Today's Topics:
Re: "The Sick Rose" [Songs bibliography on web site]
Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply
Re: Redemption and MT
Re: Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply -Reply
Re: "The Sick Rose"
Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply -Reply
Re: Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply
Re: "The Sick Rose" [Songs bibliography on web site]
Re: "The Sick Rose"
RE: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply -Reply
Re: _MT_
Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply -Reply
Re: "The Sick Rose" -Reply
Re: _MT_
Re: _MT_
Re: _MT_
Re: _MT_
Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply -Reply
Re: Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply -Reply
Re: The Mental Traveller
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 20:04:10 -0800 (PST)
From: Ralph Dumain
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: "The Sick Rose" [Songs bibliography on web site]
Message-Id: <2.2.16.19980304225509.2d5f02ca@pop.igc.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Though I've been to the site before, I had never checked out the Songs nor
did I know there was a critical bibliography attached to them. So tonight I
visited the site again and was very pleased to check out the Introduction to
Songs of Experience, "The Voice of the Ancient Bard", and "The Little Black
Boy". There was no bibliography for "Earth's Answer". Is this the case for
other poems in the Songs or is this a unique case? The annotations to the
bibliography for the Introduction say nothing at all about interpretations
of "Earth's Answer", though obviously many of the same sources apply.
At 11:42 AM 3/4/98 -0600, J. Michael wrote:
>For this and any of the "Songs", a good place to begin research is Nelson
>Hilton's web site at
>
>For each of the songs, there is a concise and well-researched summary of
>critical approaches, with bibliography.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 01:15:48 EST
From: Andrewkauf
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply
Message-Id: <7cb6b27b.34fe4316@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
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I don't believe there really is a positive side to Blake's view of nature.
"Where man is not nature is barren" [MHH]. The redemptive imagination can
transform the "desart wild" into a "garden mild," or "build Jerusalem" "among
these dark Satanic mills." When Blake writes that "The suns light when he
unfolds it/ Depends on the eye that beholds it," he is saying this in a
different way. It is the imagination that makes "everything that lives ...
holy." This is the main difference between the nature of imagination in Blake
and the pantheism or anamism of so-called "primitive religions."
Andy
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 01:31:22 EST
From: Andrewkauf
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Redemption and MT
Message-Id: <378863fe.34fe46bd@aol.com>
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Mark Donovan points out correctly that "the rhetorical structure of 'The
Mental Traveller" does not dislose any moments of redemption.' The poem
remains entirely within the Orc cycle of endless recurrence. Redemption, for
Blake, is not part of a cycle, but the essence of the Apocalypse. The
imagination can enter any point of the poem's cycle and transform it, just as
Earth has the freedom to heed the Bard's call, but this does not happen in
"The Mental Traveller." I believe the only thing redemptive about this poem,
if it is not too much of a self-contradiction to see it as such, is the poetic
brilliance with which it depicts this cycle, with its various phases of
sadism, masochism, and hope that proves transient.
Andy
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 09:32:15 +0200
From: P Van Schaik
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply -Reply
Message-Id:
Tom and Ryan... Interesting subject you raise here. I think that the words
"Image of Regeneration" do imply that the divine light in all things is
gathered again into its original integrity, and so becomes once more part
of the divine human form. So, it is matter which falls away, as a `state'
of dross, and the eternal light within each individual form that is
restored. This is also in keeping with Kabbalah in which the shells and
husks of matter must be sloughed.
Pam
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 23:08:06 -0800 (PST)
From: Ralph Dumain
To: blake@albion.com
Cc: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM)
Subject: Re: "The Sick Rose"
Message-Id: <2.2.16.19980305015907.30675ee6@pop.igc.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I would take the Jungian tripe which saturates Cirlot's DICTIONARY OF
SYMBOLS with a grain of salt.
The erotic character of the poem is undeniable, but the key is "the dark,
secret love" that is redolent of repression and sadism. This kind of "love"
is not a commingling from the head even unto the feet, it's more like the
love of the Pebble. The violence, desolation, and desperation that
permeates this poem, with the image of the life-destroying character of this
"union" constitute the exact opposite of what Eros is about.
