Tiriel is the earliest poem by William Blake ( 1789 ). It is considered the first of his prophetic books. During his lifetime, Blake was unpublished and preserved in the manuscript. First published by William Michael Rossetti in 1874 . [2] Although Blake did not engrave the poem, he illustrated it by completing a series of pencil sketches, as well as 12 sepia drawings, of which only 9 remained. Three others were considered lost since 1863. [3]
Content
Poem Characters
The main character of the poem Tiriel is the son of Har and Heva, the ruler of the West, deposed by his sons Hexos, Yuva, Lotto (Heuxos, Yuva, Lotho) and others. His brothers: feral Ijim and expelled and enslaved Zazel ( Zazel); his wife is Myratana, “Queen of the Western Plains.” The names of Tiriel and Zazel are borrowed from the planetary tables of Cornelius Agrippa from the book Occult Philosophy (II, XXII), where Tiriel is called the mind of Mercury associated with the elements of sulfur and mercury , and Zazel is the evil spirit of Saturn. [4] Har and Hewa are the parents of Tiriel, Zazel and Ijim, as well as the ancestors of all mankind. Abandoned by their sons, they live in the eastern gardens, aged and falling into childhood. They are cared for by Mneta, whom Har and Heva call their mother. Her name - an anagram of the name Athena (wisdom) - with its sound also resembles the name of Mnemosyne (memory). The name of Hela, the youngest daughter of Tiriel, is found in the Scandinavian Edds, where she is the goddess of hell, which includes people who died not in battle, but from old age and weakness, which was considered a shameful and cowardly death. [5]
Story
The blind old deposed king of the West Tiriel and his wife Miratana spent five years in wanderings. Now that Miratana was dying, he returned to his former palace and curses his sons, calling them to witness their mother’s death. They, with the help of slaves, the sons of Zazel (one of Tiriel’s brothers), bury her, but protest against her father’s tyranny. Tiriel again goes to wandering. In the gardens of Hara, he meets his elderly and fallen parents - Hara and Kheva, as well as Mnetu, who cares for them. Tiriel is offered to stay and help in catching songbirds, as well as listen to the songs of Hara, which he sings from a large cage. But Tiriel leaves them, claiming that he must continue his wanderings, "while madness and fear control his heart." On the way, Tiriel meets his wild brother Jim, who grabs him by mistaking him for a werewolf and carries him west, back to Tiriel's former palace. With new curses, Tiriel calls thunder and plague on his children. Now the curses of Tiriel are gaining deadly power, and his children die. Only Helu, the youngest of the daughters, Tiriel leaves alive. However, she refuses to lead her father back to the Hara Valley so that her embittered father does not curse or destroy her elderly parents. In anger, Tiriel turns her hair into a serpent and strikes her with insanity. Against her will, she leads her father to the Hara Valley. On the way to the caves, they meet Zazel and his sons, who ridicule the travelers and ston them with stones. Returning to Har and Kheva, Tiriel curses them and dies himself with the words: "The law of Hara and the Wisdom of Tiriel are struck by a single curse!"
Notes
- ↑ Fig. to the poem "Tiriel" (1789)
- ↑ Poetical Works of William Blake, ed. by William Michael Rossetti's, 1874.
- ↑ Bentley, 1967
- ↑ Damon, 1988, p. 406.
- ↑ Rhine 1962, I p. 55.
See also
- Tiriel
- Children of Urizen and Achania
- Tiriel (opera)
- Thiriel
Literature
- Bentley / GE (ed.) Tiriel: facsimile and transcript of the manuscript, reproduction of the drawings and a commentary on the poem (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967)
- ———. (ed.) William Blake: The Critical Heritage (London: Routledge, 1975)
- ———. Blake Books: Annotated Catalogs of William Blake's Writings (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977)
- ———. William Blake's Writings (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978)
- ———. The Stranger from Paradise: A Biography of William Blake (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001)
- Berendt / "The Worst Disease": Blake's Tiriel by
- 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.
- Ostraiker, Elisha ed. / The Complete Poems of William Blake, Ed. by Alicia Ostriker, Penguin Books, 1977
- Rain, Kathleen Raine. Blake and Tradition. By AW Mellon. Lectures in the Fine Arts, 1962, Vol. I
- 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 Stephen C Behrendt - 1979]
- ———. David V. Erdman, Blake: Prophet Against Empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954; 2nd ed. 1969; 3rd ed. 1977
External links
Gallery
Pencil sketch
1. Tiriel supports the dying Miratana
2. Bathing Hara and Kheva
3. Har bless Tiriel
4. Tiriel leaves Hara and Hewa
5. Jim takes Tiriel back to the palace.
6. Tiriel condemns his children
7. Hela leads Tiriel to the valley of Hara
8. Har, Heva sleep
9. Tiriel dies before Hela