Blake presented the culmination of the Four Zoas at multiple levels or from varied perspectives. We looked at page 138 as Blake represented the reassembling of the Ancient man from divided Zoas which has assumed independent functioning when man fell from his original condition. Urthona and Tharmas, working together in Man's unconscious mind, were cooperating to provide the Bread and Wine which would sustain the unified Divine Humanity.
Blake inserted the following lines to portray Man in his glory as he was restored to wholeness. As man recovered, his world recovered also. Man and Nature interacted as reflections of each other, each giving and receiving, transforming and being transformed. Because the accident has been incinerated in the furnace of experience, the essence was released to walk into the unchanging but dynamic world of Eternity.
Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 138, (E 406)
"The Sun has left his blackness & has found a fresher morning
And the mild moon rejoices in the clear & cloudless night
And Man walks forth from midst of the fires the evil is all consumd
His eyes behold the Angelic spheres arising night & day
The stars consumd like a lamp blown out & in their stead behold
The Expanding Eyes of Man behold the depths of wondrous worlds
One Earth one sea beneath nor Erring Globes wander but Stars
Of fire rise up nightly from the Ocean & one Sun
Each morning like a New born Man issues with songs & Joy
Calling the Plowman to his Labour & the Shepherd to his rest
He walks upon the Eternal Mountains raising his heavenly voice
Conversing with the Animal forms of wisdom night & day
That risen from the Sea of fire renewd walk oer the Earth
For Tharmas brought his flocks upon the hills & in the Vales
Around the Eternal Mans bright tent the little Children play
Among the wooly flocks The hammer of Urthona sounds
In the deep caves beneath his limbs renewd his Lions roar
Around the Furnaces & in Evening sport upon the plains
They raise their faces from the Earth conversing with the Man
How is it we have walkd thro fires & yet are not consumd
How is it that all things are changd even as in ancient times"
When he illustrated Milton's L'Allegro, Blake provided a picture which echoes the poetic image of the New Born Man in the fresher morn of a sun restored to its original splendor. The archetypal themes running through the body of Blake's work motivate us to find enhancements to his symbols in unexpected places.
 |
Wikimedia Commons
Morgan Library
Blake's Illustrations to Milton's L'Allegro
'The Sun at His Eastern Gate'
|
No comments:
Post a Comment