At 08:57 PM 3/4/98 -0500, Jenny wrote:
>"Jung defines the worm as a libidinal figure which kills instead of giving
>life.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 10:05:40 +0200
From: P Van Schaik
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply -Reply
Message-Id:
Andy, I see what you are suggesting, but I think one needs to get Blake's
ideas re nature in sharper focus as this does considerably influence the
way in which a variety of texts are interpreted. So, to push the point
another inch forward, why don't we discuss the meaning of
Truly, my Satan , thou art but a Dunce
And dost not know the Garment from the Man...etc?
If the Eternal Man is the subject here , than the Garment is merely the
`state' of being garbed in flesh... and this accords well with other clear
indications in Blake that he saw all forms born from the womb-fungus, or
excrescence of Nature as fallen, despite insisting that we should
nevertheless make the best use of our contracted senses.
Pam
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 1998 23:08:11 -0800 (PST)
From: Ralph Dumain
To: blake@albion.com
Cc: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM)
Subject: Re: Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply
Message-Id: <2.2.16.19980305015911.3067dea8@pop.igc.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
There are many seeming paradoxes of this sort throughout the oeuvre. At one
point Blake says that mind and body are not distinct; elsewhere he refers to
the "vile" body that serves as an obstruction to the spirit. Is this just
disgruntlement that comes with age, a radical shift in perspective? Just
going on vague memories of the corpus without doing my homework, this is
what I think: Blake is confrontational, not escapist, concerning this world.
The world we live in is a topsy-turvy, perverse world that itself is a
catastrophic reversal of human values. The need to "Burn up" Creation is
not the same as pie in 5the sky when you die. It means the radical reversal
of this world. The element of this fallen world are not evil in themselves,
it is their arrangement in a despotic and oppressive order. Ultimately,
there must be a harmony sought amongst them, otherwise we would be in
self-contradiction with our own nature, which includes sensuality as an
unobstructed expression of our freedom and happiness. But this physical
expression has to be animated by a Mental vision from which physical joy can
truly express itself; otherwise, every energy turns cruel. Hence Blake's
contradictory remarks on sexuality, which can be an instrument of ecstasy or
death. Also, the body as an obstruction to the spirit does not mean a
radical bifurcation, but the issue of limitation: that the body itself in
this world is limited and cannot realize the infinite aspirations of the
human spirit. In that way it is an obstruction, but without the limitations
created by the empirical world as we know it, body would not conflict with
the execution of humanized will, but would be its necessary expression.
I didn't get this from the critical literature, just from my stubbornly
commonsense empiricist approach to literary texts. I don't interpret
empirical reality in terms of symbolism; I interpret symbolism in terms of
empirical reality. I know, I'm so unspiritual, God damn me.
By the way, has anyone seen a critical exegesis of "Thou hast a lap full of
seed" and its relation to "Earth's Answer"? I've seen next to nothing on
this subject, though admittedly I'm not a professional Blake scholar.
At 08:46 PM 3/4/98 -0500, Jenny wrote:
>I don't think Blake saw such a split between matter and the immaterial as
>you seem to give him credit for.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 08:24:51 -0600
From: jmichael@sewanee.edu (J. Michael)
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: "The Sick Rose" [Songs bibliography on web site]
Message-Id:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>Though I've been to the site before, I had never checked out the Songs nor
>did I know there was a critical bibliography attached to them. So tonight I
>visited the site again and was very pleased to check out the Introduction to
>Songs of Experience, "The Voice of the Ancient Bard", and "The Little Black
>Boy". There was no bibliography for "Earth's Answer". Is this the case for
>other poems in the Songs or is this a unique case? The annotations to the
>bibliography for the Introduction say nothing at all about interpretations
>of "Earth's Answer", though obviously many of the same sources apply.
Sorry, Ralph. I confess I have not checked all the poems. I do remember
an extensive bibliography for "The Tyger," and I just assumed that was the
case for the other poems. Perhaps the work is still in progress? Perhaps
Nelson Hilton could tell us, if he's listening in these days.
Jennifer Michael
jmichael@sewanee.edu
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 07:49:47 -0800
From: David Rollison
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: "The Sick Rose"
Message-Id: <34FEC99A.505E@marin.cc.ca.us>
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> It seems as if
> the application of Jung's interpretation of that symbol to "The Sick Rose"
> might be burgeoning into the area of intentional fallacy.
