The English poet and artist William Blake (1757–1827) created his own complex and original mythology , which he outlined in a detailed series of his so-called “prophetic books”, richly illustrated, engraved and printed by himself. In this mythology, Blake reflected his own spiritual, philosophical and religious views, as well as his attitude to politics, revolution, social order, morality, combining all this into a kind of epic prophecy about the past, present and future of mankind, which describes and explains his point of view on the history of the origin, decline and collapse of this world.
The origins of Blake mythology
Blake mythology has many sources, including the Bible , Greek and Roman mythology , ancient literature , Scandinavian Edda , Ossian James MacPherson , treatises of theosophists, occultists and religious mystics, such as Agrippa Nettesheim , Paracelsus and Jacob Boehme , the plays of Shakespeare “ Paradise Lost ” and “ Paradise Returned ", the works of Emanuel Swedenborg , etc.
Blake mythology characters
Blake’s mythology is a whole world inhabited by deities and heroes to whom he gave unusual names: Urizen , Luva , Tarmas , Urton , Los , Enitharmon , Vala , Achania , Enion , Utuna , Rintra , Bromion , Tiriel , Har , Teotormon , Palamabron , etc.
Many characters whose names are familiar to the reader from other sources, such as Albion , Orc , Jerusalem , Adam , Raav , Fierza , and others. Are significantly rethought by Blake.
Creation of the Universe and Man
In the early poem “Visions of the Albion's Daughters” (1793), Blake indicates that man was created not by the biblical God Jehovah or Yahweh , but by a certain “demon of error” and “the father of jealousy”, an evil and cruel tyrant, a deity named Urizen or Urizen (Urizen ) This name was made by Blake, probably from a combination of the words “your reason” - “your mind”, or from similar Greek words meaning “to outline with a compass”, “limit” and “horizon”. [1] In engravings and paintings by Blake Urizen is often depicted with a giant compass in his hand, with the help of which he creates and limits the Universe, or with networks symbolizing laws and society with which he, like a web, entangles people, or with an open book surrounded several impressive folios in which are written the laws that he invented for humanity. In the works of Blake, Urizen embodies the satanic principle and this is its similarity with the Demiurge of the teachings of Gnosticism . Urizen is a symbol of a mind devoid of imagination.
Thus exclaims the heroine of the poem, the soul of America, the dishonored maiden Utun (Oothoon), cursing Urizen and his teachings.
The story of Urizen and his deeds is described in detail in The First Book of Urizen (1794). [3] Although Urizen is not the supreme god, he imagines himself and declares himself to be such a host of Immortals, who previously represented a single family. The “Priest of Reason” Urizen, struck by the disease of selfhood, rebelled in Eternity and, separating himself from other Immortals, created a huge disgusting void, which he filled with elements . Admiring his own wisdom, he proceeded to compile a list of various sins , writing them in a copper book, which serves as a collection of laws. He addressed the Immortals with a speech, setting out the result of his deep and secret thoughts and explaining how he, in the fight against the elements and the terrible force called the “seven deadly sins,” created elastic firmness. But all this angered the Immortals, and their anger turned into fire, devouring the army created by Urizen. Left alone, Urizen built a stone roof, framed himself with veins and blood vessels to protect himself from the fires of the Immortals. [four]
And here Los , the “Eternal Prophet,” representing Inspiration , and called Eternity in Eternity, entered the process of creation. Watching the actions of Urizen, Los was saddened by the fact that he tore himself from Eternity. Out of compassion, he created a bodily form for Urizen. [four]
Accordingly, the “Book of Los” (1795) [5] , Los, chained to the fallen Urizen, forced to guard him. In anger, Los tore the shackles and entered the eternal rivers of fire. This fire has hardened. Los broke it into small fragments and ended up in the void. For centuries, he fell into the Abyss, until he managed to separate the heavy from the light and thus create light. In the rays of this light, Los saw a monstrous skeleton of Urizen hanging over the abyss. Los made a hearth, anvil and hammer, and worked night and day to shape Urizen. The following describes the seven days of creation, where the role of the Creator is Los. The efforts of Losa end with the creation of the first man. Tired of labor, Los split into male and female - this is how Enitharmon appeared, his emanation, who bore him a son named Orc , the embodiment of rebellious energy. Due to Orc’s disobedience, his parents are forced to chain him to the rock with an iron chain. [6]
Urizen, looking at his ugly creation, was horrified and cursed his children, who “dried up”, turning into reptiles. Humanity has lost Eternity. However, the son of Urizen Fuson , the embodiment of the fire element, like Moses , led his people out of Egypt .
The Book of Achania (1795) [7] , the Blake version of the biblical book Exodus , describes the conflict between father and son, Urizen and Fuzon, as well as the suffering of Achania , his wife and mother. Fuson rebelled against his father, entering into a struggle with him. He sent a red-hot ball of his anger at his father, who, turning into a ray of fire, pierced a heavy wrought iron disk thrown by Urizen into it. This ray also cut open the loins of Urizen, and Achania-soul separated from it. For five centuries, the fire ray of Fuson wandered in Egypt until Los forged the Sun out of it. But Urizen, having killed the terrible Serpent , made a stone-thrower from his ribs and launched a piece of poisoned rock into Fuzon. Then Urizen crucified the body of his dead son on the "Tree of Mystery."
Blake's Universe System
The Universe according to Blake has a four-complex structure, that is, it consists of four worlds named by him: Eden , Spawn , Beula and Ulro . Alexei Matveevich Zverev in his comments on Blake explains this system in such a way: “In Blake’s symbolism, the Universe is represented in the process of passing through four spiritual states. Paradise (Eden) - the highest unity of the Creator and his creation; Generation - the breakdown of the organic connection between man and God, man and other people; Beulah (Beulah) - the Christian ideal of restoring this connection, which for Blake and, subject to its implementation, does not mean the acquired Paradise, because Beula is considered by him only as Limb ; Ulro - the world of modern Blake reality, Hell . Each of these states has its own dominant “ emotion ”: Paradise - passion, Generation - intelligence , Beule - mercy and love , Ulro - desire and instinct . " [eight]
Notes
- ↑ Damon 1988, p. 419.
- ↑ Visions of the Daughters of Albion, 5: 3
- ↑ Damon 1988, p. 52-55.
- ↑ 1 2 Damon 1988, p. 423.
- ↑ Damon 1988, p. 51.
- ↑ Damon 1988, p. 309.
- ↑ Damon 1988, p. 50.
- ↑ Zverev, 1982, p. 540.
Literature
- Bentley, Gerald Eads (Jr.) / Bentley, GE (Jr). The Stranger From Paradise . New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.
- Bloom, Harold / Bloom, Harold. The Visionary Company . Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993.
- Damon, Samuel Foster / Damon, S. Foster. A Blake Dictionary . Hanover: University Press of New England, 1988.
- Peterfreund, Stuart / Stuart Peterfreund. William Blake in a Newtonian World: Essays on Literature as Art and Science (Univ. Oklahoma Press, 1998). ISBN 0-8061-3042-3
- Ostraiker, Elisha ed. / The Complete Poems of William Blake, Ed. by Alicia Ostriker, Penguin Books, 1977
- Heart, Faith V. Small poems by William Blake. Ed. Dmitry Bulanin. St. Petersburg, 2012
- Tokareva, Galina Albertovna. Mythopoetics of W. Blake. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, KamSU publishing house, 2006, 350 p.
- Fry, Northrop / Frye, Northrop. Fearful Symmetry . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.
- Erdman, David W., eds. / David V. Erdman, ed. The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake. Anchor, 1965/1982/1988, ISBN 0-385-15213-2