Europe Preludium 2 Plate 2

This plate is closely related to and more or less continuous with the previous one; both plates concern British politics of Blake's day, especially the King, the Parliament and the Military.

Commons Wikipedia
Plate 2

The Text

PLATE 2
Unwilling I look up to heaven! unwilling count the stars!
Sitting in fathomless abyss of my immortal shrine.
I sieze their burning power
And bring forth howling terrors, all devouring fiery kings.

Devouring & devoured roaming on dark and desolate mountains      
In forests of eternal death, shrieking in hollow trees.
Ah mother Enitharmon!
Stamp not with solid form this vig'rous progeny of fires.

I bring forth from my teeming bosom myriads of flames.
And thou dost stamp them with a signet, then they roam abroad    
And leave me void as death:
Ah! I am drown'd in shady woe, and visionary joy.

And who shall bind the infinite with an eternal band?
To compass it with swaddling bands? and who shall cherish it
With milk and honey?                                             
I see it smile & I roll inward & my voice is past.

She ceast & rolld her shady clouds 
Into the secret place.

---

About the Text

In this plate the 'nameless shadowy female' continues what she was saying in the previous one.

In Plate 1 she speaks of 'consumed and consuming'; here she talks of 'Devouring & devoured';

From each star she brings forth a devouring fiery king.

All this might be called 'woman's trouble', responsible for kings and all the war they brought

forth.

In the Old Testament the children of Israel demanded a king, initiating dozens of wars thereafter.

(Read Ist Samuel 8.)

And thou dost stamp them with a signet

Blake is talking about being assigned to material life; the signet is
the garment, what we wear until the release of Death.
I bring forth from my teeming bosom myriads of flames.
And thou dost stamp them with a signet

To compass it with swaddling bands; look at Infant Sorrow:
"Infant Sorrow

"My mother groan'd! my father wept.

Into the dangerous world I leapt.
Helpless, naked, piping loud;
Like a fiend hid in a cloud.

Struggling in my father's hands,

Striving against my swaddling bands;
Bound and weary I thought best
To sulk upon my mother's breast."

                                 About the Images

The text is in the upper left hand side. On the right a figure with the left leg on the text and its right left trailing up into an open space. 

The text resumes for the last two lines below a cloud. The lower background is black. 

Three figures all have their legs spread out, the central one  appears to have possession of the other two, with right arm around one's neck and with his left hand choking the other person. 

You may think of these three as King, Parliament and War. War and violence seems to be in control of the other two. 

The fourth man (in the upper right) suggests Burke clutching his wig and escaping into the open air.

It's eerie the way Blake combines images with text; sometimes they seem to have  no correspondence; it's left to our imagination to figure out how they relate. Erdman was a master at doing that, especially beside the plates found in the Illuminated Blake. 

LANGUAGE OF LIGHT & DARK

As Blake gained experience in producing illuminated books he learned to exploit the possibilities of white-line engraving to an impressive degree. Laurence Binyon in The Engraved Designs of William Blake speaks of the mastery of Blake in producing books in which his imagination controlled every aspect of conception and production. In the last of Blake's illuminated books, Jerusalem, he increased the use of white-line engraving to enhance his ability to communicate the stark contrasts available to man between life and death.

A quote from Binyon's book:

"The conception of a book as a complete unity, in which the lettering, the decoration, the illustrations, the proportions of the page, the choice of paper, should all be determined and carried out by a single mind and hand, surpassed even the conceptions of medieval scribes and miniaturists. For Blake combined not only the scribe and the illuminator, to whose arts be added the art of the  printer; but, unlike his medieval predecessors, he was the sole author of the text. In the history of book-production these works are unique.
"Blake's methods, it is true, did not lend themselves to the exquisite and finished delicacy of the miniature printers; nor could he rival their penmanship, though in the conditions of the age in which he lived we may wonder that his script is so good, and so successfully combined with decoration, as in the best of the books." (Page 23)
....
"Whatever may be thought of it as a  poem, however, Jerusalem is, with the Job, the grandest of Blake's works. His peculiar imagination is here at its most impressive. For what he had to say, the language of light and dark, was more expressive than any words could be...We may not know what some of the images mean; even when they are interpreted in the light of the mystic ideas, they remain much more eloquent than the interpretation. They are sometimes, no doubt, images that appeared to Blake in waking vision, and were transcribed in perfect condition that significance was in them, even if he could not himself explain it: for as he wrote on the title-page of The Daughters of Albion, 'The Eye sees more than the Heart knows.' "
(Page 33)
 
The following are some of the white-line etched plates of Jerusalem which are in the collection of the British Museum. Each is from Copy A, one of the four uncolored copies:
 
Plate 2
Plate 26
Plate 28
Plate 31
Plate 33  
Plate 51
Plate 53

Jerusalem Jesus and Albion
Copy A, Plate 76
1804

Milton Klonsky speaking of Plate 76 of Jerusalem, states in William Blake The Seer and his Visions :

