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56-476: Blake began working on Vala, or The Death and Judgement of the Eternal Man: A Dream of Nine Nights while he was working on an illustrated edition of Edward Young 's Night Thoughts after 1795. He continued to work on it throughout the rest of the 1790s, but he lost confidence that he could complete the work, as he was in a state of deep depression. After 1800, however, he became able to work on it again. The poem

112-440: A barrier to protect himself from eternity: And a roof, vast petrific around, On all sides He fram'd: like a womb; ... Like a human heart struggling & beating The vast world of Urizen appear'd. He is chained by Los, the prophet, from whom Urizen had been rent: In chains of the mind locked up, Like fetters of ice shrinking together, Disorganiz'd, rent from Eternity. Los beat on his fetters of iron Los forges

168-601: A battle-cry for the young men of the Sturm und Drang movement. Young himself reinforced his reputation as a pioneer of romanticism by precept as well as by example. Young was forty-seven when he took holy orders. It was reported that the author of Night-Thoughts was not, in his earlier days, "the ornament to religion and morality which he afterwards became", and his friendships with the Duke of Wharton and with Dodington did not improve his reputation. A statement attributed to Alexander Pope

224-490: A book of brass that are a combination of Newton, the laws of Moses , and deism that force uniformity. The rest of the Eternals in turn become indignant at Urizen's turning against eternity, and they establish the essence of the sins within living beings. This torments Urizen, who falls into a sleep, which allows Los to appear. Los' duty within the work is to watch over Urizen, and Urizen is seen as an eternal priest while Los takes

280-453: A classic of the romantic school. Questions as to the "sincerity" of the poet did arise in the 100 years after his death. The publication of fawning letters from Young seeking preferment led many readers to question the poet's sincerity. In a famous essay, Worldliness and Other-Worldliness , George Eliot discussed his "radical insincerity as a poetic artist." If Young did not invent "melancholy and moonlight" in literature, he did much to spread

336-580: A human image for Urizen in the course of seven ages but pities him and weeps. From these tears Enitharmon is created, who soon bears the child of Los, Orc. Orc's infant cries awaken Urizen, who begins to survey and measure the world he has created. Urizen explores his world and witnesses the birth of his four sons, who represent the four classical elements. From these experiences Urizen's hopes are crushed: And his soul sicken'd! he curs'd Both sons & daughters: for he saw That no flesh nor spirit could keep His iron laws one moment. In response, he creates

392-411: A letter to bookseller Andrew Millar discussed a new edition of Young's poem, Night-Thoughts (1750), which was already very popular, and which would become one of the most frequently-printed poems of the eighteenth century. Millar had purchased the copyright to the second volume of Night-Thoughts (parts 7–11) from Young for £63 on 7 April 1749; the edition under discussion was the first in which Millar

448-473: A little before 11 of the clock at the night of Good Friday last, the 5th instant, and was decently buried yesterday about 6 in the afternoon" (Jones to Birch). Young is said to have been a brilliant talker. Although Night-Thoughts is long and disconnected, it abounds in brilliant isolated passages. Its success was enormous. It was translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese , Swedish , Russian , Welsh, Polish and Magyar . In France it became

504-424: A new impetus to the cult of Young’ (Harold Forster, ‘Some uncollected authors XLV: Edward Young in translation I’). The young Goethe told his sister in 1766 that he was learning English from Young and Milton, and in his autobiography he confessed that Young's influence had created the atmosphere in which there was such a universal response to his seminal work The Sorrows of Young Werther . Young's name soon became

560-453: A notebook containing images created between 1790 and 1793. The Book of Urizen was one of the few works that Blake describes as " illuminated printing", one of his colour printed works with the coloured ink being placed on the copperplate before the page was printed. The Book of Urizen was printed from 1794 until 1818 and was larger than his America, A Prophecy . Only eight copies of the work survive, with many variations between them of

616-486: A sum of £600 in consideration of his expenses as a candidate for parliamentary election at Cirencester . In view of these promises Young refused two livings in the gift of All Souls' College, Oxford , and sacrificed a life annuity offered by the Marquess of Exeter if he would act as tutor to his son. Wharton failed to discharge his obligations, and Young, who pleaded his case before Lord Chancellor Hardwicke in 1740, gained

