The four zoas poem. The Four Zoas: [4] Night the Fourth by William Blake 2022-11-16
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The Four Zoas is a long and complex poem written by the English poet and painter William Blake. It is considered to be one of his most difficult and obscure works, and its meaning has been the subject of much debate among literary critics and scholars.
The Four Zoas is divided into nine sections, each of which is named after one of the four Zoas, or primal forces that are central to Blake's mythology. The Zoas are named Urizen, Luvah, Tharmas, and Urthona, and each represents a different aspect of human nature. Urizen is the force of reason and intellect, Luvah represents emotion and passion, Tharmas represents the physical body and senses, and Urthona represents the imagination and creative spirit.
The poem tells the story of the fall and eventual redemption of the Zoas, who are originally united in a state of primal unity but become separated and fallen due to their own internal conflicts and desires. The poem traces the Zoas' journey through various stages of conflict and suffering, as they struggle to reintegrate and achieve reconciliation.
One of the main themes of The Four Zoas is the tension between the individual and the collective, and the ways in which human nature can both unite and divide us. Blake uses the Zoas to explore the different aspects of human nature, and the ways in which they can conflict with one another. He also explores the role of imagination and creativity in the process of reconciliation and healing, and the importance of finding a balance between reason and emotion.
Despite its difficulty and complexity, The Four Zoas is a powerful and thought-provoking work that continues to inspire and challenge readers to this day. Its exploration of the human condition and the ways in which we can overcome our own internal conflicts and find unity and redemption remains as relevant and timeless as ever.
The Four Zoas: [1] Night the First by William Blake
Considered by some of his contemporaries to be an "unfortunate lunatic", William Blake 1757 to 1827 produced visually stunning works that he self-published. His eyes behold the Angelic spheres arising night and day; The stars consum'd like a lamp blown out, and in their stead, behold The expanding eyes of Man behold the depths of wondrous worlds! Is this a deed of Love I know what I have done. No, it is bought with the price Of all that a man hath, his house, his wife, his children. If pale, say he is ruddy. It operates on the following levels: Historical and geographical, where cities represent different parts of Albion's body as well as other people. Say he smiles if you hear him sigh. It is an easy thing to rejoice in the tents of prosperity:Thus could I sing and thus rejoice: but it is not so with me.
Entring the dismal clouds In furrowd lightnings break their way the wild flames? Blake used these images as part of a general celebration of sex and sexuality. One Earth, one sea beneath; nor erring globes wander, but stars Of fire rise up nightly from the ocean; and one sun Each morning, like a new born man, issues with songs and joy Calling the Plowman to his labour and the Shepherd to his rest. Preach temperance: say he is overgorg'd and drowns his wit In strong drink, though you know that bread and water are all He can afford. Between the various editions, the concept of the poem changes. Rattling go up the flames around the Synagogue Of Satan Loud the Serpent Orc ragd thro his twenty Seven Folds. Many people are familiar with two poems by William Blake, "The Lamb" and "The Tyger. Artistic, where Los, operating as a Blake's alter ego, struggles with his emanation in a fight over artistic creativity and vision.
Demons of Waves their watry Eccho's woke! See the river Red with the blood of Men. It is an easy thing to talk of patience to the afflicted, To speak the laws of prudence to the houseless wanderer, To listen to the hungry raven's cry in wintry season When the red blood is fill'd with wine and with the marrow of lambs. The Cambridge Companion to William Blake. Then the groan and the dolor are quite forgotten, and the slave grinding at the mill, And the captive in chains, and the poor in the prison, and the soldier in the field When the shatter'd bone hath laid him groaning among the happier dead. Religious and sexual Blake goes on a good bit in many of his poems about how religion represses human sexuality. In the fierce flames the limbs of Mystery lay consuming with howling And deep despair.
If pale, say he is ruddy. These thoughts carried over into Vala as the character Los imagination is connected to the image of Christ, and he added a Christian element to his mythic world. The later edition was on a smaller conceptual scale, and it emphasises the concept of imprisonment found in the Book of Urizen from a dualistic struggle between two divine powers to a struggle of four aspects split from Eternity. Lo these starry hosts They are thy servants if thou wilt obey my awful Law Los answerd furious art thou one of those who when most complacent Mean mischief most. He walks upon the Eternal Mountains, raising his heavenly voice, Conversing with the animal forms of wisdom night and day, That, risen from the sea of fire, renew'd walk o'er the Earth; For Tharmas brought his flocks upon the hills, and in the vales Around the Eternal Man's bright tent, the little children play Among the woolly flocks. His eyes behold the Angelic spheres arising night and day; The stars consum'd like a lamp blown out, and in their stead, behold The expanding eyes of Man behold the depths of wondrous worlds! By the eighth, open warfare breaks out between Reason Urizen and Creativity Los. Wisdom is sold in the And in the wither'd It is an easy And in the It is an easy To To When the red It is an easy To hear the dog howl at the To see a god on To hear To While our Then the And the When the shatter'd bone hath laid him It is an easy Thus 'Compel the poor to live upon a Smile when they frown, With And when his Born, even too many, and our Without With pomp give Magnify Say he Preach temperance: say he is overgorg'd and In He can afford.