"With its spidery thin and mercurial white line on a black ground, like the afterimage of a vision, the plate is generally regarded as Blake's most superb realization of the technique he described as 'woodcut on copper'; 'instead of etching the blacks Etch the whites & bite it in.'" (Page 104)

Jerusalem, Plate 96, (E 255) 
"As the Sun & Moon lead forward the Visions of Heaven & Earth 
England who is Brittannia entered Albions bosom rejoicing 

Then Jesus appeared standing by Albion as the Good Shepherd 
By the lost Sheep that he hath found & Albion knew that it 
Was the Lord the Universal Humanity, & Albion saw his Form 
 A Man. & they conversed as Man with Man, in Ages of Eternity 
And the Divine Appearance was the likeness & similitude of Los"  

In a exuberant mood while writing his youthful satiric manuscript which has come to be called An Island in the Moon, Blake picks up in mid-sentence with some ideas on illuminating a Manuscript:

Island in the Moon, (E 465)
[Here a leaf or more is missing]
"PAGE X
them Illuminating the Manuscript--Ay said she that would be
excellent.  Then said he I would have all the writing Engraved
instead of Printed & at every other leaf a high finishd print all
in three Volumes folio, & sell them a hundred pounds a piece.
they would Print off two thousand   then said she whoever will
not have them will be ignorant fools & will not deserve to live"

Europe Preludium

British Museum
Europe
Plate 3, Copy D

                   PRELUDIUM

The nameless shadowy female rose from out the breast of Orc:
Her snaky hair brandishing in the winds of Enitharmon,
And thus her voice arose.
O mother Enitharmon wilt thou bring forth other sons?
To cause my name to vanish, that my place may not be found.  
For I am faint with travel!                                
Like the dark cloud disburdend in the day of dismal thunder.
My roots are brandish'd in the heavens. my fruits in earth
beneath Surge, foam, and labour into life, first born & first consum'd!
Consumed and consuming!                                      
Then why shouldst thou accursed mother bring me into life?
I wrap my turban of thick clouds around my lab'ring head;
And fold the sheety waters as a mantle round my limbs.
Yet the red sun and moon 
And all the overflowing stars rain down prolific pains.
(Erdman 60-61)

About the Text

The nameless shadowy female might be considered Nature before creation;
it is the collection of all manifested women who become named as those with the female
will. Her consort with Orc yielded a horde of fallen warriors, and she has had
enough for I am faint with travel! Blake meant travail.

She appeals to mother Enitharmon, an aspect of herself

(Blake used this idea again in Chapter VII of the First Book of Urizen:
"9. But Los encircled Enitharmon With fires of Prophecy
From the sight of Urizen & Orc
10. And she bore an enormous race)"

My roots are brandish'd in the heavens.
This indicates that she, the 'shadowy female' came from Eternity
and acted in materiality, the realization of falleness of all that she has
done, producing a  querulosus race.

The last part of the text shows how she rejects what is happening to her and her's:

Yet the red sun and moon,And all the overflowing stars rain down prolific pains.
These are the most tangible forms to materiality:
 For Blake, the stars represent cold reason and objective science.

About the Image

First reaction to this picture might be Christian of Pilgrims Progress, but he is
said to be dressed in the buff and blue of George Washington (See Erdman's The
Illuminated Blake, page 159). The 'assassin is lurking in the cave (said to
represent Parliament). the assassin is said to have the profile of Edmond Burke;

(Burke delivered a speech on the debate of the Aliens Bill on 28 December 1792.
He supported the Bill as it would exclude "murderous atheists, who would pull down
church and state; religion and God; morality and happiness".
The peroration included a reference to a French order for 3,000 daggers. Burke revealed a
dagger he had concealed in his coat and threw it to the floor: "This is what you are to gain by an alliance with France". Burke picked up the dagger and continued)

The central figure at the bottom with bat like wings said to resemble Charles Fox.

POWERS OF INVENTION

Much has been written about Blake's relief engraving methods which he developed to produce his 'illuminated books' which he first mentioned in his Prospectus  in 1793. He found that to produce fine printed detail in his engraved plates he could add intaglio techniques to supplement the relief etching. Of course the copper plates which Blake engraved have disappeared, leaving only the paper prints which were made from them. Scholars have studied the resulting prints in attempting to learn how the images were produced. The unique images which characterize Blake's work are the result of his experimenting with existing methods, combining techniques and trying things that hadn't been done before.
 
You may get some understanding of printing methods from observing your own hands. The fine lines in your hand enable you to make types of prints. If your hand is lightly covered with ink and pressed on paper you can make a relief printing of the raised surfaces. If you covered your hand heavily with ink and then wiped away the ink from the raised surfaces you may with heavier pressure make an impression in ink of the pattern of indented lines in your hand. 
 
In the post Grain of Wheat, the image from 1804, depended solely on white-line engraving to produce the lighted image of Los entering the darkness of the void. In the post Woodcut on Pewter, the 1800 image on pewter was created by similar intaglio engraving which Blake himself described. The lettering was produced by relief etching supposedly on separate plates. Blake had used white line etching earlier in his book America. Erdman tells us that plates 2, 6, 8, 11, and 13 show the use of white-line as well as relief etching. 

