LIVING IN LAMBETH

New York Public Library

Milton

Plate 36

 In 1791, after the death of his mother, Blake settled in Lambeth away from the neighborhood associated with his family. Although Lambeth which is on the south side of the Thames is now a part of London, in Blake's day it was in the county of Surry. William and Catherine lived in a comfortable row house on Hercules Road. Part of the furnishings was the printing press which Blake had acquired when he and Parker operated a printing business on Broad Street. Blake had already formulated the idea of combining words and pictures on pages of books over which he would have complete control. The prototypical examples of this process were There is No Natural Religion, and All Religions are One, which were produced in 1788.   

Two years after moving to Lambeth Blake had completed the following books:

For Children, The Gates of Paradise, 
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,
Visions of the Daughters of Albion,
America: A Prophecy

In the following years at Lambeth he completed:
Songs of Innocence and of Experience,
The First Book of Urizen
Europe: a Prophecy
The Song of Los
The Book of Ahania
The Book of Los 

So the nine years in Lambeth were the time William and Catherine perfected the technique of creating illuminated books from scratch. She learned from him as he applied all his years as an art student and as an apprenticed engraver, to an enterprise which gave expression to imagination. The books were the vehicle for the poetry which welled up from William's brain as he contemplated existence. 

Milton and Jerusalem were the culmination of the process for which Lambeth was the seedbed.

Milton, Plate 25 [27], (E 121)

"Lambeth mourns calling Jerusalem. she weeps & looks abroad
For the Lords coming, that Jerusalem may overspread all Nations  
Crave not for the mortal & perishing delights, but leave them
To the weak, and pity the weak as your infant care; Break not
Forth in your wrath lest you also are vegetated by Tirzah
Wait till the Judgement is past, till the Creation is consumed
And then rush forward with me into the glorious spiritual    
Vegetation; the Supper of the Lamb & his Bride; and the
Awaking of Albion our friend and ancient companion.
So Los spoke."

Milton, Plate 36 [40], (E 137)

"For when Los joind with me he took me in his firy whirlwind
My Vegetated portion was hurried from Lambeths shades
He set me down in Felphams Vale & prepard a beautiful
Cottage for me that in three years I might write all these Visions
To display Natures cruel holiness: the deceits of Natural Religion."   

Jerusalem, Plate 12, (E 155)

"And they builded Golgonooza: terrible eternal labour!
What are those golden builders doing? where was the burying-place
Of soft Ethinthus? near Tyburns fatal Tree? is that
Mild Zions hills most ancient promontory; near mournful
Ever weeping Paddington? is that Calvary and Golgotha?
Becoming a building of pity and compassion? Lo!
The stones are pity, and the bricks, well wrought affections:    
Enameld with love & kindness, & the tiles engraven gold
Labour of merciful hands: the beams & rafters are forgiveness:
The mortar & cement of the work, tears of honesty: the nails,
And the screws & iron braces, are well wrought blandishments,
And well contrived words, firm fixing, never forgotten,         
Always comforting the remembrance: the floors, humility,
The cielings, devotion: the hearths, thanksgiving:
Prepare the furniture O Lambeth in thy pitying looms!
The curtains, woven tears & sighs, wrought into lovely forms
For comfort. there the secret furniture of Jerusalems chamber    
Is wrought: Lambeth! the Bride the Lambs Wife loveth thee:
Thou art one with her & knowest not of self in thy supreme joy."

Jerusalem, Plate 37[41], (E 183)

"Where mild Jerusalem sought to repose in death & be no more.   
She fled to Lambeths mild Vale and hid herself beneath
The Surrey Hills where Rephaim terminates: her Sons are siez'd
For victims of sacrifice; but Jerusalem cannot be found! Hid
By the Daughters of Beulah: gently snatch'd away: and hid in Beulah

There is a Grain of Sand in Lambeth that Satan cannot find     
Nor can his Watch Fiends find it: tis translucent & has many Angles
But he who finds it will find Oothoons palace, for within
Opening into Beulah every angle is a lovely heaven
But should the Watch Fiends find it, they would call it Sin"

Jerusalem, Plate 84, (E 243)
"Highgates heights & Hampsteads, to Poplar Hackney & Bow:
To Islington & Paddington & the Brook of Albions River
We builded Jerusalem as a City & a Temple; from Lambeth
We began our Foundations; lovely Lambeth! O lovely Hills
Of Camberwell, we shall behold you no more in glory & pride    
For Jerusalem lies in ruins & the Furnaces of Los are builded there"    
  

Read this post for a detailed description of the process of creating Songs of Innocence and of Experience as outlined in Michael Phillip's book William Blake: The Creation of the Songs From Manuscript to Illuminated Printing.