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| Four Zoas Page 4 |
"In Eden; in the Auricular Nerves of Human life
Which is the Earth of Eden, he his Emanations propagated
Fairies of Albion afterwards Gods of the Heathen, Daughter of Beulah Sing
His fall into Division & his Resurrection to Unity
His fall into the Generation of Decay & Death & his Regeneration
by the Resurrection from the dead
Begin with Tharmas Parent power. darkning in the West
Lost! Lost! Lost! are my Emanations Enion O Enion
We are become a Victim to the Living We hide in secret
I have hidden Jerusalem in Silent Contrition O Pity Me
I will build thee a Labyrinth also O pity me O Enion
Why hast thou taken sweet Jerusalem from my inmost Soul
Let her Lay secret in the Soft recess of darkness & silence
It is not Love I bear to [Jerusalem] It is Pity
She hath taken refuge in my bosom & I cannot cast her out.
The Men have recieved their death wounds & their Emanations are fled
To me for refuge & I cannot turn them out for Pitys sake
Enion said--Thy fear has made me tremble thy terrors have surrounded me
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
Thou wilt go mad with horror if thou dost Examine thus
Every moment of my secret hours Yea I know
That I have sinnd & that my Emanations are become harlots
I am already distracted at their deeds & if I look
Upon them more Despair will bring self murder on my soul
O Enion thou art thyself a root growing in hell
Tho thus heavenly beautiful to draw me to destruction
Sometimes I think thou art a flower expanding
Sometimes I think thou art fruit breaking from its bud
In dreadful dolor & pain & I am like an atom
A Nothing left in darkness yet I am an identity
I wish & feel & weep & groan Ah terrible terrible"
From the beginning of the Four Zoas, Blake focuses on ambiguity and uncertainty. The two characters introduced on this page are Tharmas, the 'parent power', and his Emanation, Enion. The pristine world in which Tharmes and Enion lived in perfect harmony has already been disturbed by some unknown event.
The archer whom Blake pictures, may be thought of as Tharmas as he is 'darkening in the west'. An activity is beginning in him which is analogous to releasing arrows of thought from his bow of desire or intention. It is Enion who perceives the activity of Tharmas as threatening. Therefore the archer may be a picture of Enion's view of Tharmas rather than an objective representation of Tharmas' intention toward Enion. The deceit, the mistrust, the withdrawal, the accusations and misunderstandings are symptoms of some dysfunction in the 'Auricular Nerves of Human life Which is the Earth of Eden'.
The implication is of things going on in the unconscious mind. Tharmas has been identified as the id, the first of the psychic functions which operates in the human infant, but which continues to be the source of psychic energy throughout life. What goes on between Tharmas and Enion in Night I, represents a confusion in the functioning of the id, perhaps as the psyche matures through infancy, childhood and adolescence.
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