Friday, April 11, 2014

Milton 10



Rosenwald LC
Milton 36


PLATE 36 [40] of The Book of Milton
When on the highest lift of his light pinions he arrives
At that bright Gate, another Lark meets him & back to back
They touch their pinions tip tip: and each descend
To their respective Earths & there all night consult with Angels
Of Providence & with the Eyes of God all night in slumbers
Inspired: & at the dawn of day send out another Lark
Into another Heaven to carry news upon his wings
Thus are the Messengers dispatchd till they reach the Earth again
In the East Gate of Golgonooza, & the Twenty-eighth bright
Lark. met the Female Ololon descending into my Garden
Thus it appears to Mortal eyes & those of the Ulro Heavens
But not thus to Immortals, the Lark is a mighty, Angel.
For Ololon step'd into the Polypus within the Mundane Shell
They could not step into Vegetable Worlds without becoming
The enemies of Humanity except in a Female Form
And as One Female, Ololon and all its mighty Hosts
Appear'd: a Virgin of twelve years nor time nor space was
To the perception of the Virgin Ololon but as the
Flash of lightning but more quick the Virgin in my Garden
Before my Cottage stood for the Satanic Space is delusion
For when Los joind with me he took me in his firy whirlwind
My Vegetated portion was hurried from Lambeths shades
He set me down in Felphams Vale & prepard a beautiful
Cottage for me that in three years I might write all these
Visions
To display Natures cruel holiness: the deceits of Natural
Religion[.]
Walking in my Cottage Garden, sudden I beheld
The Virgin Ololon & address'd her as a Daughter of Beulah[:]
Virgin of Providence fear not to enter into my Cottage
What is thy message to thy friend: What am I now to do
Is it again to plunge into deeper affliction? behold me
Ready to obey, but pity thou my Shadow of Delight
Enter my Cottage, comfort her, for she is sick with fatigue
(Erdman 136-37)
This of course is supposedly about Milton, but as usual Blake
lapses into his own biography.
The image represents the cottage that Blake and his wife lived in
for three years at Felpham by the Sea. We see the lark, the angel,
Ololon:
" In book two Ololon follows Milton's descent. She assumes responsibility for driving Milton into the Ulro and enters the transformative process.  
Although Ololon can be seen as Milton's emanation, Ololon is much more than that. She takes the form of a sweet river in Edan, she is a multitude of Eternals, she appears as a twelve year old virgin, a
moony ark, and finally as a garment dipped in blood containing the literal expression of the Divine 
Revelation.
Look at Golgonooza or here or here.


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