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672-409: A twofold identity with one half being good and the other evil. In Vala , both the character Orc and The Eternal Man discuss their selves as divided. By the time he was working on his later works, including Vala , Blake felt that he was able to overcome his inner battle but he was concerned about losing his artistic abilities. These thoughts carried over into Vala as the character Los (imagination)

728-470: A web of religion, which serve as chains to the mind. The Book of Urizen is a creation myth that is similar to the Book of Genesis. Blake's myth surrounding Urizen is found in many of his works and can trace back to his experiments in writing myths about a god of reason in the 1780s, including in "To Winter". In the work, Urizen is an eternal self-focused being who creates himself out of eternity. This creation

784-522: A year, but Vala took ten years. A notebook was probably used to draft the poem or the designs, but none has survived. One of the manuscript sheets was used to create a history of England that was abandoned by Blake in 1793. The work was never put into etching, and the manuscript was given to John Linnell . Portions of the work were later used in Blake's Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion . The poem

840-416: Is Urizen, a blind exile who was kept from eternity and who establishes a world that he could rule. As such, he creates laws: Laws of peace, of love, of unity; Of pity, compassion, forgiveness. Let each chuse one habitation: His ancient infinite mansion: One command, one joy, one desire, One curse, one weight, one measure One King, one God, one Law. However, Urizen suffers a fall when he creates

896-544: Is a central theme and one of the bases for the story. Between the various editions, the concept of the poem changes. The later edition was on a smaller conceptual scale, and it emphasises the concept of imprisonment found in the Book of Urizen . The early version emphasised the nature of intelligence and spiritual problems. The later edition placed an emphasis on the idea of renovation being found within Christianity. As Blake revised

952-526: Is connected to the image of Christ, and he added a Christian element to his mythic world. In the revised version of Vala , Blake added Christian and Hebrew images and describes how Los experiences a vision of the Lamb of God that regenerates Los's spirit. In opposition to Christ is Urizen and the Synagogue of Satan , who later crucifies Christ. It is from them that Deism is born. In 1945, Northrop Frye claimed: "There

1008-461: Is divided into nine "nights". An early draft begins: This is the Dirge of Eno which shook the heavens with wrath And thus beginneth the Book of Vala which Whosoever reads If with his Intellect he comprehend the terrible Sentence The heavens shall quake, the earth shall move & shudder & the mountains With all their woods, the streams & valleys: wail in dismal fear In the second "night",

1064-543: Is least genius. As virtue without much riches can give happiness, so genius without much learning can give renown... Learning is borrowed knowledge; genius is knowledge innate, and quite our own. In 1759, at the age of 76, he published a piece of critical prose under the title of Conjectures on Original Composition which put forward the vital doctrine of the superiority of "genius," of innate originality being more valuable than classic indoctrination or imitation, and suggested that modern writers might dare to rival or even surpass

1120-592: Is nothing like the colossal explosion of creative power in the Ninth Night of The Four Zoas anywhere else in English poetry." G. E. Bentley Jr. , in 2003, believed that Blake's "most extraordinary achievement" between the "prodigious years" of 1795 and 1800 was Vala in addition to claiming that "The poem provides a profound analysis of man's limitations but no hint of escape from the prison". Edward Young Edward Young ( c.  3 July 1683 – 5 April 1765)

1176-469: Is taken up again in The Four Zoas with a primal man, Albion , being the original form. In this work, it is only Urizen, the representation of abstractions and is an abstraction of the human self. From himself he first divides unknown shapes that begin to torment him. He also turns against the other Eternals and believes himself holy. In contemplating himself, he is able to discover sins and records them in

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1232-464: Is that: "He had much of a sublime genius, though without common sense; so that his genius, having no guide, was perpetually liable to degenerate into bombast. This made him pass a foolish youth, the sport of peers and poets; but his having a very good heart enabled him to support the clerical character when he assumed it, first with decency and afterwards with honour" (O Ruffhead, Life of A. Pope , p. 291). Other works by Young are: Night-Thoughts

1288-525: The 1st Earl of Lichfield . Her daughter, by a former marriage with her cousin Francis Lee, married Henry Temple, son of the 1st Viscount Palmerston . Mrs Temple died at Lyons in 1736 on her way to Nice . Her husband and Lady Elizabeth Young died in 1740. These successive deaths are supposed to be the events referred to in the Night-Thoughts as taking place "ere thrice yon moon had filled her horn." In

