PLOW

Four Zoas

Page 5 

 

In his thesis Lee Hamilton explored Blake's poem Four Zoas from the perspective of Jungian psychology. His paper is deserving of careful study.

The explanation of the use of the plow as the symbol for the work of Urizen relates to the relationship of consciousness to unconsciousness. If in the first half of life, the task of man is to develop consciousness as represented by his Ego, his thinking controlling function, the second half of life turns to reversing the process. The Ego or consciousness must begin to relinquish control to the aspects of the psyche which have been unconscious. Urizen must relinquish ascendancy to Urthona who represents man's spiritual nature, intuition or wholeness.

Thesis by Lee Hamilton, ENERGY AND ARCHETYPE: A JUNGIAN ANALYSIS OF THE FOUR ZOAS BY WILLIAM BLAKE, Page 49.

 "The furnace is opened, and the molten metal that is now Luvah is allowed to pour out into furrows cut by Urizen's plow of the ages. This act symbolizes the canalization of the Feeling function by the Thinking function. Urizen forces the remains of Luvah into a furrow or form of his own design, just as he forced the Bulls of Luvah by making them pull his plow and do his bidding. The plow symbolizes the mastery of the conscious forces over the unconscious. Wherever the plow goes, it wrests a portion of the soil from its primal, un-conscious state and gives it over to the use of man's conscious intellect (Jung, IX, pt. 2, 148)."

Aion, C G Jung, Page 148:

"Since olden times the plough has stood for man's mastery over the earth: wherever man ploughs, he has wrested a patch of soil from the primal state and put it to his own use. That is to say: the fishes will rule this world and subdue it by working astrologically through man and moulding his consciousness." 

In the first half of life Urizen's plow tills the field breaking the soil and  creating the furrows. Through building a system the mind processes the data by which the senses connect the inner world of the mind with the outer material world. Consciousness is expanded at the expense of instinctive unconscious activity.   

A point is reached where there is a realization that there is more to life than life in the material. Recognizing that the body will die but that consciousness is more than the body, man becomes aware that the individual is connected to a greater consciousness. The second half of life can be used to explore and develop the inner life which never dies. Time and Space begin to lose their grip as man perceives the Eternal and Infinite.

In the final resolution of the Four Zoas Urizen plays a pivotal role.  

As expressed by Hamilton on Page 117:

Four Zoas, Night IX, Page 124, (E 393)

"The Sons of Urizen Shout Their father rose The Eternal horses
Harnessd They calld to Urizen the heavens moved at their call
The limbs of Urizen shone with ardor. He laid his hand on the Plow                                                       t
Thro dismal darkness drave the Plow of ages over Cities
And all their Villages over Mountains & all their Vallies
Over the graves & caverns of the dead   Over the Planets
And over the void Spaces over Sun & moon & star & constellation"

"As already mentioned, the plowing symbolizes the victory of consciousness over unconsciousness. In this final apocalypse the meaning is the same, but it is applied on a higher plane of consciousness. Urizen's plow passes not over the surface of the Earth but over the entire universe. This represents the victory of a higher level of consciousness, an awareness of the presence of God, the self, and a divine order in the Universe. In psychological terms, this represents an awareness of the self, the God within every man, and its harmonizing influence." 

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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"  

A Vision of the Last Judgment, (E 554)

"The Nature of Visionary Fancy or Imagination is very little
Known & the Eternal nature & permanence of its ever Existent
Images is considerd as less permanent than the things of
Vegetative & Generative Nature yet the Oak dies as well as the
Lettuce but Its Eternal Image & Individuality never dies. but
renews by its seed. just as the Imaginative Image
returns according to the seed of Contemplative
Thought   the Writings of the Prophets illustrate these conceptions
of the Visionary Fancy by their various sublime & Divine Images
as seen in the Worlds of Vision"