WINE & BREAD [137]

British Library 

Four Zoas Manuscript
Page 137 

 Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 136, (E 405)

"They Dance around the Dying & they Drink the howl & groan        
PAGE 137 
They catch the Shrieks in cups of gold they hand them to one another
These are the sports of love & these the sweet delights of amorous play
Tears of the grapes the death sweat of the Cluster the last sigh
Of the mild youth who listens to the luring songs of Luvah

The Eternal Man darkend with Sorrow & a wintry mantle   
Coverd the Hills   He said O Tharmas rise & O Urthona

Then Tharmas & Urthona rose from the Golden feast satiated
With Mirth & joy Urthona limping from his fall on Tharmas leand
In his right hand his hammer Tharmas held his Shepherds crook
Beset with gold gold were the ornaments formed by the sons of Urizen 
Then Enion & Ahania & Vala & the wife of Dark Urthona
Rose from the feast in joy ascending to their Golden Looms
There the wingd shuttle Sang the spindle & the distaff & the Reel
Rang sweet the praise of industry. Thro all the golden rooms
Heaven rang with winged Exultation   All beneath howld loud  
With tenfold rout & desolation roard the Chasms beneath
Where the wide woof flowd down & where the Nations are gatherd together

Tharmas went down to the Wine presses & beheld the sons & daughters
Of Luvah quite exhausted with the Labour & quite filld
With new wine. that they began to torment one another and to tread 
The weak. Luvah & Vala slept on the floor o'erwearied

Urthona calld his Sons around him Tharmas calld his sons
Numrous. they took the wine they separated the Lees
And Luvah was put for dung on the ground by the Sons of Tharmas & Urthona
They formed heavens of sweetest wood of gold & silver & ivory 
Of glass & precious stones They loaded all the waggons of heaven
And took away the wine of ages with solemn songs & joy

Luvah & Vala woke & all the sons & daughters of Luvah
Awoke they wept to one another & they reascended
To the Eternal Man in woe he cast them wailing into              
The world of shadows thro the air till winter is over & gone

But the Human Wine stood wondering in all their delightful Expanses
The Elements subside the heavens rolld on with vocal harmony

Then Los who is Urthona rose in all his regenerate power
The Sea that rolld & foamd with darkness & the shadows of death  
Vomited out & gave up all the floods lift up their hands
Singing & shouting to the Man they bow their hoary heads
And murmuring in their channels flow & circle round his feet
PAGE 138 
Then Dark Urthona took the Corn out of the Stores of Urizen
He ground it in his rumbling Mills Terrible the distress
Of all the Nations of Earth ground in the Mills of Urthona
In his hand Tharmas takes the Storms. he turns the whirlwind Loose
Upon the wheels the stormy seas howl at his dread command"   

Wikimedia Commons
Illustrations to Young's Night Thoughts

Blake returned us to the beginning of the Four Zoas as he selected his image from Night Thoughts to be included on this page. His poem has been an account of a struggle between forces of darkness and light, not in the lower world alone but in the higher realms of thought and feeling, of intuition and integration. Now that the sheep had been divided from the goats the wrestling match was concluded 'not with a bang but a whimper' as TS Elliot would have it. Blake concludes the contest with play and tears and a sigh.

Man's torments resulted from 'Love & Jealousy'. His emotional nature concentrated his positive feeling on one object from which he sought to derive his meaning. This object he sought to possess and control and to exercise exclusive rights over. The intimation of Blake's title is that it not Urizen who initiated the fall from unity, but Luvah as his emanation was projected outward. He became enthralled with Vala, the outer world of nature, which replaced the inner world which furnished his identity. What ensued was Death to a consciousness of Eternity, known as Life in our present world. The sorting of Truth from Error, which Blake called Judgment, was designed to restore Albion the Ancient man to his Eternal condition.

Four Zoas, Night I, Page 1, (E 300)
       "THE FOUR ZOAS
The torments of Love & Jealousy in 
    The Death and Judgement
    of Albion the Ancient Man

   by William Blake 1797"    

Four Zoas, Night I, Page 2, (E 300)
     "Rest before Labour"

Four Zoas, Night I, Page 3, (E 300) 

[Quote in Greek] 

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." [Ephesians 6:12]

        "VALA
      Night the First
The Song of the Aged Mother which shook the heavens with wrath
Hearing the march of long resounding strong heroic Verse
Marshalld in order for the day of Intellectual Battle"

On Page 137 Love and Jealousy had lost their power to dominate the psyche. Albion, the Ancient Man, had endured Death in the world of time and space, and was prepared for Judgment in the world of Eternity.

After Blake had the Eternal Man darken over the descent of the emotions into excesses of amorous and aggressive activity, he paused while Urizen's wintry mantle quelled the fervent activity. Urthona and Tharmas were called upon to carry on the work of cleansing the psyche for regeneration. The dregs which had been separated from the juice were designated to fertilize a future crop. When the Human Wine of emotion was thus prepared and purified, Urthona and Tharmas proceeded to the baking of the Bread of Ages from Urizen's corn of thought. 

When the winter of Time is over Man shall eat the Bread and drink the Wine and be satisfied.

Letters, (E 709)
"And My Brother is there & My Friend & Thine
Descend & Ascend with the Bread & the Wine

The Bread of sweet Thought & the Wine of Delight
Feeds the Village of Felpham by day & by night" 

---

Matthew 25
[31] When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory
[32] And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
[33] And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
[34] Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
[35] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
[36] Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
[37] Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
[38] When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
[39] Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
[40] And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
[41] Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
[42] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
[43] I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
[44] Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
[45] Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
[46] And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Deuteronomy 14
[29] And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.