Yale Center for British Art
America
Plate 11, Copy M

British Museum
America
Plate 11, Copy A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plate 11 is the most dramatic example of white-line etching in America. It is clear that the effect of individual stalks of wheat could not have been produced by Blake's relief method. In order to produce the cocoon-like enclosure structure around the child with its delicate threads, Blake was impelled to complicate his printing method by adding intaglio engraving. Blake added coloring to some copies of his white-line engravings producing striking results.

Miscellaneous Prose, Prospectus, (E 692)
     "TO THE PUBLIC         

October 10, 1793.

The Labours of the Artist, the Poet, the Musician, have been
proverbially attended by poverty and obscurity; this was never
the fault of the Public, but was owing to a neglect of means to
propagate such works as have wholly absorbed the Man of Genius. 
Even Milton and Shakespeare could not publish their own works.
     This difficulty has been obviated by the Author of the
following productions now presented to the Public; who has
invented a method of Printing both Letter-press and Engraving in
a style more ornamental, uniform, and grand, than any before
discovered, while it produces works at less than one fourth of
the expense.
     If a method of Printing which combines the Painter and the
Poet is a phenomenon worthy of public attention, provided that it
exceeds in elegance all former methods, the Author is sure of his
reward.
     Mr. Blake's powers of invention very early engaged the
attention of many persons of eminence and fortune; by whose means
he has been regularly enabled to bring before the Public works
(he is not afraid to say) of equal magnitude and consequence with
the productions of any age or country: among which are two large
highly finished engravings (and two more are nearly ready) which
will commence a Series of subjects from the Bible, and another
from the History of England.
     The following are the Subjects of the several Works now
published and on Sale at Mr. Blake's, No. 13, Hercules Buildings,
Lambeth.

     1.  Job, a Historical Engraving.  Size 1 ft.7 1/2 in. by 1
ft. 2 in.: price 12s.
     2.  Edward and Elinor, a Historical Engraving.  Size 1 ft. 6
1/2 in. by 1 ft.: price 10s. 6d.
     3.  America, a Prophecy, in Illuminated Printing.  Folio,
with 18 designs: price 10s. 6d.
     4.  Visions of the Daughters of Albion, in Illuminated
Printing.  Folio, with 8 designs, price 7s. 6d.
     5.  The Book of Thel, a Poem in Illuminated Printing. 
Quarto, with 6 designs, price 3s.
     6.  The Marriage of Heaven  and Hell, in Illuminated
Printing.  Quarto, with 14 designs, price 7s. 6d.
     7.  Songs of Innocence, in Illuminated Printing.  Octavo,
with 25 designs, price 5s.
     8.  Songs of Experience, in Illuminated Printing.  Octavo,
with 25 designs, price 5s.
     9.  The History of England, a small book of Engravings. 
Price 3s.
     10. The Gates of Paradise, a small book of Engravings. 
Price 3s.

     The Illuminated Books are Printed in Colours, and on the
most beautiful wove paper that
could be procured,
     No Subscriptions for the numerous great works now in hand
are asked, for none are wanted; but the Author will produce his
works, and offer them to sale at a fair price."

Other examples of images which utilize white-line engraving include:

Approach of Doom after drawing by Robert Blake, 1788,
Death's Door for Blair's The Grave, 1805,
Man Sweeping the Interpreters Parlor, 1822.

Europe A Prophecy iii A Preface

Here is an earlier post on 'Five Windows'.

Wikipedia Commons
Plate iii of
Europe a Prophecy

EUROPE a PROPHECY

---

This Plate appears only in Copy K and Copy H of Blake Archive.

PLATE iii:

Five windows light the cavern'd Man; thro' one he breathes the air;

Thro' one, hears music of the spheres; thro' one, the eternal vine

Flourishes, that he may recieve the grapes; thro' one can look.

And see small portions of the eternal world that ever groweth;

Thro' one, himself pass out what time he please, but he will not;

For stolen joys are sweet, & bread eaten in secret pleasant.

So sang a Fairy mocking as he sat on a streak'd Tulip,

Thinking none saw him: when he ceas'd I started from the trees!

And caught him in my hat as boys knock down a butterfly

How know you this said I small Sir? where did you learn this song

Seeing himself in my possession thus he answerd me:
My master, I am yours. command me, for I must obey.

Then tell me, what is the material world, and is it dead?
He laughing answer'd: I will write a book on leaves of flowers,
If you will feed me on love-thoughts, & give me now and then
A cup of sparkling poetic fancies; so when I am tipsie,
I'll sing to you to this soft lute; and shew you all alive
The world, where every particle of dust breathes forth its joy.

