The Poetry and Prose of William Blake Edited by David V. Erdman: Commentary by Harold Bloom |
I. |
II. |
III. |
IV. |
V. |
VI. |
VII. |
XII. |
XIII. |
XV. |
Chap: III. The Poetry and Prose of William Blake | ||
Chap: III.
1.
The voice ended, they saw his pale visageEmerge from the darkness; his hand
On the rock of eternity unclasping
The Book of brass. Rage siez'd the strong
2.
Rage, fury, intense indignationIn cataracts of fire blood & gall
In whirlwinds of sulphurous smoke:
And enormous forms of energy;
All the seven deadly sins of the soul
PLATE 5
In living creations appear'd
In the flames of eternal fury.
In the flames of eternal fury.
3.
Sund'ring, dark'ning, thund'ring!Rent away with a terrible crash
Eternity roll'd wide apart
Wide asunder rolling
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Departing; departing; departing:
Leaving ruinous fragments of life
Hanging frowning cliffs & all between
An ocean of voidness unfathomable.
4.
The roaring fires ran o'er the heav'nsIn whirlwinds & cataracts of blood
And o'er the dark desarts of Urizen
Fires pour thro' the void on all sides
On Urizens self-begotten armies.
5.
But no light from the fires. all was darknessIn the flames of Eternal fury
6.
In fierce anguish & quenchless flamesTo the desarts and rocks He ran raging
To hide, but He could not: combining
He dug mountains & hills in vast strength,
He piled them in incessant labour,
In howlings & pangs & fierce madness
Long periods in burning fires labouring
Till hoary, and age-broke, and aged,
In despair and the shadows of death.
7.
And a roof, vast petrific around,On all sides He fram'd: like a womb;
Where thousands of rivers in veins
Of blood pour down the mountains to cool
The eternal fires beating without
From Eternals; & like a black globe
View'd by sons of Eternity, standing
On the shore of the infinite ocean
Like a human heart strugling & beating
The vast world of Urizen appear'd.
8.
And Los round the dark globe of Urizen,Kept watch for Eternals to confine,
The obscure separation alone;
For Eternity stood wide apart,
PLATE 6
As the stars are apart from the earth
9.
Los wept howling around the dark Demon:And cursing his lot; for in anguish,
Urizen was rent from his side;
And a fathomless void for his feet;
And intense fires for his dwelling.
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10.
But Urizen laid in a stony sleepUnorganiz'd, rent from Eternity
11.
The Eternals said: What is this? Death[.]Urizen is a clod of clay.
PLATE 7
12
Los howld in a dismal stupor,Groaning! gnashing! groaning!
Till the wrenching apart was healed
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But the wrenching of Urizen heal'd notCold, featureless, flesh or clay,
Rifted with direful changes
He lay in a dreamless night
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Till Los rouz'd his fires, affrightedAt the formless unmeasurable death.
PLATE 8
Chap: III. The Poetry and Prose of William Blake | ||