Versos English William Blake Plate 58

English poem

Plate 58

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In beauty the Daughters of Albion divide & unite at will Naked & drunk with blood Gwendolen dancing to the timbrel Of War: reeling up the Street of London she divides in twain Among the Inhabitants of Albion. the People fall around. The Daughters of Albion. divide & unite in jealousy & cruelty The Inhabitants of Albion at the Harvest & the Vintage Feel their Brain cut round beneath the temples shrieking Bonifying into a Scull, the Marrow exuding in dismal pain They flee over the rocks bonifying: Horses: Oxen: feel the knife. And while the Sons of Albion by severe War & Judgment, bonify The Hermaphroditic Condensations are divided by the Knife The obdurate Forms are cut asunder by jealousy & Pity.

Rational Philosophy and Mathematic Demonstration Is divided in the intoxications of pleasure & affection Two Contraries War against each other in fury & blood, And Los fixes them on his Anvil, incessant his blows: He fixes them with strong blows. placing the stones & timbers. To Create a World of Generation from the World of Death: Dividing the Masculine & Feminine: for the comingling Of Albions & Luvahs Spectres was Hermaphroditic

Urizen wrathful strode above directing the awful Building: As a Mighty Temple; delivering Form out of confusion[.] Jordan sprang beneath its threshold bubbling from beneath Its pillars: Euphrates ran under its arches: white sails And silver oars reflect on its pillars, & sound on its ecchoing Pavements: where walk the Sons of Jerusalem who remain Ungenerate But the revolving Sun and Moon pass thro its porticoes, Day & night, in sublime majesty & silence they revolve And shine glorious within! Hand & Koban archd over the Sun In the hot noon, as he traveld thro his journey; Hyle & Skofield Archd over the Moon at midnight & Los Fixd them there, With his thunderous Hammer; terrified the Spectres rage & flee Canaan is his portico; Jordan is a fountain in his porch; A fountain of milk & wine to relieve the traveller: Egypt is the eight steps within. Ethiopia supports his pillars; Lybia & the Lands unknown. are the ascent without; Within is Asia & Greece, ornamented with exquisite art: Persia & Media are his halls: his inmost hall is Great Tartary. China & India & Siberia are his temples for entertainment Poland & Russia & Sweden, his soft retired chambers France & Spain & Italy & Denmark & Holland & Germany Are the temples among his pillars. Britain is Los's Forge; America North & South are his baths of living waters.

Such is the Ancient World of Urizen in the Satanic Void Created from the Valley of Middlesex by Londons River From Stone-henge and from London Stone, from Cornwall to Cathnes The Four Zoa's rush around on all sides in dire ruin Furious in pride of Selfhood the terrible Spectres of Albion Rear their dark Rocks among the Stars of God: stupendous Works! A World of Generation continually Creating; out of The Hermaphroditic Satanic World of rocky destiny.