1344-474: The Almighty God and Vala is the first work to mention them. In particular, Blake's God/Man union is broken down into the bodily components of Urizen (head), Urthona (loins), Luvah (heart), and Tharmas (unity of the body) with paired Emanations being Ahania (wisdom, from the head), Enitharmon (what can't be attained in nature, from the loins), Vala (nature, from the heart), and Enion (earth mother, from

1400-480: The South Sea Bubble . In 1726 he received, through Walpole, a pension of £200 a year. To the end of his life he continued to seek preferment, but the king regarded his pension as an adequate settlement. Young, living in a time when patronage was slowly fading out, was notable for urgently seeking patronage for his poetry, his theatrical works, and his career in the church: he failed in each area. He never received

1456-534: The "First". The book takes its name from the character Urizen in Blake's mythology , who represents alienated reason as the source of oppression . The book describes Urizen as the "primeaval priest" and narrates how he became separated from the other Eternals to create his own alienated and enslaving realm of religious dogma . Los and Enitharmon create a space within Urizen's fallen universe to give birth to their son Orc ,

1512-483: The "ancients" of Greece and Rome. The Conjectures was a declaration of independence against the tyranny of classicism and was at once acclaimed as such becoming a milestone in the history of English, and European, literary criticism. It was immediately translated into German at Leipzig and at Hamburg and was widely and favourably reviewed. The cult of genius exactly suited the ideas of the Sturm und Drang movement and gave

1568-519: The Earth removed from its place Vala concludes:             ...Urthona rises from the ruinous walls In all his ancient strength to form the golden armour of science For intellectual War. The war of swords departed now, The dark Religions are departed & sweet Science reigns. Like many of Blake's works, designs in Vala depict sexual activity or

1624-587: The Moon And tore them down cracking the heavens across from immense to immense. Then fell the fires of Eternity with loud & shrill Sound of Loud Trumpet thundering along from heaven to heaven A mighty sound articulate "Awake ye dead & come To Judgement from the four winds! Awake & come away!" Folding like scrolls of the Enormous volume of Heaven & Earth With thunderous noise & dreadful shakings racking to & fro, The heavens are shaken &

1680-612: The annuity but not the £600. Between 1725 and 1728 Young published a series of seven satires on The Universal Passion . They were dedicated to the Duke of Dorset, George Bubb Dodington , Sir Spencer Compton , Lady Elizabeth Germain and Sir Robert Walpole , and were collected in 1728 as Love of Fame, the Universal Passion . This is qualified by Samuel Johnson as a "very great performance," and abounds in striking and pithy couplets. Herbert Croft asserted that Young made £3000 by his satires, which compensated losses he had suffered in

1736-429: The critical remarks are by Johnson. Selections from Night-Thoughts was also set by New England Congregationalist composer William Billings in his Easter Anthem . Book of Urizen The Book of Urizen is one of the major prophetic books of the English writer William Blake , illustrated by Blake's own plates . It was originally published as The First Book of Urizen in 1794. Later editions dropped

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1792-463: The degree of patronage that he felt his work had earned, largely because he picked patrons whose fortunes were about to turn downward. Though his praise was often unearned, often fulsome, he could write, "False praises are the whoredoms of the pen / And prostitute fair fame to worthless men." In 1728 Young became a royal chaplain , and in 1730 he obtained the college living of Welwyn , Hertfordshire. In 1731 he married Lady Elizabeth Lee, daughter of

1848-553: The fashionable taste for them. Madame Klopstock thought the king ought to make him Archbishop of Canterbury , and some German critics preferred him to John Milton . Young's essay, Conjectures on Original Composition , was popular and influential on the continent, especially among Germans, as a testament advocating originality over neoclassical imitation. Young wrote good blank verse, and Samuel Johnson pronounced Night-Thoughts to be one of "the few poems" in which blank verse could not be changed for rhyme but with disadvantage. The poem

1904-513: The genitals of the individual. Blake used these images as part of a general celebration of sex and sexuality. This emphasis on free sexuality occurs in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell , Visions of the Daughters of Albion , and Blake's designs based on the Book of Enoch. Blake's beliefs emphasised the need for sexual openness in relationships and the lack of jealousy. In Vala , the idea of jealousy

