Tuesday, June 16, 2015

WINDOWS INTO EDEN [9]


http://web.archive.org/web/20160223041340/http://www.english.uga.edu/nhilton/Blake/FZ/fz9.jpg

Four Zoas, Night I, PAGE 9, (E 304)
"And then they wanderd far away she sought for them in vain   
In weeping blindness stumbling she followd them oer rocks & mountains
Rehumanizing from the Spectre in pangs of maternal love
Ingrate they wanderd scorning her drawing her Spectrous Life
Repelling her away & away by a dread repulsive power             
Into Non Entity revolving round in dark despair.
And drawing in the Spectrous life in pride and haughty joy  
Thus Enion gave them all her spectrous life

Then Eno a daughter of Beulah took a Moment of Time         
And drew it out to Seven thousand years with much care & affliction                                             
And many tears & in Every year made windows into Eden 

She also took an atom of space & opend its center
Into Infinitude & ornamented it with wondrous art
Astonishd sat her Sisters of Beulah to see her soft affections
To Enion & her children & they ponderd these things wondring     
And they Alternate kept watch over the Youthful terrors
They saw not yet the Hand Divine for it was not yet reveald
But they went on in Silent Hope & Feminine repose

But Los & Enitharmon delighted in the Moony spaces of Eno
Nine Times they livd among the forests, feeding on sweet fruits  
And nine bright Spaces wanderd weaving mazes of delight
Snaring the wild Goats for their milk they eat the flesh of Lambs
A male & female naked & ruddy as the pride of summer
Alternate Love & Hate his breast; hers Scorn & Jealousy
In embryon passions. they kiss'd not nor embrac'd for shame & fear
His head beamd light & in his vigorous voice was prophecy
He could controll the times & seasons, & the days & years
She could controll the spaces, regions, desart, flood & forest
But had no power to weave a Veil of covering for her Sins
She drave the Females all away from Los                          
And Los drave all the Males from her away
They wanderd long, till they sat down upon the margind sea.
Conversing with the visions of Beulah in dark slumberous bliss

But the two youthful wonders wanderd in the world of Tharmas
Thy name is Enitharmon; said the fierce prophetic boy       
While thy mild voice fills all these Caverns with sweet harmony
O how our Parents sit & mourn in their silent secret bowers" 

Enion's two infants immediately begin to pursue wayward, independent existences. Apparently their reasoning came from Enion's Spectrous Life. Eno who is the Aged Mother who shook the Heavens as the Four Zoas began, again intervened in the development of the two children. It is at this point that time and space become perceptible to the developing mind. The remnants of Enions awareness of Tharmas as the cohesive force of the body, become the framework for a world in which man can gain experience.

The benevolence of Eno provided a means for the psyche to develop through opening the unconscious to an exterior world. In Enion's hands are a square and a compass, Blake's symbolic instruments of creation. It was the first step in a perilous journey which would lead to a reunion of all the scattered pieces into an inclusive whole.

At the end of the passage we learn Enitharmon's name and the role of the boy as the fierce prophet, Los.
 

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