Whether the application of Jungian symbolism to the reading of a Blake
text is fallacious is an open question, but "intentional fallacy" is a
horse (or worm) of a different color.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 09:56:54 -0800
From: "Steve Perry"
To:
Subject: RE: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply -Reply
Message-Id: <199803051757.JAA23818@mailhub1.ncal.verio.com>
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charset="iso-8859-1"
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Pam is right here. Nature in its generative or fallen mainfestation is a
spiritual state, not a thing in itself. Through the course of our life and
even our day we cycle in and out of this revelation. The metaphor of the
sleeping Albion dreaming the dream of history, at times almost stirred to
waking by the great deeds or works of art captivates me. It is through the
anihilation of the selfhood that we eliminate the generative state and
redeem that which is wholy through imagination.
When I am stuck (which if course is most all of the time) in the state of
two fold (or less) vision I am the 6 inch worm, driven to the limits of
contraction, peering from the chinks from my encrusted soul. When I have
glimpses of eternity (stirings in the sleep of Albion) I cast off
temporarily the garment of nature and see infinity in all things.
Imagination is the vehicle (the faculty) that lets me have these glimpses
and cause me to remember the true nature of being.
Steve Perry
"Did He who Made the Lamb Make Thee?"
> -----Original Message-----
> From: P Van Schaik
>
> If the Eternal Man is the subject here , than the Garment is merely the
> `state' of being garbed in flesh... and this accords well with other clear
> indications in Blake that he saw all forms born from the womb-fungus, or
> excrescence of Nature as fallen, despite insisting that we should
> nevertheless make the best use of our contracted senses.
> Pam
>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 05 Mar 1998 17:00:34
From: Izak Bouwer
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: _MT_
Message-Id: <3.0.1.16.19980305170034.2fb72506@igs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
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>My name is Mark Donovan, and I am a student at Southwest Missouri State
University.=20
> I am currently >involved in a Blake seminar. I have been reading with
interest the=20
>commentary concerning The Mental >Traveller, and wonder is there any
redemption=20
>at all in the poem?=20
>All imagery is generation.=20
Hi Mark: What do you mean by =91generation=92? Do you mean the two-fold =
vision
for which Blake also uses this word, or do you mean that the poem revolve=
s
around conception and birth?
Yes, there certainly are two births and two conceptions (a quarter cycle
earlier) with intermediate stages of growth and decline of the male and=20
female relative to each other, thus a struggle for dominance.
> The only >feelings in the poem result from pain and exploitation. =20
A feeling mentioned early is that of joy of the babe, =93That was begotte=
n=20
in dire woe/ Just as we Reap in joy the fruit/ Which we in bitter tears=20
did sow=94 At conception the one enters the womb, so to speak, of the oth=
er,=20
and loses identity in the environment of the other, until it is strong=20
enough to reappear in a growing phase establishing its own identity in=20
the face of the other. In the view of Bouwer & McNally (BIQ 47):
The male born from the =91mother=92(Nature) is the Spirit (or Imagination=
,=20
or Jesus, or Truth).
At the other end, the female - born from the =91Father=92 (in Heaven) -=
=20
is Nature (or Error).
>The rhetorical structure of the poem does not >disclose any redemptive
>moments--
>as far as I can see...am I missing a particular?=20
The rhetorical structure of the poem certainly presents a mixture of woe=20
and joy, since at each stage the assertion of the one character is at the
expense of the other. The narrative is therefore one of a struggle for
dominance. However, I think a basic mistake is to think of the cycle as=20
an endlessly recurring struggle. In my view it is simply a circle=20
representing the complete set of states in which Man finds himself and=20
which he traverses in his spiritual journey.
These states are determined by the extent of the realization (and
non-realization) of Spirit or Truth in Man=92s psyche.
Redemption from Error is therefore clearly a process (of eliminating Erro=
r).
In _VLJ_, Blake says: =93All Life consists of these Two [:] Throwing off
Error . .=20
continually & recieving Truth . . . Continually=94. In this process the =
moment
comes when the Spirit becomes dominant, thereby restoring Man=92s spiri=
tual
vision.
In the poem this occurs when =93he rends up his Manacles/ And binds her =
down=20
for his delight=94. In my reading this describes the state of Apocalypse =
in=20
Man=92s spiritual journey (Man awakes spiritually). The male then grows i=
nto=20
maturity as the Father in Heaven (Blake mentions to Crabb Robinson that=20
errors of Jesus can be reconciled with his divine nature since =91He was =
not=20
then become the father=92), which is the Divine Humanity. =20
For the half-cycle of states following the Apocalypse the=20
condition of Error (Nature) will be present in Paradise, the environment=20
of the Spirit, only in a subjugated role.
