SOUL QUOTES

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Introduction to Songs of Experience

Some of what Blake wrote about the soul can be found in the passages quoted below. They include these words about the soul:  

The soul is subject to falling away, to passing through states, but is never defiled. It can be hidden or return to the mortal state or be 'harrowd with grief & fear & love & desire,' It can conceal sin. The soul can experience terror or view the 'Infernal Storm.' The soul can be given away and can seek for her maker. The sinless soul dwells with the immortal spirit. When the soul approaches the gates of death, or dies within, the Divine Saviour descends and the Divine Vision weeps. Error & Illusion rent the soul.

June Singer in Seeing Through the Visible World, gives these insights into how the soul functions beginning on page xxii:

"...The more you encompass of the visible world with the knowing of the mind, the more aware you may become of the expanse of the unknowable. 

But there is another way of knowing: the knowing of the soul. This kind of knowing has been called gnosis since ancient times to distinguish it from the kind of knowledge that comes from intellect and reason alone. Psyche is the Greek term for soul, and it is in this sense that I use it. Soul or psyche, is that aspect of the individual that is composed of both conscious and unconscious aspects: ways of knowing of which we are primarily aware (such as thinking, feeling, and sensation),  and ways of knowing that seem to be mobilized primarily in realms of the unconscious (for example, intuition, speculation, imagination, and dreaming). All these ways of knowing belong to the realm of the psyche or soul. Mind is included in the psyche, but the psyche is not limited to the exercise of the mental processes. The soul bridges the gap between what can be learned through the mind, through the senses, through the intellect and through the exercise of scientific observation - and the intuitive awareness of a deep abiding space that may be penetrated by consciousness but can never be encompassed by it."

Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Songs 30, (E 18)

"Introduction.
Hear the voice of the Bard! 
Who Present, Past, & Future sees
Whose ears have heard,
The Holy Word,
That walk'd among the ancient trees.

Calling the lapsed Soul
And weeping in the evening dew:
That might controll,
The starry pole;
And fallen fallen light renew!" 

Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Combined Title Page, (E 6)

"Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul"    

America, Plate 8, (E 54)

"For every thing that lives is holy, life delights in life;
Because the soul of sweet delight can never be defil'd."
Jerusalem, Plate 22, (E 168)
"Loud groand Albion from mountain to mountain & replied
Plate 23
Jerusalem! Jerusalem! deluding shadow of Albion!
Daughter of my phantasy! unlawful pleasure! Albions curse!
I came here with intention to annihilate thee! But
My soul is melted away, inwoven within the Veil
Hast thou again knitted the Veil of Vala, which I for thee       
Pitying rent in ancient times. I see it whole and more
Perfect, and shining with beauty! But thou! O wretched Father! 

Jerusalem reply'd, like a voice heard from a sepulcher:
Father! once piteous! Is Pity. a Sin? Embalm'd in Vala's bosom
In an Eternal Death for. Albions sake, our best beloved.         
Thou art my Father & my Brother: Why hast thou hidden me,
Remote from the divine Vision: my Lord and Saviour."
Milton, Plate 42 [49], (E 143)
"Terror struck in the Vale I stood at that immortal sound
My bones trembled. I fell outstretchd upon the path              
A moment, & my Soul returnd into its mortal state
To Resurrection & Judgment in the Vegetable Body
And my sweet Shadow of Delight stood trembling by my side

Immediately the Lark mounted with a loud trill from Felphams Vale
And the Wild Thyme from Wimbletons green & impurpled Hills"       
Jerusalem, Plate 68, (E 222)
"Once Man was occupied in intellectual pleasures & energies   
But now my soul is harrowd with grief & fear & love & desire
And now I hate & now I love & Intellect is no more:
There is no time for any thing but the torments of love & desire
The Feminine & Masculine Shadows soft, mild & ever varying
In beauty: are Shadows now no more, but Rocks in Horeb           
Plate 69
Then all the Males combined into One Male & every one
Became a ravening eating Cancer growing in the Female
A Polypus of Roots of Reasoning Doubt Despair & Death.
Going forth & returning from Albions Rocks to Canaan:
Devouring Jerusalem from every Nation of the Earth."
Four Zoas, Night I, Page 4, (E 301)
"Enion said--Thy fear has made me tremble thy terrors have surrounded me                                              t
All Love is lost Terror succeeds & Hatred instead of Love
And stern demands of Right & Duty instead of Liberty.
Once thou wast to Me the loveliest son of heaven--But now        
 
Why art thou Terrible and yet I love thee in thy terror till
I am almost Extinct & soon shall be a Shadow in Oblivion
Unless some way can be found that I may look upon thee & live
Hide me some Shadowy semblance. secret whispring in my Ear
In secret of soft wings. in mazes of delusive beauty             
I have lookd into the secret soul of him I lovd
And in the Dark recesses found Sin & cannot return

