Eternity's Sunrise: The Imaginative World of William Blake

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Eternity's Sunrise: The Imaginative World of William Blake Page 32

by Damrosch, Leo


  For Children: The Gates of Paradise (Blake emblem book), 213–14, 214, 215, 216, 228, 251, 252, 266, 267

  “Death’s Door” image, 266

  forgiveness, 140, 153, 225

  For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise (Blake reissued emblem book), 213, 214, 252, 253, 254, 255

  “Keys of the Gate,” 213

  lines added to, 266

  Fountain Court, Number 3 (London), 258, 261, 264

  fourteeners (verse style), 144

  Four Zoas, The (Blake), 47, 94–95, 155–62, 173, 182, 195, 204, 207, 236

  Albion, the Ancient Man and, 142

  apocalypse and, 185, 186–87

  Blake’s changing myth and, 140

  Blake’s made-up names for, 155

  clarity gained from reading aloud of, 143–45

  elements in Milton and Jerusalem from, 136

  Epistle to the Ephesians quote and, 252

  erotic drawings and, 209, 210

  four psychic components of, 140–41, 155–57 (see also Zoas)

  fourteen competing accounts and, 162

  injustice and, 245

  as major prophecy, 181

  as never published, 136, 155

  original title of (see Vala)

  psychic breakup accounts and, 161, 162

  recycling into Milton of, 136, 186

  sequence in writing of, 186

  subtitle: The Torments of Love and Jealousy in the Death and Judgment of Albion the Ancient Man, 136

  Vala’s transformations and, 222, 223, 224

  Fox, Susan, 219

  France, 13, 14, 103, 104, 117, 118, 134, 187. See also French Revolution

  franchise extension movement (1790s), 96

  Frankenstein, Dr. (fictional), 183

  Franklin, Benjamin, 108

  free love, 198–208, 209, 218

  meaning of, 201

  French Revolution, 89, 96, 102, 107, 112, 118, 121

  Blake’s disillusion with, 101, 117, 187

  frescoes, 33, 37

  Freud, Sigmund, 154, 156, 162, 207–8, 211

  Frost, Robert, 124

  Frost at Midnight (Coleridge), 231–32

  fruit of knowledge, 83. See also forbidden fruit

  Frye, Northrop, 112, 142, 182, 188, 218, 292n6

  Fuller, David, 81, 144, 222

  funerary effigies, 67

  Fuseli, Henry, 93, 266

  The Nightmare, 202–3, 228 (color plate 29)

  Garden of Eden. See Eden

  Garden of Love (Blake), 208

  garden poems, 73–74

  Gates of Paradise. See For Children: The Gates of Paradise

  Gauls, 190

  GE Building (New York), 239

  Geddes, Alexander, 246

  gender, 102, 212–34

  androgyny and, 102, 229, 256, 257

  artistic creation and, 184

  Clod and the Pebble and, 77–78

  emanations concept and (see emanations)

  free love and, 198–208

  Jerusalem and, 183–84

  marital roles and, 91, 92, 93

  Milton’s family tyranny and, 165, 212, 218–19

  misogyny and, 208, 212, 217–18, 222, 227

  symbolism and, 183, 184, 214, 215, 217, 224–29. See also female headings; male headings; patriarchy; sexuality

  Generation (birth-death cycle), 48, 141, 192, 206, 213, 217, 229, 247

  Genesis, 70, 81, 83, 176, 214, 217, 218, 237–38, 242, 246–47 (color plate 38)

  genitalia depiction. See female genitalia; male genitalia

  genius, talent vs., 1

  geometry, 125–26

  George III, king of Great Britain, 108, 115, 117

  Gilchrist, Alexander, 98, 150, 225, 257, 267

  Blake biography by, 8

  on Blake’s marriage, 19, 196, 204, 270

  on Blake’s appearance, 20, 24

  on Blake’s career disappointments, 36, 37

  on Catherine Blake’s visions, 19

  on Hayley, 132

  on Urizen portrayal, 242

  Gilchrist, Anne, 267, 269

  Glad Day (later Albion Rose) (Blake), 98

  Glen, Heather, 64

  Gnosticism, 175, 209, 246

  God, 49, 88, 248–55

  Blake’s concept of, 120, 153, 235, 237–39, 243, 245–47 (color plate 36)

