Monday, February 13, 2012

Plate 40


The voice of Bath, faint as the voice of the Dead in the House of
Death

LATE 40 [45]
Bath, healing City! whose wisdom in midst of Poetic
Fervor: mild spoke thro' the Western Porch, in soft gentle tears

O Albion mildest Son of Eden! clos'd is thy Western Gate
Brothers of Eternity! this Man whose great example
We all admir'd & lov'd, whose all benevolent countenance, seen
In Eden, in lovely Jerusalem, drew even from envy
The, tear: and the confession of honesty, open & undisguis'd
From mistrust and suspition. The Man is himself become
A piteous example of oblivion. To teach the Sons
Of Eden, that however great and glorious; however loving
And merciful the Individuality; however high
Our palaces and cities, and however fruitful are our fields
In Selfhood, we are nothing: but fade away in mornings breath,
Our mildness is nothing: the greatest mildness we can use
Is incapable and nothing! none but the Lamb of God call heal
This dread disease: none but Jesus! O Lord descend and save!
Albions Western Gate is clos'd: his death is coming apace!
Jesus alone can save him; for alas we none can know
How soon his lot may be our own. When Africa in sleep
Rose in the night of Beulah, and bound down the Sun & Moon
His friends cut his strong chains, & overwhelm'd his dark
Machines in fury & destruction, and the Man reviving repented
He wept before his wrathful brethren, thankful & considerate

For their well timed wrath. But Albions sleep is not
Like Africa's: and his machines are woven with his life
Nothing but mercy can save him! nothing but mercy interposing
Lest he should slay Jerusalem in his fearful jealousy
O God descend! gather our brethren, deliver Jerusalem
But that we may omit no office of the friendly spirit
Oxford take thou these leaves of the Tree of Life: with eloquence
That thy immortal tongue inspires; present them to Albion:
Perhaps he may recieve them, offerd from thy loved hands.

So spoke, unheard by Albion. the merciful Son of Heaven
To those whose Western Gates were open, as they stood weeping
Around Albion: but Albion heard him not; obdurate! hard!
He frown'd on all his Friends, counting them enemies in his
sorrow

And the Seventeen conjoining with Bath, the Seventh:
In whom the other Ten shone manifest, a Divine Vision!
Assimilated and embrac'd Eternal Death for Albions sake.a

And these the names of the Eighteen combining with those Ten 
(Erdman 187-88)

Notes:
 
Blake chose Bath (the city) as a metaphor for the creative dimension of life.

Seventeen, eighteen, seven: Blake's numerology is often quite mysterious.

clos'd is thy Western Gate
Albion's Western Gate is another name for the Selfhood, the 'dread disease'. Look at this paragraph a few lines below:
So spoke, unheard by Albion. the merciful Son of Heaven
To those whose Western Gates were open, as they stood weeping
Around Albion: but Albion heard him not;


"
In Selfhood, we are nothing:...... none but the Lamb of God can heal
This dread disease:"

The Selfhood is the dread disease: forgetting the Spirit (Divinity), being ruled by radical materialism (denying the existence of Spirit, Heaven, God. This is social prophecy of the highest and greatest sort.

none but Jesus! O Lord descend and save!
Prayer of the highest sort; Come Lord Jesus.

Jesus alone can save him; for alas we none can know
How soon his lot may be our own.
That's a paraphrase of Acts 1:7 (
6When they therefore had come together, they asked of Him, saying, "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?"

    7And He said unto them, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power.
Nothing but mercy can save him! nothing but mercy interposing
Lest he should slay Jerusalem in his fearful jealousy
O God descend!


So Plate 40 is very much like most of the rest of the gospel: the Fall and then Salvation.


Two figures pointed in different directions: on the left perhaps a veiled figure, likely Vala; on the right perhaps Jerusalem with the veil in her outstretched hands.

Ellie pointed out that outstretched arms are said to point metaphorically to the Eternal, hands facing downward suggest negativity.

(This is only one of many other interpretations of this image.)

Others see Albion on top of a rapidly rooting Vala.  Others see Reuben and something from Visions of the Daughters of Albion.

In the water two lines below on the left a large fish with open mouth seems like a destination of smaller fish on the right.

In all there are many suggestions of the Circle of Destiny.
 

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