That Woman, lovely Woman! may have dominion?
Arise O Rintrah thee I call! & Palamabron thee!
Go! tell the human race that Womans love is Sin!
That an Eternal life awaits the worms of sixty winters
In an allegorical abode where existence hath never come:
Forbid all joy, & from her childhood shall the little female
Spread nets in every secret path.
My weary eyelids draw towards the evening, my bliss is yet but
new.
My weary eyelids draw towards the evening, my bliss is yet but
new.
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| Wikimedia Commons Europe Plate 5 |
Who shall I call? Who shall I send?
The text is short because the striking image takes up most of the space.
Earlier plates have prepared for ‘ the night of Enitharmons joy! ‘.
Who shall I call? Who shall I send? This lovely line comes from Isaiah 6:
[8] Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
That Woman, lovely Woman! may have dominion: the woman described her is domineering, of the worst sort. She loves conquests and war.
instrumental in bringing about Revolution, both that of America and of France.
Rintrah’s brother Palamabron is said to be pity; but pity did not mean to Blake what it customarily
means today, but what the Bible meant, as for example:
Prov.19
- [17] He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.
Enitharmon calls on her sons, not to perform their rightful functions, but to turn honest love into sin.
(For more on this read My Spectre.)
About the Image
Two 'angel queens' stand behind their mailed knight. He is Rintrah. This picture illustrates a thousand words: It memorializes the two revolutions the two queens (of England and France) have a mailed knight errant, named Rintrah to fight their battles (namely the two Revolutions).
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