Blake's Secret

You may wrack your brain (for example over a segment of html), but the secret eludes you. There are many secrets, of every conceivable kind, but rare is the one who knows many of them. In the middle of the night they may come to you; the quiet dawn of day is an excellent time to discover secrets.

God gives to us these secrets, one by one; He reveals them; Satan hides them. In the 19th century a scientist (of sorts) bewailed the fact that everything had now been invented-- with none of the secrets of Nature unknown. Little did he know!

Blake readily found important secrets in his Bible sources (search for Samson).

In Visions of the Daughters of Albion Blake gave us many secrets.


Here we have Albion's Secret in Plate 13 of America:

"The British soldiers thro' the thirteen states sent up a howl
Of anguish: threw their swords & muskets to the earth & ran
From their encampments and dark castles seeking where to hide
From the grim flames; and from the visions of Orc; in sight
Of Albions Angel; who enrag'd his secret clouds open'd
From north to south, and burnt outstretchd on wings of wrath cov'ring
The eastern sky, spreading his awful wings across the heavens;"

In Songs of Experience Blake tell us of a secret:

"SONGS 39

The SICK ROSE                                                    

"O Rose thou art sick. 

The invisible worm, 

hat flies in the night 

In the howling storm:  

Has found out thy bed                                          

Of crimson joy: 

And his dark secret love 

Does thy life destroy." 

In Night 7 of The Four Zoas (Erdman 358) The Shadow of Enitharmon answers the Spectre of Urthona:

"now listen I will tell

Thee Secrets of Eternity which neer before unlockd

My golden lips nor took the bar from Enitharmons breast

Among the Flowers of Beulah walkd the Eternal Man & Saw

Vala the lilly of the desart. melting in high noon

Upon her bosom in sweet bliss he fainted   
Wonder siezd All heaven they saw him dark. 
they built a golden wall   Round Beulah"
These and many other of the secrets of Life came to Blake through
his sources (in the Bible and in many other places. Blake never 
plainly described the one Secret of Life revealed to him in his
visit to the Truchsession Gallery (which you have seen me describe
[in Letter 51, to Hayley):

"Suddenly, on the day after visiting the Truchsessian Gallery of
pictures, I was again enlightened with the light I enjoyed in my youth,
and which has for exactly twenty years been closed from me as by a door
and by window-shutters."
Here's a secret for you, dear reader:
Count your blessings