1960-524: The latter are removed in The Four Zoas . In the beginning is the fall of Urizen, the Satanic force, in a similar way to Milton's Satan. Creation, however, was the fall. Urizen is the representation of abstraction, which is a passive and mental force disconnected from reality. Los, in the fallen world, enters the world as the fire of imaginative energy. However, he too falls and becomes mechanical and regular. Los

2016-505: The new king. The fulsome style of the dedications jars with the pious tone of the poems, and they are omitted from his own edition of his works. About this time he came into contact with Philip, Duke of Wharton , whom he accompanied to Dublin in 1717. In 1719 his play, Busiris was produced at Drury Lane , and in 1721 his The Revenge . The latter play was dedicated to Wharton, to whom it owed, said Young, its "most beautiful incident". Wharton promised him two annuities of £100 each and

2072-478: The plate orders and the number of plates. All the surviving copies were colour-printed. The story deals with a struggle within the divine mind to establish and define both itself and the universe. It is a creation myth that begins before creation: Earth was not: nor globes of attraction The will of the Immortal expanded Or contracted his all flexible senses. Death was not, but eternal life sprung The creator

2128-483: The poem and 4,000 in the second version. The differences between the two versions are primarily in the last two "nights". The plates for Vala were much larger than those for any of Blake's previous works. Europe a Prophecy , which is 265 lines long, was printed on copperplates that measured 23 x 17 cm. The plates used to print Vala were 41 x 32 cm. The work also took far longer than any of his previous works had: most of Blake's designs were completed within

2184-582: The poem, he added more concrete images and connected the plot to the histories of the Druids and of the Christians along with adding various locations connected to them. In both editions of the poem, Blake changed his mythological system in the Book of Urizen from a dualistic struggle between two divine powers to a struggle of four aspects split from Eternity. These aspects are Blake's Four Zoas, which represent four aspects of

2240-523: The position of eternal prophet. Parts of the story were later revised in The Book of Los and The Book of Ahania , two experimental works. The focus on Urizen emphasises the chains of reason that are imposed on the mind. Urizen, like mankind, is bound by these chains. The point of both The Book of Urizen and the retelling in The Book of Los is to describe how Newtonian reason and the enlightenment view of

2296-401: The preface to Night-Thoughts Young states that the occasion of the poem was real, and Philander and Narcissa have been rather rashly identified with Mr and Mrs Temple. It has also been suggested that Philander represents Thomas Tickell , an old friend of Young's, who died three months after Lady Elizabeth Young. The infidel Lorenzo was thought by some to be a sketch of Young's own son, but he

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2352-668: The separation of unity). As connected to Blake's understanding of the divine, the Zoas are the God the Father (Tharmas, sense), the Son of God (Luvah, love), the Holy Ghost (Urthona, imagination), and Satan who was originally of the divine substance (Urizen, reason) and their Emanations represent Sexual Urges (Enion), Nature (Vala), Inspiration (Enitharmon), and Pleasure (Ahania). Blake believed that each person had

2408-690: The spirit of revolution and freedom. In form the book is a parody of the Book of Genesis . Urizen's first four sons are Thiriel , Utha , Grodna and Fuzon (respectively elemental Air, Water, Earth, Fire, according to Chapter VIII). The last of these plays a major role in The Book of Ahania , published in 1795. In autumn 1790 Blake moved to Lambeth in south London. In the studio of his new house he wrote what became known as his "Lambeth Books", which included The Book of Urizen . In all these books, Blake completed their design composition, their printing and colouring, and their sales from that house. Blake included early sketches for The Book of Urizen in

2464-440: The theme of women ruling is discussed but there is an emphasis on how the ability to create constricts them. Humanity is imprisoned by creation, and experience causes great pain: What is the price of Experience? do men buy it for a song Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No it is bought with the price Of all that a man hath, his house his wife his children. Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy And in

2520-466: The trenches. This latter work emerged from the darkness of the more recent past thanks to its mention and discussion in Paul Fussell 's The Great War and Modern Memory (1975), which discussed Blunden's reliance on Night-Thoughts . Blunden's mention of Young's poem reintroduced an interesting, sometimes bombastic precursor to the early Romantics to students of English literature. Samuel Richardson in

