Vala, Or The Four Zoas
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Vala, Or The Four Zoas
''Vala, or The Four Zoas'' is one of the uncompleted prophetic books by the English poet William Blake, begun in 1797. The eponymous main characters of the book are the Four Zoas (Urthona, Urizen, Luvah and Tharmas), who were created by the fall of Albion in Blake's mythology. It consists of nine books, referred to as "nights". These outline the interactions of the Zoas, their fallen forms and their Emanations. Blake intended the book to be a summation of his mythic universe but, dissatisfied, he abandoned the effort in 1807, leaving the poem in a rough draft and its engraving unfinished. The text of the poem was first published, with only a small portion of the accompanying illustrations, in 1893, by the Irish poet W. B. Yeats and his collaborator, the English writer and poet Edwin John Ellis, in their three-volume book '' The Works of William Blake''. Background Blake began working on ''Vala, or The Death and Judgement of the Eternal Man: A Dream of Nine Nights'' while he wa ...
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William Blake's Prophetic Books
The prophetic books of the 18th-century English poet and artist William Blake are a series of lengthy, interrelated poetic works drawing upon Blake's own personal mythology. They have been described as forming "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". While Blake worked as a commercial illustrator, these books were ones that he produced, with his own engravings, as an extended and largely private project. Overview In these works, concluding with the epic ''Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion'', he elaborated a personal invented mythology (mythopoeia). The mythopoeia is largely Biblical in inspiration; apart from that, it has been extensively debated for both its political and religious content. While ''The French Revolution'' from 1791 is not illustrated and is usually excluded from the list of prophetic books, David V. Erdman contends that the separation of this work from the corpus removes a key to the symbolism used ...
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John Linnell (painter)
John Linnell (16 June 179220 January 1882) was an English engraver, and portrait and landscape painter. He was a naturalist and a rival to the artist John Constable. He had a taste for Northern European art of the Renaissance, particularly Albrecht Dürer. He also associated with the amateur artist Edward Thomas Daniell, and with William Blake, to whom he introduced the painter and writer Samuel Palmer and others of the Ancients. Life and work John Linnell was born in Bloomsbury, London on 16 June 1792., where his father was a carver and gilder. He was in contact with artists from an early age, and by the age of ten was drawing and selling portraits in chalk and pencil. His first art teacher was the American-born artist Benjamin West, and he spent a year in the house of the painter John Varley, where William Hunt and William Mulready were also pupils, and made the acquaintance of Shelley, Godwin and others. In 1805 he was admitted to study at the Royal Academy, where h ...
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God The Father
God the Father is a title given to God in Christianity. In mainstream trinitarian Christianity, God the Father is regarded as the first person of the Trinity, followed by the second person, God the Son Jesus Christ, and the third person, God the Holy Spirit. Since the second century, Christian creeds included affirmation of belief in "God the Father ( Almighty)", primarily in his capacity as "Father and creator of the universe". However, in Christianity the concept of God as the father of Jesus Christ goes metaphysically further than the concept of God as the creator and father of all people, as indicated in the Apostles' Creed where the expression of belief in the "Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth" is immediately, but separately followed by in "Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord", thus expressing both senses of fatherhood. Christianity Overview In much of modern Christianity, God is addressed as the Father, in part because of his active interest in huma ...
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Enion
In the mythological writings of William Blake, Enion is an Emanation/mate of Tharmas, one of the four Zoas, who were created when Albion, the primordial man, was divided fourfold. She represents sexuality and sexual urges while Tharmas represents sensation. In her fallen aspect, she is a wailing woman that is filled with jealousy. After the Final Judgment, she is reunited with Tharmas and able to experience an idealised sexual union. Character Enion is an Emanation, a female essence that is part of one of the divine Four Zoas. She is connected to Tharmas, who is the western and water based Zoas. He is connected to the senses and to the body, and her aspect is sexual desire. It is possible that her name comes from letters used in Enitharmon's name, with Tharmas being the middle portion of the name and hers representing the rest. Tharmas represents a unity within the spirit, and, when Enion is separated from him, she becomes the image of the earth mother. Enion has the power to genera ...
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Vala (Blake)
Vala or VALA may refer to: Religion and mythology * Vala (Vedic), a demon or a stone cavern in the Hindu scriptures * Völva, also spelled Vala, a priestess in Norse mythology and Norse paganism Fiction * Vala (Middle-earth), an angelic being in J. R. R. Tolkien's fiction * Vala Mal Doran, a fictional character in the Canadian-American television series ''Stargate SG-1'' * Vala (Blake), a character in the mythological writings of William Blake * ''Vala, or The Four Zoas'', a poem by Blake People * Vala (clan), a Rajput clan found in Gujarat in India Surname * Aleš Vála (born 1973), a Czech ice hockey player * Asad Vala (born 1987), a Papua New Guinean cricketer * Jessie Rose Vala (born 1977), an American artist * Jorge Vala (born 1984), a Portuguese academic * Katri Vala (1901–1944), a Finnish poet * Lobat Vala (born 1930), an Iranian poet and activist * Numonius Vala, a Roman family name, or any of the men of that name * Vajubhai Vala, an Indian politician Given name * V ...