  Blake’s vs. Milton’s concept of, 165

  chariot (Merkabah) of, 158

  creation and, 81, 83, 84, 85, 123, 169, 237–38, 242, 246

  death of Jesus and, God 217

  destruction of peoples and, 236

  Ezekiel’s vision and, 158, 159

  as the Father, 112, 217, 243, 247

  Job’s trials and, 248–49, 250, 251, 252

  Lamb of, 145, 149, 150, 154, 167, 227

  Milton’s concept of, 83, 165

  Old Testament names for, 120, 169, 246–47, 252, 256

  Paul’s description of, 243

  Satan’s rebellion against, 249, 253

  Seven Eyes of, 160, 227, 246

  Urizen appropriation of the role of, 153–54, 169, 174, 175, 239, 243

  Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, Heidenröslein (Little Heath Rose), 76

  golden compasses, 237, 238

  Golding, Arthur, Ovid translation, 144

  gold leaf, 228

  Golgonooza (city of artistic creation), 185, 188, 192, 194, 247

  Golgotha, 188, 192, 194

  Gombrich, E. H., 27, 33, 247

  gonorrhea, 92

  Gordon Riots (1780), 99

  Gothic ballad, 135, 136

  Gothic forms, 9, 229

  Goya, Francisco, 118

  grain of sand, 122, 124

  grapes of wrath, 187

  Grave, The (Blair; Blake illus.), 19, 93, 266–67, 268

  Gray, Thomas: The Bard, 290n39

  Hyperion, 132

  Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, 41, 42, 43, 45

  Great Queen Street (London), 10, 89, 258

  Greek gods, 156

  Greek vase painting, 33

  griffin (Christ symbol), 226

  guilt, 70, 73, 75, 225

  Hagstrum, Jean, 245

  hallucinatory drugs, 26

  hammer, 80, 81, 108, 147, 169, 173, 174, 175, 176, 184, 185, 190, 194, 207

  hand painting, 4

  harem fantasy, 201

  harlot, 91, 92, 221, 253

  harp smashing, symbol of, 117

  Hayley, William, 128, 130, 132–37, 139–40, 155, 180

  Blake’s consolation letter to, 168

  Blake’s relationship with, 184, 258, 260

  Blake’s spiritual struggle with, 164

  eccentricity of, 132

  Milton biography by, 164

  praise for Catherine Blake by, 195

  solemn calling belief of, 136

  Heaven, 62, 67, 101, 169

  Blake’s concept of, 136, 141

  Milton and, 165

  heavenly host, 132

  Heber (biblical), 189

  Hebrew Bible. See Old Testament

  Hebrew poetry, 144

  Hebrews, Epistle to the, 62

  Hegel, G. W. F., 142

  Heidenröslein (Little Heath Rose) (Goethe), 76

  heliotropes, 74

  Hell, 26, 77, 118, 153, 164, 197

  Blake conception of, 101

  damnation and, 83, 135, 136, 225

  harrowing of, 66

  Job’s Nightmare and, 249. See also Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The; Proverbs of Hell

  Hephaestus, 169

  Heppner, Christopher, 247

  Herculaneum, 115

  Hercules Building (London), 151, 152, 258

  Herrick, Robert, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,” 75

  Hesketh, Lady, 135

  hierarchical personality components, 156

  Hindu gods, 156

  History of Tommy Playlove and Jacky Lovebook: Wherein Is Shown the Superiority of Virtue over Vice (children’s book), 52
/>   Hobson, Christopher, 108, 181

  Blake and Homosexuality, 181

  Holloway, John, 92

  Holy Grail, 146

  Holy Thursday (Blake), 93

  Homeric poems, 246

  homoeroticism, 181

  Hope, representation of, 226

  House of the Interpreter (No. 3 Fountain Court), 264

  Human Abstract, The (Blake), 87

  human existence. See existence

  human experience. See Experience

  humanity (universal man), 141, 157

  human life cycle. See cycle of life

  human sacrifice, 256

  Hume, David, 48, 212

  Hunt, Leigh, 37

  Hunt, Robert, 37, 260

  Huntington Library (Pasadena), 98

  Huxley, Aldous, The Doors of Perception, 26

  Hyde Park (London), 151

  hymns, 51, 54, 75–76, 80, 135, 243

  Hyperion (Blake watercolor), 132 (color plate 19)