I took him home in my warm bosom: as we went along
Wild flowers I gatherd; & he shew'd me each eternal flower:
He laugh'd aloud to see them whimper because they were pluck'd.
They hover'd round me like a cloud of incense: when I came
Into my parlour and sat down, and took my pen to write:
My Fairy sat upon the table, and dictated EUROPE.
(Erdman 58-9)

---

So sang a Fairy mocking as he sat on a streak'd Tulip,
In a picturesque way Blake introduces these visions.
My Fairy sat upon the table, and dictated EUROPE.
Five windows light the cavern'd Man

Look at this from MHH plate 4:

Man has no Body distinct from his Soul for that calld Body is
a portion of Soul discernd by the five Senses. the chief inlets
of Soul in this age.

Look at this from the First Book of Urizen:

Urizen was Blake's creator. This is an account of his Creation.

8. In harrowing fear rolling round;                    
His nervous brain shot branches
Round the branches of his heart.
On high into two little orbs
And fixed in two little eaves
Hiding carefully from the wind,                         
His Eyes beheld the deep,
And a third Age passed over:
And a state of dismal woe.

9. The pangs of hope began,
In heavy pain striving, struggling.      
Two Ears in close volutions.
From beneath his orbs of vision
Shot spiring out and petrified
As they grew. And a fourth Age passed
And a state of dismal woe.          

10. In ghastly torment sick;
Hanging upon the wind;

PLATE 13
Two Nostrils bent down to the deep.
And a fifth Age passed over;
And a state of dismal woe.

11. In ghastly torment sick;
Within his ribs bloated round,         
A craving Hungry Cavern;
Thence arose his channeld Throat,
And like a red flame a Tongue
Of thirst & of hunger appeard.
And a sixth Age passed over:          
And a state of dismal woe.
 
12. Enraged & stifled with torment
He threw his right Arm to the north
His left Arm to the south
Shooting out in anguish deep,           
And his Feet stampd the nether Abyss
In trembling & howling & dismay.
And a seventh Age passed over:
And a state of dismal woe.
(Erdman 76)

BLAKE'S COTTAGE

Library of Congress Milton
Plate 40, Copy D

 
The reasons for Blake to leave London in 1800 were numerous, including personal, political and financial. We get an idea of the political pressures in this passage from a genealogical website by D.W. Martyn Bone.

 
Historical Summary - Great Britain 1790's
"The revolution in France sparks fierce debate over the freedoms and inherent rights of humanity, leading to thoughts of manhood suffrage, more effective governance, lower taxes and aid for aged and poor. France declares war on Britain, whose challenges are increased by a revolt in Ireland eventually put down through brutal violence, and a rebellion within the British navy which resulted in better conditions and continued sea defense plus a blockade of French ports. Economic depression caused by war leads to rioting at home among the disenfranchised workers. Smuggling is rampant. Government responses to internal upheavals include banning trade unions, censoring the press, and rounding up subversives. An attempt to abolish slavery across the empire fails. Canada is divided into an upper English half, and lower French half to maintain loyalty in this age of revolution."

 

Rossetti Archive

As William and Catherine were preparing for their move from London to Felphan, Blake wrote to his friend George Cumberland a letter mentioned in William Blake, published by the Tate, and edited by Peter Ackroyd, Marilyn Butler, Robin Hamlyn and Michael Phillips. The letter in the collection of Robert N Essick includes verses in a postscript which reveal Blake's perception of his previous decade in London and his expectations of new situation in Felpham. (Page 154)
  
"Dear Generous Cumberland nobly
solicitous for a Friend's welfare.
Behold me
Whom your Friendship has Magnified:
Rending the manacles of Londons
Dungeon dark
I have rent thee black net & escap'd. See My
Cottage at Felpham in joy.
Beams over the Sea, a bright light over
France, but the Web & the Veil I have left
Behind me at London resists every beam of
light;hanging from heaven to Earth
Dropping with human gore.Lo! I have left
it!I have torn it from my limbs
I shake my wings ready to take my flight!
Pale,Gastly pale:stands the City in fear"

British Museum
Blake's Cottage
1915

   



After their arrival in their new home, Blake wrote ecstatically to John Flaxman about their journey and the cottage near the sea which they would occupy.  

 

Letters, (E 710) 

