- Title:
- "Jehovah stood among the Druids..." (Plate 63)
- 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, pen and black ink, and gold 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 7/8 x 5 7/8 inches (22.5 x 14.9 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Lettered inside image: "Jehovah stood among the Druids in the Valley of Annandale, | When the Four Zoas of Albion, the Four Living Creatures, the Cherubim | Of Albion, tremble before the Spectre in the starry Harness of the Plow | Of Nations. And their Names are Urizen & Luvah & Tharmas & Urthona. | Luvah slew Tharmas the Angel of the Tongue, & Albion brought him | To Justice in his own City of Paris, denying the Resurrection. | Then Vala the Wife of Albion, who is the Daughter of Luvah, | Took vengeance Twelve-fold among the Chaotic Rocks of the Druids, | Where the Human Victims howl to the Moon, & Thor & Friga | Dance the dance of death, contending with Jehovah among the Cherubim. | The Chariot Wheels filled with Eyes rage along the howling Valley, | In the Dividing of Reuben & Benjamin bleeding from Chester's River. | The Giants & the Witches & the Ghosts of Albion dance with | Thor and Friga, & the Fairies lead the Moon along the Valley of Cherubim, | Bleeding in torrents from Mountain to Mountain, a lovely Victim. | And Jehovah stood in the Gates of the Victim, & he appeared | A weeping Infant in the Gates of Birth in the midst of Heaven. | The Cities & Villages of Albion became Rock & Sand Unhumanized, | The Druid Sons of Albion & the Heavens a Void around unfathomable, | No Human Form but Sexual, & a little weeping Infant pale reflected | Multitudinous in the Looking Glass of Enitharmon, on all sides | Around in the clouds of the Female, on Albion's Cliffs of the Dead. | Such the appearance in Cheviot, in the Divisions of Reuben, | When the Cherubim hid their heads under their wings in deep slumbers, | When the Druids demanded Chastity from Woman & all was lost. | How can the Female be Chaste, O thou stupid Druid, Cried Los, | Without the Forgiveness of Sins in the merciful clouds of Jehovah, | And without the Baptism of Repentance to wash away Calumnies, and | The Accusations of Sin, that each may be Pure in their Neighbours' sight? | O, when shall Jehovah give us Victims from his Flocks & Herds, | Instead of Human Victims by the Daughters of Albion & Canaan? | Then laugh'd Gwendolen, & her laughter shook the Nations & Familys of | The Dead beneath Beulah, from Tyburn to Golgotha, and from | Ireland to Japan: furious her Lions & Tygers & Wolves sport before | Los on the Thames & Medway: London & Canterbury groan in pain. | Los knew not yet what was done: he thought it was all in Vision, | In Visions of the Dreams of Beulah among the Daughters of Albion, | Therefore the Murder was put apart in the Looking-Glass of Enitharmon. | He saw in Vala's hand the Druid Knife of Revenge & the Poison Cup | Of Jealousy, and thought it a Poetic Vision of the Atmospheres, | Till Canaan roll'd apart from Albion across the Rhine, along the Danube. | And all the Land of Canaan suspended over the Valley of Cheviot, | From Bashan to Tyre & from Troy to Gaza of the Amalekite: | And Reuben fled with his head downwards among the Caverns"
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1992.8.1(63)
- Classification:
- Prints
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Subject Terms:
- literary theme | moon | nudes | religious and mythological subject | serpent | snake | sun | text | women
- Access:
- Accessible in the Study Room [Request]
- Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:3496
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
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]