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Creator:
Print made by William Blake, 1757–1827
Title:
"Condens'd his Emanations..." (Plate 9)
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: 22 1/2 x 6 3/8 inches (57.2 x 16.2 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Lettered upper right: "9"; inside image: "Condens'd his Emanations into hard opake substances, | And his infant thoughts & desires into cold, dark, cliffs of death. | His hammer of gold he siez'd; and his anvil of adamant; | He siez'd the bars of condens'd thoughts, to forge them, | Into the sword of war, into the bow and arrow; | Into the thundering cannon and into the murdering gun. | I saw the limbs form'd for exercise, contemn'd; & the beauty of | Eternity, look'd upon as deformity, & loveliness as a dry tree: | I saw disease forming a Body of Death around the Lamb | Of God, to destroy Jerusalem, & to devour the body of Albion | By war and stratagem to win the labour of the husbandman. | Awkwardness arm'd in steel: Folly in a helmet of gold: | Weakness with horns & talons: ignorance with a rav'ning beak: | Every Emanative joy forbidden as a Crime: | And the Emanations buried alive in the earth with pomp of religion: | Inspiration deny'd: Genius forbidden by laws of punishment: | I saw terrified: I took the sighs & tears & bitter groans: | I lifted them into my Furnaces, to form the spiritual sword, | That lays open the hidden heart: I drew forth the pang | Of sorrow red hot : I work'd it on my resolute anvil : | I heated it in the flames of Hand, & Hyle, & Coban | Nine times; Gwendolen & Cambel & Gwineverra | Are melted into the gold, the silver, the liquid ruby, | The crysolite, the topaz, the jacinth, & every precious stone. | Loud roar my Furnaces and loud my hammer is heard: | I labour day and night. I behold the soft affections | Condense beneath my hammer into forms of cruelty, | But still I labour in hope, tho' still my tears flow down, | That he who will not defend Truth, may be compell'd to defend | A Lie, that he may be snared and caught and snared and taken, | That Enthusiasm and Life may not cease: arise Spectre arise! | Thus they contended among the Furnaces with groans & tears; | Groaning the Spectre heav'd the billows, obeying Los's frowns; | Till the Spaces of Erin were perfected in the furnaces | Of affliction, and Los drew them forth, compelling the harsh Spectre."

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1992.8.1(9)
Classification:
Prints
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
angel | dead | kneeling | lion | literary theme | men | mourning | nudes | religious and mythological subject | serpent | sheep | shepherd | snake | stars | text | tiger | women
Access:
Accessible in the Study Room [Request]
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:3525
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IIIF Manifest:
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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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