  Hyperion (Gray poem), 132

  iambic meter, 80, 88

  ideal forms, 35–36

  Idea of the Holy, The (Otto), 251

  illuminated books, 4–6, 93, 104, 105, 118, 133, 195

  archive of plate versions of, 4, 5

  Blake earnings from, 32

  Blake invention of, 38

  Blake reshuffling of plate sequence, 6

  coloring of, 4–5, 260

  as combination of images and words, 38

  production procedure, 25–26, 27. See also

  Lambeth Books; specific works

  imagery, 58, 67

  of natural world, 229, 231–34

  “reading” of, 50. See also symbolism

  imagination, 40, 41, 43, 125, 174, 184, 232

  greatness of Blake’s, 270, 271

  intellectual bondage of, 125

  reality created by, 188

  as true reality to Blake, 164

  Urthona as, 155, 162. See also artistic creativity

  immortality, symbol of,, 213, 229

  impersonal subjectivity, 75–76

  industrialism, 147, 160

  infantile megalomania, 188

  Infant Joy (Blake), 54–57, 60, 70, 71, 94 (color plate 4)

  Infant Sorrow (Blake), 70–71, 72

  Inferno (Dante), 47

  infinity, 124–27

  inhibition, 76

  injustice, 245

  Innocence, 50–66

  America vision of, 115

  Blake conception of, 66

  Blake mystical experience and, 131

  Blake mythology and, 141

  contrasted with Experience, 77, 84–85

  nurturing gardens and, 73

  insanity, 2, 93–94, 133–36, 184

  inspiration, 127

  institutional religion. See religion

  international linear style. See romantic classicism

  intuition, 43, 125, 127, 156, 160

  irony, 81

  Irving, Edward, 269

  Irvingite (Holy Catholic Apostolic) Church, 269

  Isaiah (prophet), 8, 146, 163, 177, 252, 269–70

  “I saw a chapel all of gold” (Blake), 208–9, 221

  Israeli army (modern), 158

  Israelites, 103, 121, 123, 189–90, 216, 221

  Babylonian captivity of, 157–58

  bondage in Egypt of, 147

  Exodus from Egypt of, 123

  Merkabah (chariot of God) and, 158

  Italian language, 224–25

  Jacob (biblical), 214

  jealousy, 18, 136, 188, 204–8, 220

  Jefferson, Thomas, 108

  Jehovah, 120, 169, 252, 256

  Jerusalem (Albion’s emanation), 216, 227–29

  plate illustrations of, 228–29 (color plates 32, 36)

  resemblance to Botticelli’s Venus of, 229, 230

  reunion with Albion of, 183, 257

  three sets of wings of, 228

  Jerusalem (Blake long poem), 34, 89, 91, 103, 136, 138, 139–45, 188, 227–28, 229, 230, 260

  address “To the Jews,” 189–90

  address “To the Public,” 143, 261, 262

  ambiguous message of, 194

  apocalypse and, 185, 187, 188

  Blake’s prophetic calling and, 163, 181

  Blake’s changing myth and, 140–41

  childbirth and, 217

  copies, 260 (color plates 25, 26, 33, 39, 40)

  copy E, plate 3 (detail), 262 (color plate 33)

  Crucifixion image and, 256 (color plate 39)

  culmination of, 183

  enlargement over time of, 186

  on female gratification, 201

  Female Will and, 183

  final plate of, 190, 191, 192, 194 (plate 100)

  forms of error and, 182

  foundational idea of, 141

  frontispiece of, 177, 178, 192

  inspired scriptural books and, 248

  length and complexity of, 182

  missing words from metal plate of, 261

  obscurity of, 142

  printing (1820) of, 186

  reconciliation scene, 256–57 (color plate 40)

  Revelation compared with, 143

  sequence in writing of, 186

  Southey’s view of, 149

  Spectre character and, 183–85, 191

  subtitle: The Emanation of the

  Jerusalem (Blake long poem)

  Giant Albion, 227

  symbolism and, 141, 183–88, 192, 194

  title page of, 228, 229 (color plate 35)

  trilithons image and, 189–90 (color plate 26)

  unfallen Zoas at end of, 173

  Jerusalem (Blake short lyric), 1, 145–48

  appeal to reformers of, 148

  modern adaptations of, 148

  as section of Milton, 145, 167

  text of, 145–46

  underlying pessimism of, 154

  Jerusalem (Butterworth play), 148

  Jerusalem (city and symbol): creation again of, 97, 154

  London as, 89, 149–54, 151, 153

  temple in, 209, 221

  Jesus, 77, 105, 158, 177, 209, 216

  Blake’s concept of, 120, 140, 153, 217, 236, 243, 246, 251, 255–56, 269

  as Christ the redeemer, 226, 243, 252

  common representations of, 47

  Crucifixion of, 62, 105, 188, 255, 256 (color plate 39)