[To] Mr [John] Flaxman, Buckingham Street, Fitzroy Square, London 

Felpham Septr. 21. . 1800 Sunday Morning 

Dear Sculptor of Eternity
     We are safe arrived at our Cottage which is more beautiful
than I thought it. & more convenient.  It is a perfect Model for
Cottages & I think for Palaces of Magnificence only Enlarging not
altering its proportions & adding ornaments & not principals.
Nothing can be more Grand than its Simplicity & Usefulness.
Simple without Intricacy it seems to be the Spontaneous Effusion
of Humanity congenial to the wants of Man.  No other formed House
can ever please me so well nor shall I ever be perswaded I
believe that it can be improved either in Beauty or Use
     Mr Hayley recievd us with his usual brotherly affection.  I
have begun to work.  Felpham is a sweet place for Study. because
it is more Spiritual than London   Heaven opens here on all sides
her golden Gates   her windows are not obstructed by
vapours. . voices of Celestial inhabitants are more distinctly
heard & their forms more distinctly seen & my Cottage is also a
Shadow of their houses.  My Wife & Sister are both well. courting
Neptune for an Embrace
     Our journey was very pleasant & tho we had a great deal of
Luggage.  No Grumbling all was Chearfulness & Good Humour on the
Road & yet we could not arrive at our Cottage before half past
Eleven at night. owing to the necessary shifting of our Luggage
from one Chaise to another for we had Seven Different Chaises &
as many different drivers   We s[e]t out between Six & Seven in
the Morning of Thursday. with Sixteen heavy boxes & portfolios
full of prints.  And Now Begins a New life. because another
covering of Earth is shaken off.  I am more famed in Heaven for
my works than I could well concieve   In my Brain are studies &
Chambers filld with books & pictures of old which I wrote &
painted in ages of Eternity. before my mortal life & whose works
are the delight & Study of Archangels.  Why then should I be
anxious about the riches or fame of mortality.  The Lord our
father will do for us & with us according to his Divine will for
our Good
     You O Dear Flaxman are a Sublime Archangel My Friend &
Companion from Eternity in the Divine bosom is our Dwelling place
I look back into the regions of Reminiscence & behold our ancient
days before this Earth appeard in its vegetated mortality to my
mortal vegetated Eyes.  I see our houses of Eternity which can
never be separated tho our Mortal vehicles should stand at the
remotest corners of heaven from Each other
     Farewell My Best Friend Remember Me & My Wife in Love &
Friendship to our Dear Mr Flaxman whom we ardently desire to
Entertain beneath our thatched roof of rusted gold & believe me
for ever to remain
Your Grateful & Affectionate
WILLIAM BLAKE

Wikimedia Commons

We can conjecture that Blake was thinking of this Bible verse while writing the above letter:


Romans 8
[28] And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Blake didn't neglect to tell his friend and benefactor Thomas Butts of the ideal situation in which they found themselves just a few days after their arrival.

Letters, (E 711) 
[To] Mr [Thomas] Butts, Gt Marlborough Street
near Oxford Street, London

[Postmark: Sep 23 1800]
Dear Friend of My Angels
     We are safe arrived at our Cottage without accident or
hindrance tho it was between Eleven & Twelve OClock at night
before we could get home, owing to the necessary shifting of our
boxes & portfolios from one Chaise to another.  We had Seven
different Chaises & as many different drivers.  All upon the road
was chearfulness & welcome tho our luggage was very heavy there
was no grumbling at all.  We traveld thro a most beautiful
country on a most glorious day.  Our Cottage is more beautiful
than I thought it & also more convenient. for tho Small it is
well proportiond & if I should ever build a Palace it would be
only My Cottage Enlarged.  Please to tell Mr Butts that we have
dedicated a Chamber to her Service & that it has a very fine view
Of the Sea.  Mr Hayley recievd me with his usual brotherly
affection.  My Wife & Sister are both very well & courting
Neptune for an Embrace, whose terrors this morning made them
afraid but whose mildness is often Equal to his terrors The
Villagers of Felpham are not meer Rustics they are polite &
modest.  Meat is cheaper than in London but the sweet air & the
voices of winds trees & birds & the odours of the happy ground
makes it a dwelling for immortals.  Work will go on here with God
speed--.  A roller & two harrows lie before my window.  I met a
plow on my first going out at my gate the first morning after my
arrival & the Plowboy said to the Plowman.  "Father The Gate is
Open"--I have begun to Work & find that I can work with greater
pleasure than ever.  Hope soon to give you a proof that Felpham
is propitious to the Arts.
     God bless you.  I shall wish for you on Tuesday Evening as
usual.  Pray give My & My wife & sisters love & respects to Mr.
Butts, accept them yourself & believe me for ever
Your affectionate & obliged Friend
WILLIAM BLAKE

My Sister will be in town in a week & bring with her your account
& whatever else I can finish.  Direct to Mr Blake: Felpham
near Chichester, Sussex

An enhanced and improved Blake's Cottage is presently on the market for sale for the first time since 1928.


Cottage sold.
.

Europe a Prophecy Title Page

Rosenwald LC
Title Page

Of these two images which do you find most clear?

Commons Wikipedia
Plate ii Title page

At the bottom of the picture Blake has put:
Lambeth
Printed by Will: Blake: 1794
There's no other text.

About the Image

The item of most interest of course is the snake

Erdman Illuminated p.157:

Note how the tail leaves the image and comes back below the signature.

Erdman refers us to his book, Blake Prophet Against Empire, Chapters 9 and 12.

The Blake Archive has 7 copies of this Plate:
Copy B in Glasgow University Library shows two mountains in the lower part of the Plate.
The higher one may be in the sun, the lower one in shade.
The serpent's tail comes back in below the inscription.

Copy D in the British Museum is much the same.

