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Creator:
Print made by William Blake, 1757–1827
Title:
"The clouds of Albions Druid Temples..." (Plate 60)
Part Of:

Collective Title: Jerusalem: The Emanation of The Giant Albion, Copy E

Date:
1804 to 1820
Materials & Techniques:
Relief etching printed in orange ink, with watercolor and pen and black ink on moderately thick, smooth, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 13 1/2 x 10 3/8 inches (34.3 x 26.4 cm), Plate: 8 3/8 x 5 7/8 inches (21.2 x 14.9 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed in orange ink, upper right: "60"

Lettered inside image: "The clouds of Albion's Druid Temples rage in the eastern heaven, | While Los sat terrified beholding Albion's Spectre, who is Luvah, | Spreading in bloody veins in torments over Europe & Asia: | Not yet formed, but a wretched torment unformed & abyssal | In flaming fire: within the Furnaces the Divine Vision appear'd | On Albion's hills; [and] often walking from the Furnaces, in clouds | And flames among the Druid Temples & the Starry Wheels, | Gather'd Jerusalem's Children in his arms & bore them like | A Shepherd, in the night of Albion which overspread all the Earth. | I gave thee liberty and life, O lovely Jerusalem, | And thou hast bound me down upon the Stems of Vegetation. | I gave thee Sheep-walks upon the Spanish Mountains, Jerusalem, | I gave thee Priam's City and the Isles of Grecia lovely: | I gave thee Hand & Scofield & the Counties of Albion: | They spread forth like a lovely root into the Garden of God. | They were as Adam before me: united into One Man, | They stood in innocence & their skiey tent reach'd over Asia | To Nimrod's Tower, to Ham & Canaan walking with Mizraim | Upon the Egyptian Nile, with solemn songs to Grecia | And sweet Hesperia, even to Great Chaldea & Tesshina, | Following thee as a Shepherd by the Four Rivers of Eden. | Why wilt thou rend thyself apart, Jerusalem? | And build this Babylon & sacrifice in secret Groves, | Among the Gods of Asia: among the fountains of pitch & nitre. | Therefore thy Mountains are become barren, Jerusalem: | Thy Valleys, Plains of burning sand, thy Rivers, waters of death. | Thy Villages die of the Famine, and thy Cities | Beg bread from house to house, lovely Jerusalem. | Why wilt thou deface thy beauty & the beauty of thy little-ones | To please thy Idols, in the pretended chastities of Uncircumcision? | Thy Sons are lovelier than Egypt or Assyria: wherefore | Dost thou blacken their beauty by a Secluded place of rest, | And a peculiar Tabernacle, to cut the integuments of beauty | Into veils of tears and sorrows, O lovely Jerusalem! | They have perswaded thee to this, therefore their end shall come, | And I will lead thee thro' the Wilderness in shadow of my cloud, | And in my love I will lead thee, lovely Shadow of Sleeping Albion. | This is the Song of the Lamb, sung by Slaves in evening time. | But Jerusalem faintly saw him, clos'd in the Dungeons of Babylon. | Her Form was held by Beulah's Daughters, but all within unseen | She sat at the Mills, her hair unbound, her feet naked, | Cut with the flints ; her tears run down, her reason grows like | The Wheel of Hand, incessant turning day & night without rest. | Insane she raves upon the winds, hoarse, inarticulate: | All night Vala hears, she triumphs in pride of holiness | To see Jerusalem deface her lineaments with bitter blows | Of despair, while the Satanic Holiness triumph'd in Vala, | In a Religion of Chastity & Uncircumcised Selfishness | Both of the Head & Heart & Loins, clos'd up in Moral Pride. | But the Divine Lamb stood beside Jerusalem, oft she saw | The lineaments Divine & oft the Voice heard, & oft she said. | O Lord & Saviour, have the Gods of the Heathen pierced thee: | Or hast thou been pierced in the House of thy Friends? | Art thou alive: & livest thou for evermore? or art thou | Not: but a delusive shadow, a thought that liveth not. | Babel mocks, saying, there is no God nor Son of God: | That thou, O Human Imagination, O Divine Body, art all | A delusion: but I know thee, O Lord, when thou arisest upon | My weary eyes, even in this dungeon & this iron will. | The Stars of Albion cruel rise: thou bindest to sweet influences: | For thou also sufferest with me altho' I behold thee not: | And altho' I sin & blaspheme thy holy name, thou pitiest me: | Because thou knowest I am deluded by the turning mills, | And by these visions of pity & love because of Albion's death. | Thus spake Jerusalem, & thus the Divine Voice replied. | Mild Shade of Man, pitiest thou these Visions of terror & woe? | Give forth thy pity & love, fear not ! lo I am with thee always. | Only believe in me that I have power to raise from death | Thy Brother who Sleepeth in Albion: fear not, trembling Shade."

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1992.8.1(60)
Classification:
Prints
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
kneeling | literary theme | religious and mythological subject | text | vines | women
Access:
Accessible in the Study Room [Request]
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:3493
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William Blake (Tate Britain, 2000-11-02 - 2001-02-04) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

The Human Form Divine - William Blake from the Paul Mellon Collection (Yale Center for British Art, 1997-04-02 - 1997-07-06) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]


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