The Four Zoas: [5] Night the Fifth by William Blake
Silent the prince of Light viewd Los. Political, where Blake draws on his mythic characters from other poems that embody the American and French revolutions. In Vala, both the character Vala, Blake felt that he was able to overcome his inner battle but he was concerned about losing his artistic abilities. They raise their faces from the earth, conversing with the Man: "How is it we have walk'd through fires and yet are not consum'd? So sang the Human Odors round the wine presses of Luvah. If thou refusest dashd abroad on all My waves. Through the mythology, Blake describes spiritual falls, one on an external level, the fall of civilization, and the other, internal, the fall of an individual.
In night nine all ends well. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993. Smile when they frown, frown when they smile; and when a man looks pale With labour and abstinence, say he looks healthy and happy; And when his children sicken, let them die; there are enough Born, even too many, and our earth will be overrun Without these arts. Terrified at Non Existence For such they deemd the death of the body. Reduce all to our will, as The sun has left his And the mild moon And Man His eyes The The One Earth, one sea beneath; nor Of fire rise up Each morning, like a new born man, Calling the He Conversing with the That, For Around the Among the In the deep Around the They 'How is it we have walk'd How is it that all. Man shall be no more! To Whom be Glory Evermore Amen John XVII c.
If you would make the poor live with temper, With pomp give every crust of bread you give; with gracious cunning Magnify small gifts; reduce the man to want a gift, and then give with pomp. Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy And in the witherd field where the farmer plows for bread in vain. And Spirits of Flaming fire on high, govern'd the mighty Song. Then bright Ahania shall awake from death A glorious Vision of to thine Eyes a Self renewing Vision The spring. The different allegorical layers of meaning in Jerusalem are more complex than the previous poems.
The Four Zoas: [9] Night the Ninth by William Blake
If dashd in pieces from a rocky height I reunite in endless torment. Art thou Urthona My friend my old companion, With whom I livd in happiness before that deadly night When Urizen gave the horses of Light into the hands of Luvah Thou knowest not what Tharmas knows. Or wisdom for a dance in the street? Now Los began to speak His woes aloud to Enitharmon. Or wisdom for a dance in the street? Los his vegetable hands Outstretchd; his right hand branching out in fibrous Strength, Siezd the Sun; his left hand like dark roots coverd the Moon And tore them down cracking the heavens across from immense to immense. He walks upon the Eternal Mountains, raising his heavenly voice, Conversing with the animal forms of wisdom night and day, That, risen from the sea of fire, renew'd walk o'er the Earth; For Tharmas brought his flocks upon the hills, and in the vales Around the Eternal Man's bright tent, the little children play Among the woolly flocks. One Earth, one sea beneath; nor erring globes wander, but stars Of fire rise up nightly from the ocean; and one sun Each morning, like a new born man, issues with songs and joy Calling the Plowman to his labour and the Shepherd to his rest. Los his vegetable hands Outstretchd his right hand branching out in fibrous strength Siezd the Sun.
The Four Zoas: [4] Night the Fourth by William Blake
Where dost thou flee O fair one where dost thou seek thy happy place. Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy,And in the wither'd field where the farmer plows for bread in vain. I siezd thee dark Urthona In my left hand falling I siezd thee beauteous Luvah thou art faded like a flower And like a lilly is thy wife Vala witherd by winds When thou didst bear the golden cup at the immortal tables Thy children smote their fiery wings crownd with the gold of heaven Thy pure feet stepd on the steps divine. To yonder brightness there I haste for sure I came from thence Or I must have slept eternally nor have felt the dew of morning. I am also such One must be master. Smile when they frown, frown when they smile; and when a man looks pale With labour and abstinence, say he looks healthy and happy; And when his children sicken, let them die; there are enough Born, even too many, and our earth will be overrun Without these arts. Flatter his wife, pity his children, till we canReduce all to our will, as spaniels are taught with art.
