William Blake's Prophetic Books
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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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Milton A Poem, Copy C, Object 34
Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free to Choose'' Places Australia * Milton, New South Wales * Milton, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane ** Milton Courts, a tennis centre ** Milton House, Milton, a heritage-listed house ** Milton railway station, Brisbane ** Milton Reach, a reach of the Brisbane River ** Milton Road, an arterial road in Brisbane Canada * Milton, Newfoundland and Labrador * Milton, Nova Scotia in the Region of Queens Municipality * Milton, Ontario ** Milton line, a commuter train line ** Milton GO Station * Milton (electoral district), Ontario ** Milton (provincial electoral district), Ontario * Beaverton, Ontario a community in Durham Region and renamed as Beaverton in 1835 * Rural Municipality of Milton No. 292, Saskatchewan New Zealand * Milton, ...
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Orc (Blake)
Orc is a proper name for one of the characters in the complex mythology of William Blake. A fallen figure, Orc is the embodiment of rebellion, and stands opposed to Urizen, the embodiment of tradition. In Blake's illuminated book ''America a Prophecy'', Orc is described by his mythic opponent, "Albion's Angel" as the "Lover of Wild Rebellion, and transgressor of God's Law". He symbolizes the spirit of rebellion and freedom, which provoked the French Revolution. Background The name Orc is possibly an anagram of the word ''cor'' (heart), in that he was stated in Blake's myth to be born of Enitharmon's heart, or ''orca'' (whale) because he sometimes takes the form of a whale. Orcus is also the Latin word for Hell, and Orc is presented as a rebellious, Luciferian character. He was created to serve as Blake's analysis of the revolutions in the United States and France. Character In Blake's myth, Orc is seen as the first child of Los with Enitharmon and sometimes either replaced in ...
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A Poem In Two Books
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish it fro ...
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The Song Of Los
''The Song of Los'' (written 1795) is one of William Blake's epic poems, known as prophetic books. The poem consists of two sections, "Africa" and "Asia". In the first section Blake catalogues the decline of morality in Europe, which he blames on both the African slave trade and enlightenment philosophers. The book provides a historical context for ''The Book of Urizen'', ''The Book of Ahania'', and ''The Book of Los'', and also ties those more obscure works to '' The Continental Prophecies'', "Europe" and "America". The second section consists of Los urging revolution. Background During autumn 1790, Blake moved to Lambeth, Surrey. He had a studio at the new house that he used while writing what were later called his "Lambeth Books", which included ''The Song of Los'' in 1795. Like the others under the title, all aspects of the work, including the composition of the designs, the printing of them, the colouring of them, and the selling of them, happened at his home. Early sketche ...
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The Book Of Los
''The Book of Los'' is a 1795 prophetic book by the English poet and painter William Blake. It exists in only one copy, now held by The British Museum. The book is related to the ''Book of Urizen'' and to the ''Continental prophecies''; it is essentially a retelling of ''Urizen'' from the point of view of Los. The book has been described as a rewriting of the ancient myth of creation that equates fall with the loss of spiritual vision brought about by selfhood. Background During autumn 1790, Blake moved to Lambeth, Surrey. He had a studio at the new house that he used while writing what were later called his "Lambeth Books", which included ''The Book of Los'' in 1795. Like the others under the title, all aspects of the work, including the composition of the designs, the printing of them, the colouring of them, and the selling of them, happened at his home. ''The Book of Los'' was one of the few works that Blake describes as "illuminated printing", one of his colour printed w ...
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The Book Of Ahania
''The Book of Ahania'' is one of the English poet William Blake's prophetic books. It was published in 1795, illustrated by Blake's own plates. The poem of the book consists of six chapters. The content concerns Fuzon, a son of Urizen, a ''Zoa'' or major aspect in Blake's mythology. Ahania of the title is Urizen's female counterpart. Background During autumn 1790, Blake moved to Lambeth, Surrey. He had a studio at the new house that he used while writing his what were later called his "Lambeth Books", which included ''The Book of Ahania'' in 1795. Like the others under the title, all aspects of the work, including the composition of the designs, the printing of them, the colouring of them, and the selling of them, happened at his home. ''The Book of Ahania'' was one of the few works that Blake describes as "illuminated printing", one of his colour printed works with the coloured ink being placed on the copperplate before printed. Both ''The Book of Los'' and ''The Book of Aha ...
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The 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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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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Europe A Prophecy
''Europe a Prophecy'' is a 1794 prophetic book by the British poet and illustrator William Blake. It is engraved on 18 plates, and survives in just nine known copies. It followed ''America a Prophecy'' of 1793. Background During autumn 1790, Blake moved to Lambeth, Surrey. He had a studio at the new house that he used while writing what were later called his "Lambeth Books", which included ''Europe'' in 1794. Like the others under the title, all aspects of the work, including the composition of the designs, the printing of them, the colouring of them, and the selling of them, happened at his home. Early sketches for ''Europe'' were included in a notebook that contained images were created between 1790 until 1793. Only a few of Blake's works were fully coloured, and only some of the editions of ''Europe'' were coloured. 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 copi ...
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