A few weeks ago, we started a literature project in school again . The theme was british authors which made me slightly disappointed since I was then passionately reading Thoreau's Walden and didn't want to put him away. In class we were handed out a list of authors, sorted chronologically, and my eyes got stuck, of course, on William Blake.
Blake is a friend that I had forgotten I had, but when I started reading his work again (bits and pieces of 'The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell'), I was once again overwhelmed by the power of his wit. It was at least 3 years ago since I last read him, and reading him now, I understand that he has in many ways, shaped my way of thinking.
I give you an angel's perception of hell:
"... we beheld the infinite Abyss, fiery as the smoke of a burning city; beneath us, at an immense distance, was the sun, black but shining; round it were fiery tracks on which revolved vast spiders, crawling after their prey, which flew, or rather swum, in the infinite deep, in the most terrific shapes of animals sprung from corruption; & the air was full of them, & seemed composed of them: these are Devils, and are called Powers of the air...
... cloud and fire burst and rolled thro' the deep, blackening all beneath, so that the nether deep grew black as a sea, & rolled with a terrible noise; beneath us was nothing now to be seen but a black tempest, till looking east between the clous & waves, we saw a cataract of blood mixed with fire, and not many stones' throw from us appeared a fiery crest above the waves; slowly i reared like a ridge of golden rocks, till we discovered two globes of crimson fire, from which the sea fled away in clouds of smoke; and now we saw it was the head of Leviathan; his forehead divided into streaks of green and purple and red gills hang just above the raging foam, tinging the black deep with beams of blood, advancing toward us with all the fury of a spiritual existence."
The angel fled, and Blake stood alone when the scenery changed. Blake creates his own hell:
"... I found myself sitting on a pleasant bank beside a river by moonlight, hearing a harper, who sung to the harp."
Blake's conclusion:
"The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, & breeds reptiles of the mind."
Blake is a friend that I had forgotten I had, but when I started reading his work again (bits and pieces of 'The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell'), I was once again overwhelmed by the power of his wit. It was at least 3 years ago since I last read him, and reading him now, I understand that he has in many ways, shaped my way of thinking.
I give you an angel's perception of hell:
"... we beheld the infinite Abyss, fiery as the smoke of a burning city; beneath us, at an immense distance, was the sun, black but shining; round it were fiery tracks on which revolved vast spiders, crawling after their prey, which flew, or rather swum, in the infinite deep, in the most terrific shapes of animals sprung from corruption; & the air was full of them, & seemed composed of them: these are Devils, and are called Powers of the air...
... cloud and fire burst and rolled thro' the deep, blackening all beneath, so that the nether deep grew black as a sea, & rolled with a terrible noise; beneath us was nothing now to be seen but a black tempest, till looking east between the clous & waves, we saw a cataract of blood mixed with fire, and not many stones' throw from us appeared a fiery crest above the waves; slowly i reared like a ridge of golden rocks, till we discovered two globes of crimson fire, from which the sea fled away in clouds of smoke; and now we saw it was the head of Leviathan; his forehead divided into streaks of green and purple and red gills hang just above the raging foam, tinging the black deep with beams of blood, advancing toward us with all the fury of a spiritual existence."
The angel fled, and Blake stood alone when the scenery changed. Blake creates his own hell:
"... I found myself sitting on a pleasant bank beside a river by moonlight, hearing a harper, who sung to the harp."
Blake's conclusion:
"The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, & breeds reptiles of the mind."