Notice the crest at the top of the serpent's head, the long, protruding tongue is forked.
The serpent is Orc  a positive figure, the embodiment of rebellion, and stands opposed to Urizen, the embodiment of tradition (from wikipedia).


Here are the known copies:
All Known Copies (from Blake Archive

• opy a (proofs), 1794
  British Museum, Dept. of Prints and Drawings
  London

• Copy B, 1794
  Glasgow University Library
  Glasgow, Scotland

• Copy C, 1794
  Houghton Library
  Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

• Copy D, 1794
  British Museum, Dept. of Prints and Drawings
  London

• Copy E, 1794
  Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress
  Washington D.C.

• Copy F, 1794
  Berg Collection, New York Public Library
  New York City

• Copy G, 1794
  Morgan Library and Museum
  New York City

• Copy A, 1795
  Yale Center for British Art
  Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

• Copy H, 1795
  Houghton Library
  Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

• Copy K, 1821
  Fitzwilliam Museum
  Cambridge, England

• Copy I, c. 1832
  Auckland Public Library
  Auckland, New Zealand

• Copy L, c. 1832
  Huntington Library and Art Gallery
  San Marino, California

• Copy M, c. 1832
  Fitzwilliam Museum
  Cambridge, England

WOODCUT ON PEWTER

British Museum
Little Tom the Sailor
1800

A greatly enlarged view of the image can be obtained by right clicking on picture, selecting view in new window, and clicking on image.

 An example of Blake's alternate engraving techniques is found in his broadside Little Tom the Sailor which was executed soon after his arrival in Felpham on September 18, 1800. Hayley had devised a project for providing financial support for the family of a boy who had been killed at sea. Hayley wrote a sentimental poem which would be illustrated and printed by the Blakes and sold for the benefit of the boy's family. Perhaps Hayley provided the pewter for the project which made it more complex than Blake's method of relief printing on copper which he had developed for his 'illuminated books'. Four separate sections comprise the single sheet.  

Quoting from Engravings of William Blake, Archibald G B Russell (1912):
Page 82
"The ballad was written by Hayley, 22nd September 1800, for the widowed mother of a Folkstone sailor lad, named Tom Spicer, who had been drowned at sea...Ballad and imprint are executed in the ordinary method of relief-etching employed by Blake in the engraved books. The pictorial designs are examples of what he called 'woodcuts on pewter'". 

In his notebook Blake wrote two undated memoranda on the use of pewter in engraving. Note the care required to avoid extraneous marks.

Blake's Notebook, (E 694)
 "Memorandum 
To Engrave on Pewter. Let there be first a drawing made correctly with black lead pencil, let nothing be to seek, then rub it off on the plate coverd with white wax. or perhaps pass it thro press. this will produce certain & determind forms on the plate & time will not be wasted in seeking them afterwards" 

"Memorandum 
To Woodcut on Pewter. lay a ground on the Plate & smoke it as for Etching, then trace your outlines & draw, them with a needle. and beginning with the spots of light on each object with an oval pointed needle scrape off the ground. [& instead of etching the shadowy strokes] as a direction for your graver then proceed to graving with the ground on the plate being as careful as possible not to hurt the ground because it being black will shew perfectly what is wanted"

Blake depended on Catherine to execute the more routine aspects of his productions including some printing and coloring. Her assistance was engaged in this project in spite of the distractions on her of settling into a new home and coming down with an illness. Hayley apparently had business in London which required his attention.

Letters, [To William Hayley], (E 714)
"Felpham 26th November, 1800
Dear Sir,
     Absorbed by the poets Milton, Homer, Camoens, Ercilla,
Ariosto, and Spenser, whose physiognomies have been my delightful
study, Little Tom has been of late unattended to, and my
wife's  illness not being quite gone off, she has not printed any
more  since you went to London.  But we can muster a few in
colours and  some in black which I hope will be no less favour'd
tho' they are  rough like rough sailors.  We mean to begin
printing again  to-morrow.  Time flies very fast and very
merrily.  I sometimes  try to be miserable that I may do more
work, but find it is a  foolish experiment.  Happinesses have
wings and wheels; miseries  are leaden legged and their whole
employment is to clip the wings  and to take off the wheels of
our chariots.  We determine,  therefore, to be happy and do all
that we can, tho' not all that  we would.  Our dear friend
Flaxman is the theme of my emulation  in this industry, as well
as in other virtues and merits.  Gladly  I hear of his full
health and spirits.  Happy son of the Immortal  Phidias, his lot
is truly glorious, and mine no less happy in his  friendship and
in that of his friends.  Our cottage is surrounded  by the same
guardians you left with us; they keep off every wind.  We hear
the west howl at a distance, the south bounds on high  over our
thatch, and smiling on our cottage says: "You lay too  low for my
anger to injure." As to the east and north I believe  they cannot
get past the turret.    
     My wife joins me in duty and affection to you.  Please to
remember us both in love to Mr. and Mrs. Flaxman, and believe me
to be your affectionate,
Enthusiastic, hope-fostered visionary,
WILLIAM BLAKE
[From the Gilchrist Life]

Russell on page 39 tells us that: "The lower of the two pictorial designs which accompany the ballad...is a beautiful example of Blake's quieter and often happier mood."