  empty tomb of, 110

  harrowing of hell and, 66

  human form of, 65, 120, 140, 160

  as infant with Mary, 56, 59

  of Innocence, 65

  Jerusalem as bride of, 227

  Jerusalem lyric and, 148, 167

  legendary visit to England of, 148

  Prodigal Son parable and, 209

  Songs of Innocence and, 40, 65, 120

  symbols of, 226

  virgin birth and, 225, 236

  Jimson, Gulley (fictional), 270

  Job, Book of, 248–53, 250, 270

  Job’s Evil Dreams (Blake engraving), 249, 250, 251, 252, 270

  John, Gospel of, 110, 158, 160, 177

  symbol of, 158

  John of Patmos, 155, 157, 163

  Johnson, Joseph, 36

  Johnson, Samuel, 41, 94, 164, 218, 247

  Dictionary, 44

  Jonson, Ben, 172

  Joseph (husband of Mary), 56

  Joseph of Arimathea, 146

  Joshua, Book of, 221

  Joyce, James, 88 A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 172, 177

  Judas, 153

  Jung, Carl, 156, 218

  Keats, John, 9, 197, 231

  La Belle Dame sans Merci, 221

  Ode to a Nightingale, 233

  “Keys of the Gates, The” (Blake), 213

  kingdom of God, 146–47

  King James Bible, 251

  King Lear (Shakespeare), 110

  knowledge, 83, 247

  tree of, 51, 112. See also forbidden fruit

  Kubla Khan (Coleridge)
, 231

  Laing, R. D., 136

  lamb, symbolism of, 54, 60, 61, 62, 64, 81, 84. See also Lamb of God

  Lamb, The (Blake), 59–60, 61, 62, 64, 67, 81

  Lambeth (London neighborhood), 104, 151–52

  Lambeth Books, 104, 163, 170

  themes of early vs. later, 140. See also America: A Prophecy; Book of Urizen; Europe; Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The; Visions of the Daughters of Albion

  Lambeth Palace, 153, 194

  Lamb of God, 145, 149, 150, 154, 167, 227

  Langer, Susanne, 75–76

  La Rochefoucauld, François de, 206

  Last Judgment (Blake watercolor painting), 146, 261

  Last Judgment (Michelangelo), 137

  Last Supper, 146

  Lavater, Johann Caspar, 14

  Law, tablets of. See Ten Commandments

  Lawrie, Lee, “Wisdom,” 239, 240

  Leader, Zachary, 65

  Leah (biblical), 214

  Leonardo da Vinci, 33

  Leutha’s vale, 199

  liberation, 108, 110

  liberty, 89

  Library of Congress, 26, 51, 56

  Life, celebration of, 85. See also cycle of life

  light: Blake vision of, 130–31, 133

  Blake vs.

  Newton view of, 123

  Light Shining Out of Darkness (Cowper hymn), 135

  lilies, 205

  Lincoln, Andrew, 162

  Lincoln’s Inn, 89

  Lines Written during a Period of Insanity (Cowper), 135

  Linnell, John, 19, 249, 269

  sketch of Blake by, 264, 265

  Little Girl Lost, A (Blake), 71, 73

  Little Heath Rose (Goethe), 76

  Little Vagabond, The (Blake), 93

  Locke, John, 36, 136

  London (Blake), 87–93, 90, 153, 203, 253

  driving rhythm of, 88

  as masterpiece, 67, 87

  placement in Songs of Experience of, 93

  powerful closing line of, 92

  social indictments of, 93

  London: Blake’s images of, 89, 149–54

  Blake’s move away from, 128–29

  Blake’s residences in, 7, 88, 104, 151, 152, 258, 259, 261

  Blake’s return to (1803), 136, 258

  Blake’s youth in, 7–9

  chimney sweeps and, 63–66

  Gordon Riots and, 99

  map of (frontispiece); ongoing expansion of, 150–51

  political radicals and, 89

  workhouses of, 62, 151, 153

  London Stone (milestone), 151

  Lorrain, Claude, 137

  Los (Zoa), 171–81, 190, 191, 192, 194 (color plates 21, 22, 23, 32, 100)

  apocalypse and, 186, 187

  artistic creativity and, 162, 175–76, 176, 184–85

  blacksmith symbol and, 173–74, 183–84, 189 (color plate 25)

  Blake as avatar of, 160

  Blake encounter with, 180–81 (color plate 24)

  childbirth and, 217

  creation and, 175, 247

  emanation of, 190, 191, 192, 195, 206

  fall of, 162, 172–73, 174

  first appearance of, 169

  formation of, 184

 

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