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Fitzwilliam Museum
Paradise Regained
Morning chasing away the phantoms
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"Thus pass'd the night so foul till morning fair
Came forth with Pilgrim steps in amice gray;
Who with her radiant finger still'd the roar
Of thunder, chas'd the clouds, and laid the winds,
And grisly Spectres, which the Fiend had rais'd [ 430 ]
To tempt the Son of God with terrors dire.
And now the Sun with more effectual beams
Had chear'd the face of Earth, and dry'd the wet
From drooping plant, or dropping tree; the birds
Who all things now behold more fresh and green, [ 435 ]
After a night of storm so ruinous,
Clear'd up their choicest notes in bush and spray
To gratulate the sweet return of morn;
Nor yet amidst this joy and brightest morn
Was absent, after all his mischief done, [ 440 ]"
Blake viewed the cycle of life in terms of a fall from a paradisaical state into a state of alienation where man wanders in a reduced state of consciousness. This condition may be symbolized as sleep. We might say that through sleep man is given a respite from outer distractions as an opportunity to examine the dynamics of his psyche. If a man were to have no means of resolving the conflicting demands which require attention, there would be no exit from the dilemmas which entrap him.
In the previous illustration we saw Jesus assaulted by exposure to threatening images. Jesus maintained his calm in spite of the dreams which entered his sleeping mind. Blake was totally convinced that we each have within ourselves the means of escaping from the conflicts which threaten to overwhelm us. Blake's faith was in access to the Spirit which resides in every man eternally. This Spirit goes by many names including the Light Within, the Holy Spirit, and that of God in Every Man. Through connection with that Spirit which is always available, man may wake from the sleep into which he falls when he closes his eyes to the Divine Vision.
In illustrations 8 and 9 to Paradise Regained Blake took the opportunity to contrast the darkness of night and sleep with the brightness of light and consciousness. When dawn arrives there is no desire to continue to remain confined in darkness by fears and despair.
First Thessalonians 5
[5] Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
[6] Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
[7] For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
[8] But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
Revelation 22
[4] And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
[5] And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
America, Plate 6, (E 53)
"The morning comes, the night decays, the watchmen leave their tations;
The grave is burst, the spices shed, the linen wrapped up;
The bones of death, the cov'ring clay, the sinews shrunk & dry'd.
Reviving shake, inspiring move, breathing! awakening!
Spring like redeemed captives when their bonds & bars are burst;
Milton, Plate 21 [23], (E 116)
"Seven mornings Los heard them, as the poor bird within the shell
Hears its impatient parent bird; and Enitharmon heard them:
But saw them not, for the blue Mundane Shell inclosd them in.
And they lamented that they had in wrath & fury & fire
Driven Milton into the Ulro; for now they knew too late
That it was Milton the Awakener: they had not heard the Bard,
Whose song calld Milton to the attempt; and Los heard these laments.
He heard them call in prayer all the Divine Family;
And he beheld the Cloud of Milton stretching over Europe."
Milton, Plate 23 [25], (E 118)
"Awake thou sleeper on the Rock of Eternity Albion awake
The trumpet of Judgment hath twice sounded: all Nations are awake
But thou art still heavy and dull: Awake Albion awake!" .
Milton, Plate 39 [44], (E 140)
"Awake Albion awake! reclaim thy Reasoning Spectre. Subdue
Him to the Divine Mercy, Cast him down into the Lake
Of Los, that ever burneth with fire, ever & ever Amen!
Let the Four Zoa's awake from Slumbers of Six Thousand Years"
Jerusalem, Plate 77, (E 233)
"England! awake! awake! awake!
Jerusalem thy Sister calls!
Why wilt thou sleep the sleep of death?
And close her from thy ancient walls."
Poetical Sketches, (E 410)
TO MORNING.
"O holy virgin! clad in purest white,
Unlock heav'n's golden gates, and issue forth;
Awake the dawn that sleeps in heaven; let light
Rise from the chambers of the east, and bring
The honied dew that cometh on waking day."
"melt the clouds of sin and sadness"
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