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| William Blake The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun ca. 1805 watercolor National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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| William Blake Destroying Deity ca. 1820-25 wash drawing Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| William Blake Satan smiting Job with Sore Boils ca. 1826 tempera on panel Tate Britain |
Some Sons of Los surround the Passions with porches of iron & silver,
Creating form & beauty around the dark regions of sorrow,
Giving to airy nothing a name and a habitation
Delightful, with bounds to the Infinite, putting off the Indefinite
Into most holy forms of Thought (such is the power of inspiration).
They labour incessant, with many tears & afflictions,
Creating the beautiful House for the piteous sufferer.
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| William Blake St Peter and St James with Dante and Beatrice ca. 1824-27 watercolor National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne |
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| William Blake Archangel Raphael with Adam and Eve (illustration to Milton's Paradise Lost) 1808 watercolor Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| William Blake Eve Tempted by the Serpent ca. 1799-1800 tempera on copper Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| William Blake Temptation and Fall of Eve (illustration to Milton's Paradise Lost) 1808 watercolor Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
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| William Blake Dante running from the Three Beasts ca. 1824-27 watercolor National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne |
The Sons of Ozoth with the Optic Nerve stand fiery glowing,
And the number of his Sons is eight million & eight.
They give delights to the man unknown; artificial riches
They give to scorn, & their possessors to trouble & sorrow & care,
Shutting the sun & moon & stars & trees & clouds & waters
And hills out from the Optic Nerve, & hardening it into a bone
Opake and like the black pebble on the enraged beach,
While the poor indigent is like the diamond which, tho' cloth'd
In rugged covering in the mine, is open all within
And in his hallow'd center holds the heavens of bright eternity.
Ozoth here builds walls of rocks against the surging sea,
And timbers crampt with iron cramps bar in the joys of life
From fell destruction in the Spectrous cunning or rage. He Creates
The speckled Newt, the Spider & Beetle, the Rat & Mouse,
The Badger & Fox: they worship before his feet in trembling fear.
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| William Blake Dante: Schismatics and Sowers of Discord ca. 1824-27 watercolor National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne |
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| William Blake Antaeus setting down Dante and Virgil in the Last Circle of Hell ca. 1824-27 watercolor National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne |
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| William Blake Moses and the Burning Bush ca. 1800-1803 watercolor Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| William Blake Third Temptation of Christ ca. 1805 drawing, watercolor Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| William Blake Samson Subdued ca. 1800 watercolor Philadelphia Museum of Art |
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| Williaim Blake When the Morning Stars Sang Together ca. 1804-07 drawing, watercolor Morgan Library, New York |
But other of the Sons of Los build Moments & Minutes & Hours
And Days & Months & Years & Ages & Periods, wondrous buildings;
And every Moment has a Couch of gold for soft repose,
(A Moment equals a pulsation of the artery),
And between every two Moments stands a Daughter of Beulah
To feed the Sleepers on the Couches with maternal care.
And every Minute has an azure Tent with silken Veils;
And every Hour has a bright golden Gate carved with skill;
And every Day & Night has Walls of brass & Gates of adamant,
Shining like precious stones & ornamented with appropriate signs;
And every Month a silver paved terrace builded high;
And every Year invulnerable Barriers with high Towers;
And every Age is moated deep with Bridges of silver & gold;
And every Seven Ages is Incircled with a Flaming Fire.
Now Seven Ages is amounting to Two Hundred Years.
Each has its Guard, each Moment, Minute, Hour, Day, Month & Year:
All are the work of Fairy hands of the Four Elements:
The Guard are Angels of Providence on duty evermore.
– quoted passages are from Milton: A Poem (1804) by William Blake