In another letter (E 724) to Hayley written after his return to London, Blake expresses this sentiment:

"Engraving is Eternal work
...
 I curse & bless Engraving
alternately because it takes so much time & is so untractable.
tho capable of such beauty & perfection"

    

Europe: Frontspiece

Commons wikipedia.org
Ancient of Days

Blake found the Ancient of Days as a name for God. 

God was referred to as the Ancient of Days three times in the 9th Chapter of the  Book of Daniel. Here is one of them:

"[9] I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
[10] A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

---

From Wikipedia: 

"When Europe was printed, it was in the same format as Blake's America and sold for the same price. It was printed between 1794 and 1821 with only 9 copies of the work surviving.."

and seven in the Blake Archive.

It was said to be used as "a portrait of Urizen in his finest hour" (Erdman Illuminated p.155).

This reminds us that Blake thought of the Old Testmant (non-forgiving) God as noted for 'the

thump on the head':
" Thinking as I do that the Creator of this World is a veryCruel Being & being a Worshipper of Christ I cannot help sayingthe Son O how unlike the Father".
from 'Vision of the Last Judgment' (Erdman 565)

BORN LIKE A GARDEN

Jerusalem, Plate 5, (E 147)
"Trembling I sit day and night, my friends are astonish'd at me.
Yet they forgive my wanderings, I rest not from my great task!
To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes
Of Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought: into Eternity
Ever expanding in the Bosom of God. the Human Imagination        
O Saviour pour upon me thy Spirit of meekness & love:
Annihilate the Selfhood in me, be thou all my life!
Guide thou my hand which trembles exceedingly upon the rock of ages,
While I write of the building of Golgonooza, & of the terrors of Entuthon:
Of Hand & Hyle & Coban, of Kwantok, Peachey, Brereton, Slayd & Hutton:
Of the terrible sons & daughters of Albion. and their Generations."

Metropolitan Museum of Art
Jerusalem Frontispiece

Blake involved himself in his 'great task' without ceasing. In the creation of the visual images through which he would complement the poetic images of his epics, he constantly explored methods of presenting the products of the Human Imagination. His experimentation with techniques of printing led him to 'white line' engraving which added another dimension to portraying the dynamics of light and dark. The image in my previous post is an example of this technique.

Much of Blake's engraving employed the relief method of printing in which the surface on which the ink would be applied was raised above the surrounding surface. He dissolved the copper which was unprotected by a resistant material to produce the elevated text and picture which would be printed. In the 'white line' engraving the surface which would be inked was protected by the resistant material which was then incised with the design. The application of acid ate only the lines leaving them lowered rather than elevated. Wax was removed, ink was lightly applied to the whole plate but did not penetrate the lines which remained white. A negative image was produced when the plate was printed.

Blake seems to have combined printing methods on individual plates in the same way that he combined water coloring and drawing with ink, charcoal or pencil along with his printing.

Annotations to Reynolds, (E 648)
 "Knowledge of Ideal Beauty. is Not to be Acquired It is Born
with us Innate Ideas. are in Every Man Born with him. they are
 Himself.  The Man who says that we have No Innate Ideas
must be a Fool & Knave.  Having No Con-Science " 

Annotations to Reynolds, (E 656)
"Reynolds Thinks that Man Learns all that he Knows I say on
the Contrary That Man Brings All that he has or Can have Into the
World with him.  Man is Born Like a Garden ready Planted & Sown  
This World is too poor to produce one Seed"
    

Jerusalem, Plate 91, (E 252)
"I care not whether a Man is Good or Evil; all that I care
Is whether he is a Wise Man or a Fool. Go! put off Holiness    
And put on Intellect: or my thundrous Hammer shall drive thee
To wrath which thou condemnest: till thou obey my voice

So Los terrified cries: trembling & weeping & howling! Beholding" 

Song of Los: Frontspiece and Title

The Song of Los: Frontspiece
There is no text for this Plate (1A)

The knelling (prayerful?) figure, thought to be Urizen
bows before a cloudy Sun.

Blake Archive has copies A through E, each one said to be presenting the 'Sun' in a different way.

Go to Copy A from the British Museum.
Then Copy B. from the Library of Congress.
Then Copy C from the Morgan Library and Museum.
Then Copy D from the Britiish Museum.
Then Copy E. from the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery.

The white haired figure may be thought of as Urizen or a priest who represents false religion.

Title Page

THE SONG of LOS 
LAMBETH Printed by W Blake 1795

About the Image


From Erdman Illuminated p. 175
Note the three birds under the 'S' of 'Song'.
The large one is said to be a 'Bird of Paradise'.

At the bottom is Urizen in the earth and moldering away,
his hand resting on a skull.

He's said to have a look of pious  selfhood.
In one copy his eyes are blue and his face pink.

