hands & Feet & Breath
Entering thro' the Gates of Birth
And passing thro' the Gates of Death
And O thou Lamb of God, whom I
Slew in my dark self-righteous pride:
Art thou return'd to Albions Land!
And is Jerusalem thy Bride?
Come to my arms & never more
Depart; but dwell for ever here:
Create my Spirit to thy Love:
Subdue my Spectre to thy Fear,
Spectre of Albion! warlike Fiend!
In clouds of blood & ruin roll'd:
I here reclaim thee as my own
My Selfhood! Satan! armd in gold.
Is this thy soft Family-Love
Thy cruel Patriarchal pride
Planting thy Family alone
Destroying all the World beside.
A mans worst enemies are those
Of his own house & family;
And he who makes his law a curse,
By his own law shall surely die.
In my Exchanges every Land
Shall walk, & mine in every Land,
Mutual shall build Jerusalem:
Both heart in heart & hand in hand.
- 173 -
If Humility is Christianity; you O Jews are the true
Christians; If your tradition that Man contained in his Limbs,
all Animals, is True & they were separated from him by cruel
Sacrifices: and when compulsory cruel Sacrifices had brought
Humanity into a Feminine Tabernacle, in the loins of Abraham &
David: the Lamb of God, the Saviour became apparent on Earth as
the Prophets had foretold? The Return of Israel is a Return to
Mental Sacrifice & War. Take up the Cross O Israel & follow
Jesus.
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