[Note that Blake said to Crabb R. =91the Supreme Being . . . is liable to
error too. Did he not repent him that he had made Nineveh.=92]
The Fall is depicted as the female drawing the male into her power.
>From this state onwards Man loses his spiritual vision and sees things
in more and more contracted fashion: =93... the flat Earth becomes a Ball=
=94
His imaginative insight then gradually diminishes, until there is the sta=
te
of hundred percent Error, from which Imagination will start up in an=20
assertive phase, in the Incarnation.
It may be noted that Blake does not see the two principles of Nature and=20
Spirit as equal but opposing forces. The Spirit is the autonomous
principle, and Nature is but the =93Sleep=94 of the Spirit, =93which the =
Soul may
fall into=20
in its deadly dreams of Good and Evil when it leaves Paradise . . .=94=20
(_VLJ_ E553) and, in conversation with Crabb Robinson: =93=91 . . . Natur=
e is=20
the work of the Devil. The Devil is in us , as far as we are Nature. . . =
.=20
the Devil is eternally created not by God but by God=92s permission.=94
Blake=92s personification of the Spirit as a male, and Nature (or sleep o=
f
Spirit)=20
as female, and their relative manifestations - in a traversal of the cycl=
e of=20
possible states - as a dynamic interplay of male and female activities, a=
re=20
what transforms his =91philosophy=92 into a work of poetry, a ballad of M=
an=92s
traversal of his spiritual States. The entire cycle is a poetic rendering=
of
Man=92s eternal journey, seen as the waxing and waning of the Human=20
Imagination. In particular, the growing Imagination is the guiding force=
=20
in his Redemption from the Fall.
Good luck with your seminar! Izak
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 01:42:45 EST
From: Andrewkauf
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply -Reply
Message-Id: <4c180823.34ff9ae8@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
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Pam- I agree with you that "Blake saw all forms born from the womb-fungus...of
nature as fallen." But I think he is not so much interested in making the
best use of our contracted senses as in "cleansing the doors of perception,"
so that everything appears as it is--infinite. He is not so much interested in
making the best of the lapsed world as in transforming this into the
apocalyptic or eternal one. Cleansing the doors of perception, separating the
garment from the man, destroying the "excrementous husk," and transforming the
"desart wild" into a "garden mild" are different metaphors for the same
redemptive movement. But in whichever context this is seen, nature remains
inherently barren, and is alive and holy only through the labors of the
imagination. It is not clear to me how or whether you are seeing Blake's
treatment of nature differently.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Mar 1998 09:44:15 +0200
From: P Van Schaik
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: "The Sick Rose" -Reply
Message-Id:
I agree, Ralph, with your interpretation here... but wonder whether Eros
should not be enlarged into Agape since the Rose, in health, would , or
could, also represent the mutual Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Eden
where Friends converse about art and science. Moreover while Blake's
spiritual beings do, indeed, behave like Erotes, the word Eros does have
associations mainly of the fleshly world.
Pam
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 02:36:19 EST
From: Andrewkauf
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: _MT_
Message-Id: <72dcd82e.34ffa775@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
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Izak, "The Mental Traveller" is essentially the Orc cycle. In this poem, as
elswehere, the cycle is an endlessly recurring struggle. This is not a
basic error but a basic truth. What else could be the point of the poem's
circular structure? Redemption from error for Blake cannot occur simply by
eliminating the more dire phases of the cycle, since all the phases are
intrinsically tied to one another. If "The Mental Traveller" delineates a
spiritual journey it is that of the lapsed soul. Redemption is a matter of
the imagination breaking and ending the cycle by throwing off error, but the
point of this poem seems to be the depiction of the cycle that becomes
inevitable when this does not occur.
When the male figure "rends up his mannacles/ And binds her down for his
delight," this is not the state of apocalypse, but a hellish parody of the
union Albion and Jerusalem. It is not necessary to draw upon contemporary
feminist readings to say that in Blake the type of physical power that can
subjugate another stands in direct opposition to the imaginative power that
brings about the Apocalypse.
Andy
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Mar 1998 09:18:40
From: Izak Bouwer
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: _MT_
Message-Id: <3.0.1.16.19980306091840.4697ad9a@igs.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
At 02:36 AM 3/6/98 EST, Andrew Kaufman wrote:
>"The Mental Traveller" is essentially the Orc cycle.