Trembling & pale sat Tharmas weeping in his clouds
Why wilt thou Examine every little fibre of my soul
Spreading them out before the Sun like Stalks of flax to dry     
The infant joy is beautiful but its anatomy
Horrible Ghast & Deadly nought shalt thou find in it
But Death Despair & Everlasting brooding Melancholy
Four Zoas, Night VII, Page 85, (E 360)
"Thus they conferrd among the intoxicating fumes of Mystery    
Till Enitharmons shadow pregnant in the deeps beneath
Brought forth a wonder horrible. While Enitharmon shriekd
And trembled thro the Worlds above Los wept his fierce soul was terrifid
At the shrieks of Enitharmon at her tossings nor could his eyes percieve
The cause of her dire anguish for she lay the image of Death     
Movd by strong shudders till her shadow was deliverd then she ran
Raving about the upper Elements in maddning fury

She burst the Gates of Enitharmons heart with direful Crash
Nor could they ever be closd again the golden hinges were broken
And the gates broke in sunder & their ornaments defacd       
Beneath the tree of Mystery for the immortal shadow shuddering
Brought forth this wonder horrible a Cloud she grew & grew
Till many of the dead burst forth from the bottoms of their tombs
In male forms without female counterparts or Emanations    
Cruel and ravening with Enmity & Hatred & War  
In dreams of Ulro dark delusive drawn by the lovely shadow 

The Spectre terrified gave her Charge over the howling Orc" 
Songs and Ballads, (E 480)
[From Blake's Notebook] 
 "The Caverns of the Grave Ive seen 
And these I shewd to Englands Queen
But now the Caves of Hell I view     
Who shall I dare to shew them to
What mighty Soul in Beautys form     
Shall dauntless View the Infernal Storm 
Egremonts Countess can controll         
The flames of Hell that round me roll   
If she refuse I still go on"
Four Zoas, Night II, Page 26, (E 317)
"I brought her thro' the Wilderness, a dry & thirsty land
And I commanded springs to rise for her in the black desart
Till she became a Dragon winged bright & poisonous  
I opend all the floodgates of the heavens to quench her thirst
Plate 27 
And I commanded the Great deep to hide her in his hand
Till she became a little weeping Infant a span long
I carried her in my bosom as a man carries a lamb
I loved her I gave her all my soul & my delight
I hid her in soft gardens & in secret bowers of Summer           
Weaving mazes of delight along the sunny Paradise
Inextricable labyrinths, She bore me sons & daughters
And they have taken her away & hid her from my sight
They have surrounded me with walls of iron & brass, O Lamb     
Of God clothed in Luvahs garments little knowest thou          
Of death Eternal that we all go to Eternal Death"
Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 127, (E 396)
"Rise sluggish Soul why sitst thou here why dost thou sit & weep
Yon Sun shall wax old & decay but thou shalt ever flourish 
The fruit shall ripen & fall down & the flowers consume away
But thou shalt still survive arise O dry thy dewy tears

Hah! Shall I still survive whence came that sweet & comforting voice
And whence that voice of sorrow O sun thou art nothing now to me
Go on thy course rejoicing & let us both rejoice together 
I walk among his flocks & hear the bleating of his lambs
O that I could behold his face & follow his pure feet
I walk by the footsteps of his flocks come hither tender flocks
Can you converse with a pure Soul that seeketh for her maker
You answer not then am I set your mistress in this garden 
Ill watch you & attend your footsteps you are not like the birds"
Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 127, (E 397)
"My Luvah here hath placd me in a Sweet & pleasant Land
And given me fruits & pleasant waters & warm hills & cool valleys
Here will I build myself a house & here Ill call on his name
Here Ill return when I am weary & take my pleasant rest

So spoke the Sinless Soul & laid her head on the downy fleece 
Of a curld Ram who stretchd himself in sleep beside his mistress
And soft sleep fell upon her eyelids in the silent noon of day

Then Luvah passed by & saw the sinless Soul
And said   Let a pleasant house arise to be the dwelling place
Of this immortal Spirit growing in lower Paradise" 
Milton, Plate 14 [15], (E 108)
"And Milton said, I go to Eternal Death! The Nations still
Follow after the detestable Gods of Priam; in pomp               
Of warlike selfhood, contradicting and blaspheming.
When will the Resurrection come; to deliver the sleeping body
From corruptibility: O when Lord Jesus wilt thou come?
Tarry no longer; for my soul lies at the gates of death.
I will arise and look forth for the morning of the grave.       
I will go down to the sepulcher to see if morning breaks!
I will go down to self annihilation and eternal death,
Lest the Last Judgment come & find me unannihilate"

Jerusalem, Plate 42, (E 189)
"Thus Albion sat, studious of others in his pale disease:
Brooding on evil: but when Los opend the Furnaces before him:
He saw that the accursed things were his own affections,
And his own beloveds: then he turn'd sick! his soul died within him
Also Los sick & terrified beheld the Furnaces of Death           
And must have died, but the Divine Saviour descended
Among the infant loves & affections, and the Divine Vision wept
Like evening dew on every herb upon the breathing ground"
Jerusalem, Plate 35 [39], (E 181)
"Los answerd, troubled: and his soul was rent in twain: 
Must the Wise die for an Atonement? does Mercy endure Atonement? 
 No! It is Moral Severity, & destroys Mercy in its Victim. 
So speaking, not yet infected with the Error & Illusion,"