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Enitharmon
Enitharmon is a major female character in William Blake's mythology, playing a main part in some of his prophetic books. She is, but not directly, an aspect of the male Urthona, one of the Four Zoas. She is in fact the Emanation of Los, also male. There is a complex verbal nexus attached. The Zoa Tharmas has emanation Enion, and Eni-tharm(as)-on is one derivation of her name. That should perhaps be read in the inverse direction though, as a construction of the Tharmas/Enion pair's names. Within Blake's myth, she represents female domination and sexual restraints that limit the artistic imagination. She, with Los, gives birth to various children, including Orc. Background It is possible that the character Enitharmon was based on Blake's wife, Catherine Blake. In a letter from Blake to his friend Thomas Butts, Jr. on 22 November 1802, he claimed that his place at Surrey had "Enitharmon's bower". S. Foster Damon explained the name Enitharmon as a derivation or an elision of (z)enit ...
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Ahania
Ahania is the Emanation, or female counterpart, of Urizen, Zoas of reason, in William Blake's mythology. She is the representation of pleasure and the desire for intelligence. Although Urizen casts her out as being the manifestation of sin, she is actually an essential component in Blake's system to achieving Divine Wisdom. She is a figure of the goddess of wisdom. It is through her that the sons and daughters of Urizen are born. In the original myth, her son Fuzon rebels against his father and is responsible for separating Urizen and Ahania. In his later version, Ahania is separated from Urizen after he believes that she is sinful. Character Ahania represents pleasure and is connected to the Zoas Urizen, who represents reason. They are divided because Urizen is unable to understand the necessity of pleasure for the mind. In Blake's early myth, Ahania and Urizen are united until their son Fuzon separates the two by cutting his father's loins apart. She is labeled as Sin by Urizen ...
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God In Christianity
God in Christianity is believed to be the God and eternity, eternal, supreme being who Creator god, created and God the Sustainer, preserves all things. Christians believe in a Monotheism, monotheistic conception of God, which is both Transcendence (religion), transcendent (wholly independent of, and removed from, the material universe) and Immanence, immanent (involved in the material universe). Christian teachings on the transcendence, immanence, and involvement of God in the world and his love for humanity exclude the belief that God is of the same substance as the created universe (rejection of pantheism) but accept that God's divine nature was Hypostatic union, hypostatically united to human nature in the person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ, in a unique event known as "the Incarnation (Christianity), Incarnation". Early Christianity, Early Christian views of God were expressed in the Pauline epistles and the early Christian creeds, which proclaimed one God and the ...
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Book Of Urizen
''The Book of Urizen'' is one of the major prophetic books of the English writer William Blake, illustrated by Blake's own plates. It was originally published as ''The First Book of Urizen'' in 1794. Later editions dropped the "First". The book takes its name from the character Urizen in Blake's mythology, who represents alienated reason as the source of oppression. The book describes Urizen as the "primeaval priest" and narrates how he became separated from the other Eternals to create his own alienated and enslaving realm of religious dogma. Los and Enitharmon create a space within Urizen's fallen universe to give birth to their son Orc, the spirit of revolution and freedom. In form the book is a parody of the Book of Genesis. Urizen's first four sons are Thiriel, Utha, Grodna and Fuzon (respectively elemental Air, Water, Earth, Fire, according to Chapter VIII). The last of these plays a major role in ''The Book of Ahania'', published in 1795. Background In autumn 1790 Bla ...
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William Blake 006
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of England in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will, Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill, and Billy. A common Irish form is Liam. Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie or the play ''Douglas''). Female forms are Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the given name ''Wilhelm'' (cf. Proto-Germanic ᚹᛁᛚᛃᚨᚺᛖᛚᛗᚨᛉ, ''*Wiljahelmaz'' > German ''Wilhelm'' and Old Norse ᚢᛁᛚᛋᛅᚼᛅᛚᛘᛅᛋ, ''Vilhjálmr''). By regular sound changes, the native, inherited English form of the name shoul ...
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Visions Of The Daughters Of Albion
''Visions of the Daughters of Albion'' is a 1793 poem by William Blake, produced as a book with his own illustrations. It is a short and early example of his prophetic books, and a sequel of sorts to ''The Book of Thel''. Plot The central narrative is of the female character Oothoon, called the "soft soul of America", and of her sexual experience. S. Foster Damon (''A Blake Dictionary'') suggested that Blake had been influenced by Mary Wollstonecraft's ''A Vindication of the Rights of Woman'', published in 1792. Oothoon is in love with Theotormon, who represents the chaste man, filled with a false sense of righteousness. Oothoon desires Theotormon but is suddenly, violently raped by Bromion. After Oothoon is raped neither Bromion nor Theotormon want anything to do with her. Symbolism As is usual in Blake, the names of the characters represent their symbolic roles. Theotormon's name is derived from the Greek ''theos'', which means "god", and the Latin ''tormentum'', which means ...
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The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell
''The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'' is a book by the English poet and printmaker William Blake. It is a series of texts written in imitation of biblical prophecy but expressing Blake's own intensely personal Romantic and revolutionary beliefs. Like his other books, it was published as printed sheets from etched plates containing prose, poetry, and illustrations. The plates were then coloured by Blake and his wife Catherine. It opens with an introduction of a short poem entitled "Rintrah roars and shakes his fires in the burden'd air". William Blake claims that John Milton was a true poet and his epic poem ''Paradise Lost'' was "of the Devil's party without knowing it". He also claims that Milton's Satan was truly his Messiah. The work was composed between 1790 and 1793, in the period of radical ferment and political conflict during the French Revolution. The title is an ironic reference to Emanuel Swedenborg's theological work '' Heaven and Hell'', published in Latin 33 yea ...
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