Hi:
Frye, in _Fearful Symmetry_, introduced the idea of the Orc
cycle in connection with _MT_. In the same book (p.444, n.7)
he expressed unhappiness with his reading of the Female Babe
(as 'Imaginative achievements'). Later (in _Anatomy of
Criticism') he identifies the female with 'the natural
environment.' Paley expressed dissatisfaction with this
reading, too, and saw her instead as a united term for 'the
numerous evil females of Blake's pantheon.'
Can you indicate what you yourself mean by the 'Orc cycle,'
and how you see the Female Babe?
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Mar 98 16:42:49 GMT
From: Paul Tarry
To: Blake Group
Subject: Re: _MT_
Message-Id:
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
>Blake=12s personification of the Spirit as a male, and Nature (or sleep =
of Spirit) as female, and their relative manifestations possible states =
-
as a dynamic interplay of male and female activities, are
what transforms his =11philosophy=12 into a work of poetry, a ballad of =
Man=12s
I find this personification very troubling in many of Blake's works.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Mar 1998 06:08:03 -0900
From: ndeeter
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: _MT_
Message-Id: <35001153.10DB@concentric.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
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Andrewkauf wrote:
>
> Izak, "The Mental Traveller" is essentially the Orc cycle. In this poem, as
> elswehere, the cycle is an endlessly recurring struggle. This is not a
> basic error but a basic truth. What else could be the point of the poem's
> circular structure? Redemption from error for Blake cannot occur simply by
> eliminating the more dire phases of the cycle, since all the phases are
> intrinsically tied to one another. If "The Mental Traveller" delineates a
> spiritual journey it is that of the lapsed soul. Redemption is a matter of
> the imagination breaking and ending the cycle by throwing off error, but the
> point of this poem seems to be the depiction of the cycle that becomes
> inevitable when this does not occur.
>
> When the male figure "rends up his mannacles/ And binds her down for his
> delight," this is not the state of apocalypse, but a hellish parody of the
> union Albion and Jerusalem. It is not necessary to draw upon contemporary
> feminist readings to say that in Blake the type of physical power that can
> subjugate another stands in direct opposition to the imaginative power that
> brings about the Apocalypse.
>
> Andy
And what if redemption is part of that cycle? You're assuming that
redemption is a means out of a cycle that you seem to see as a problem.
Isn't the cycle of growth, of life, a far better thing than a static,
linear living? I think Blake is open to a lot of interpretation, but the
one interpretation of Blake I don't accept is a pessimistic one. As far
as I can tell, the Blake I'm aware of burns with life and he wouldn't
think that to be caught in that life-cycle is treacherous. He would see
it as just as inspiring and human as any experience. Redemption is in
completing the cycle and moving into the next.
Nathan Deeter
ndeeter@concentric.net
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 16:17:08 EST
From: Salparadys
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply -Reply
Message-Id: <30b7d2a3.350067d6@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
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I agree with what you said/wrote completely. --kim
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 13:47:15 EST
From: TomD3456
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: Re: Blake and Kabbalah -Reply -Reply
Message-Id: <8efccc10.350044b9@aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
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>I think he is not so much interested in making the
>best use of our contracted senses as in "cleansing the doors of perception,"
Andy:
I think Pam and you are saying the same thing. Even if we "cleanse the doors
of perception," those doors are still the five senses, the "chief inlets of
Soul in this age." We can use them well -- with imagination -- or ill, but,
cleansed or not, the senses remain the doors.
If your quarrel is with Pam's use of "contracted," though, I have to agree;
but I think it was just a "slip of the pen." Since the Immortals (in
Jerusalem) speak of senses as able to be contracted or expanded, I agree that
Blake would not recommend "making the best use of our contracted senses," when
we could be expanding them. Perhaps "making the best use of our clay-bound
senses" (or "expanding our contracted senses") might be closer to what Pam was
aiming at, and congruent with your sense of it.
Pam, what do you say? Is there a difference in Andy's distinction, or not?
--Tom Devine
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 06 Mar 98 13:35:41 CST
From: MTS231F@vma.smsu.edu
To: blake@albion.com
Subject: Re: The Mental Traveller
Message-Id: <9803061957.AA10917@uu6.psi.com>
On Wed, 25 Feb 1998 15:37:05 Izak Bouwer said:
>
> Beginning students when coming in contact with
>poems such as The Tyger and MT usually at once
>appreciate the stylistic integrity of these poems. They
>are eager to try their hand at their own interpretations
>of the poems, especially when told that there is not
>one exclusive =93explanation.=94 I therefore think that one
>does students a disservice by not confronting them
>quite early with poems such as MT.