2576-600: The universe combine to trap the human imagination. In the Newtonian belief the material universe is connected through an unconscious power which, in turn, characterises imagination and intellect as accidental aspects that result from this. Additionally, imagination and intelligence are secondary to force. This early version of a " survival of the fittest " universe is connected to a fallen world of tyranny and murder in Blake's view. The poem portrays Orc and his three-stage cycle, whose stages are connected to historical events, although

2632-490: The witherd field where the farmer plows for bread in vain The final "night" describes Los witnessing a vision of Christ's crucifixion at the hands of Urizen . In response:             ...Los his vegetable hands Outstretchd; his right hand branching out in fibrous Strength, Siezd the Sun; his left hand like dark roots cover[e]d

2688-581: Was a poetic treatment of sublimity and had a profound influence on the young Edmund Burke , whose philosophic investigations and writings on the Sublime and the Beautiful were a pivotal turn in 18th-century aesthetic theory. Young's masterpiece Night-Thoughts emerged from obscurity by being mentioned in Edmund Blunden 's World War One memoir, Undertones of War (1928), as a source of comfort during time in

2744-465: Was a son of Edward Young , later Dean of Salisbury , and was born at his father's rectory at Upham , near Winchester , where he was baptized on 3 July 1683. He was educated at Winchester College , and matriculated at New College, Oxford , in 1702. He later migrated to Corpus Christi , and in 1708 was nominated by Archbishop Tenison to a law fellowship at All Souls . He took his degree of Doctor of Canon Law in 1719. Young's first publication

2800-574: Was an Epistle to ... Lord Lansdoune (1713). This was followed by a Poem on the Last Day (1713), dedicated to Queen Anne ; The Force of Religion: or Vanquished Love (1714), a poem on the execution of Lady Jane Grey and her husband, dedicated to the Countess of Salisbury; and an epistle to Joseph Addison , On the late Queen's Death and His Majesty's Accession to the Throne (1714), in which he rushed to praise

2856-472: Was an English poet, best remembered for Night-Thoughts , a series of philosophical writings in blank verse , reflecting his state of mind following several bereavements. It was one of the most popular poems of the century, influencing Goethe and Edmund Burke , among many others, with its notable illustrations by William Blake . Young also took holy orders, and wrote many fawning letters in search of preferment, attracting accusations of insincerity. Young

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2912-552: Was illustrated by William Blake in 1797, and by Thomas Stothard in 1799. The Poetical Works of the Rev. Edward Young ... were revised by himself for publication, and a completed edition appeared in 1778. The Complete Works, Poetry and Prose, of the Rev. Edward Young ..., with a life by John Doran , appeared in 1854. Sir Herbert Croft wrote the life included in Johnson's Lives of the Poets , but

2968-470: Was involved, and it would be advertised for sale in the General Advertiser on 30 January 1750. William Hutchinson included a gloss on Night-Thoughts in his series of lectures The Spirit of Masonry (1775), underlining the masonic symbolism of the text. I would compare genius to virtue, and learning to riches. As riches are most wanted where there is least virtue ; so learning where there

3024-658: Was made clerk of the closet to the Princess Dowager, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha , in 1761. He never recovered from his wife's death. He fell out with his son, who had apparently criticised the excessive influence exerted by his housekeeper Mrs Hallows. The old man refused to see his son until shortly before he died, but left him everything. A description of him is to be found in the letters of his curate and executor, John Jones, to Dr Thomas Birch (in Brit. Lib. Addit. M/s 4311). He died at Welwyn, reconciled with his spendthrift son: "he expired

3080-512: Was only eight years old at the time of publication. The Complaint , or Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality , was published in 1742, and was followed by other "Nights," the eighth and ninth appearing in 1745. In 1753, his tragedy of The Brothers , written many years previous but suppressed because he was about to enter the Church, was produced at Drury Lane. Night-Thoughts had made him famous, but he lived in almost uninterrupted retirement. He

3136-518: Was retitled The Four Zoas: The torments of Love & Jealousy in The death and Judgment of Albion the Ancient Man in 1807, and this title is often used to denote a second version of the poem, the first having been completed between 1796 and 1802. The poem was written on proof engravings of Night Thoughts . The lines are surrounded by large designs, and there are around 2,000 lines in the original version of

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