GRAIN OF WHEAT

British Museum
Jerusalem Frontispiece
Copy A

Blake uses the grave as a symbol for this mortal, earthly life. Like John, the Gospel writer, Blake images the seed of life falling into the earth which is its grave. For Blake the element or Zoa of earth is Urthona through whom the imagination is expressed. Death becomes the entry point into the grave which we experience as life. The seed which was buried is molded into a visible form as though it acquired clothing appropriate to an earthly life. 
 
John 12
[24] Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
[25] He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

 

Milton, Plate 26 [30], (E 126)
"Antamon takes them into his beautiful flexible hands,
As the Sower takes the seed, or as the Artist his clay
Or fine wax, to mould artful a model for golden ornaments,      
The soft hands of Antamon draw the indelible line:
Form immortal with golden pen; such as the Spectre admiring
Puts on the sweet form; then smiles Antamon bright thro his windows
The Daughters of beauty look up from their Loom & prepare.
The integument soft for its clothing with joy & delight."

 
It is this clothing which is susceptible to becoming the Selfhood which must be annihilated. As Blake says in the epilogue to Gates of Paradise:

"To The Accuser Who is
  The God of This World

Truly My Satan thou art but a Dunce
And dost not know the Garment from the Man" 

To keep one's life one must learn to love the seed planted within one more than the encrustation formed around it by worldly considerations. Then the individual will know what can be saved and what must be annihilated.

Jerusalem, Plate 49, (E 199)
"Learn therefore O Sisters to distinguish the Eternal Human
That walks about among the stones of fire in bliss & woe
Alternate! from those States or Worlds in which the Spirit travels"

Milton, Plate 14 [15], (E 108)
"And Milton said, I go to Eternal Death! The Nations still
Follow after the detestable Gods of Priam; in pomp               
Of warlike selfhood, contradicting and blaspheming.
When will the Resurrection come; to deliver the sleeping body
From corruptibility: O when Lord Jesus wilt thou come?
Tarry no longer; for my soul lies at the gates of death.
I will arise and look forth for the morning of the grave.       
I will go down to the sepulcher to see if morning breaks!
I will go down to self annihilation and eternal death,
Lest the Last Judgment come & find me unannihilate
And I be siez'd & giv'n into the hands of my own Selfhood
The Lamb of God is seen thro' mists & shadows, hov'ring          
Over the sepulchers in clouds of Jehovah & winds of Elohim
A disk of blood, distant; & heav'ns & earth's roll dark between
What do I here before the Judgment? without my Emanation?"

Milton, Plate 40 [46], (E 142) 
"There is a Negation, & there is a Contrary
The Negation must be destroyd to redeem the Contraries
The Negation is the Spectre; the Reasoning Power in Man
This is a false Body: an Incrustation over my Immortal           
Spirit; a Selfhood, which must be put off & annihilated alway
To cleanse the Face of my Spirit by Self-examination."

Milton, Plate 38 [43], (E 139)
"I come to discover before Heavn & Hell the Self righteousness
In all its Hypocritic turpitude, opening to every eye
These wonders of Satans holiness shewing to the Earth     
The Idol Virtues of the Natural Heart, & Satans Seat
Explore in all its Selfish Natural Virtue & put off
In Self annihilation all that is not of God alone:
To put off Self & all I have ever & ever Amen"

Jerusalem, Plate 21, (E 167)
 "O that Death & Annihilation were the same!"

Intro

Early in our study for Blake's blog I was reading Revelation.

Here's a portion of Chapter 1 of Revelation:

"[12] And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

[13] And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

[14] His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

[15] And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

[16] And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

[17] And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

[18] I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

[19] Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

[20] The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

Something clicked: what did Blake do with the golden bowl? 
In the beginning of Thel we read:

Does the Eagle know what is in the pit?
Or wilt thou go ask the Mole:
Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod?
Or Love in a golden bowl?

In Thel we're introduced to the Lilly, in fact the Lilly of the Valley, a name for Christ;

"The Lilly of the valley breathing in the humble grass            
Answer'd the lovely maid and said; I am a watry weed,
And I am very small, and love to dwell in lowly vales;
So weak, the gilded butterfly scarce perches on my head.
Yet I am visited from heaven and he that smiles on all.
Walks in the valley. and each morn over me spreads his hand      
Saying, rejoice thou humble grass, thou new-born lilly flower,
Thou gentle maid of silent valleys. and of modest brooks;
For thou shalt be clothed in light, and fed with morning manna:
Till summers heat melts thee beside the fountains and the springs
To flourish in eternal vales: then why should Thel complain,"  

(Erdman 4; Plate 1 of Thel)

The Bible also uses the lamb for that purpose, in Rev 5 in fact. So Blake took the lamb and the golden bowl from Rev 5:
([8] And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
So much for the King James Version; but look at the New International Version:

8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.

for Thel, one of his earliest lessons for us from the Bible.

Move now down to Blake's first vision of light, and note the identity that God (Christ) gave to him:

'Thou ram horn'd with gold.' You might say we're still in Rev 5.

(For more on this go here.)