> I must confess that I rebel against Mark=92s explanation
>of especially the second half of MT. He describes a
>female (=93babe=94 indeed!) who, according to him divorces
>herself from the =93ewig weibliche=94 (presumably an entity
>that nearly completely disappears into the hearth?). This
>babe, he says =93walks out of the cycle.=94 This walking=20
>out of the cycle I cannot find in the poem. I would also
>want to ask : where in the poem is the antipodal =93ewig-
>m=E4nliche=94 then situated?
Since I am the Mark to whom Gloudina refers here, I must continue the
dialogue. Sorry that I threw that "Ewig Weibliche" stuff in last time.
I was preparing to teach Goethe's Faust and his concluding phrase
just slipped out. Of course the term does have some relevance because
I do read the poem as a horrifying portrait of the continual sexual
warfare in which we humans typically engage.
The notion of the female walking out of the poem I take from
Hazard Adams, who even goes so far as to say that the female babe's
chosen lover is Los himself! I just can't help myself; I like that
Adamsian leap very much, because the poem does need lack any real
sense of "redemption," the issue recently raised by student Mark
Donovan from Southwest Missouri State University. I advise him to
read the relevant chapter in my book, generously cited by
Gloudina Blouwer not too long ago: ALL NATURE IS BUT ART: THE
COINCIDENCE OF OPPOSITES IN ENGLISH ROMANTIC LITERATURE, in which
I argue that the bleakness of the poem (and on this point I think
the Bouwers and I must continue to disagree) is relieved only by
the hopeful moments when escape from the cycle is possible. These
moments that Satan cannot find are quite frequent in the short MT:
each moment of birth, each moment of equality in the cycle, the
construction of urban and pastoral beauty. Unfortunately, Satan
does seem to find these moments in MT, for the agony returns to
the unhappy couple as unmistakably as to the Ancient Mariner. Blake,
like many other advisors, tells us that we make horrible messes for
ourselves, the "mind-forg'd manacles" that torture us in cycles of
love and jealousy. As in Four Zoas and Jerusalem, MT shows us the
anatomizing details of nervous energy obsessively caught up in
sado-masochistic patterns like those in many of the Songs of
Experience and Innocence, e.g., "Pity would be no more if we did
not make somebody poor." Unlike FZ and J, however, MT does not
resolve the problem, does not offer redemption or apocalypse, but
instead a gloomy repetition, with more painful variations of the
previous cycle. While the conclusions of FZ and J do also offer
patterns of repetition, it is the optimistic repetition of voluntarily
expanding and contracting the senses in order to enjoy fully both the
extreme of the concrete particulars and the extreme of the one Albion/
Jesus. There is no such hope in MT. We are trapped, and the voice
of the bard, who seems to be the Mental Traveller, is implicity rooting
for us to find the way out, like the prophet in MHH, who declares,
"If you go on so, then the result will be so" and in Milton, who
shouts, "Mark well my words; they are of your eternal salvation."
We are cold earth wanderers. Can we become mental travellers?
-- Mark Trevor Smith, Southwest Missouri State University
mts232f@vma.smsu.edu
> I feel a great unease interpreting MT on an exclusively
>mundane level. In the poem itself it is indicated that the
>things spoken of are such as =93cold earth wanderers never
>knew.=94 I believe that Blake consciously started with an
>Incarnation ( whether it is of Orc, Jesus, Prometheus or
>Dionysus is immaterial.) I think he wanted us to follow
>the travails of the male full circle and to take note and
>to learn something about the sacred and the profane. I
>believe this is the same story Blake is trying to tell in
>the Four Zoas and Jerusalem.
We certainly agree on that last sentence, but we seem to disagree
on how that story is being told; I say that only the first part
is in MT; the apocalypse is not there, but it is in FZ and J.
> It may be fun to go through MT a few stanzas at a=20
>time and also look at the interpretations of various
>other Blake critics.
Yes, it would. Lead on, Gloudina. Or perhaps we might worry at
any of the nubs that we are already raising.
>
>Gloudina Bouwer
>
>
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End of blake-d Digest V1998 Issue #14
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