- Title:
- 'His hand the good man fastens on the skies' (Page 86)
- Part Of:
- Date:
- 1797
- Materials & Techniques:
- Etching, line engraving, and letterpress, with hand coloring in watercolor on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
- Dimensions:
- Spine: 17 1/2 inches (44.5 cm), Sheet: 16 5/8 x 13 inches (42.2 x 33 cm), Plate: 15 1/2 x 13 inches (39.4 x 33 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Lettered inside image: "86 | Supporter sole of man above himself; | Even in this night of frailty, change, and death, | She gives the soul a soul that acts a God. | Religion! providence! an after-state! | Here is firm footing--here is solid rock-- | This can support us--all is sea besides-- | Sinks under us--bestorms, and then devours. | *His hand the good man fastens on the skies, | And bids earth roll, nor feels her idle whirl. | As when a wretch, from thick polluted air, | Darkness and stench, and suffocating damps, | And dungeon-horrors by kind fate discharged, | Climbs some fair eminence, where ether pure | Surrounds him, and elysian prospects rise; | His heart exults, his spirits cast their load; | As if new-born he triumphs in the change; | So joys the soul, when, from inglorious aims | And sordid sweets, from feculence and froth | Of ties terrestrial set at large, she mounts | To reason's region, her own element, | Breathes hopes immortal and affects the skies. | Religion! thou the soul of happiness; | And, groaning Calvary, of thee! there shine | The noblest truths; there strongest motives sting; | There sacred violence assaults the soul; | There nothing but compulsion is forborn. | Can love allure us? or can terror awe? | HE weeps!--the falling drop puts out the sun; | HE sighs!--the sigh earth's deep foundation shakes: | If in his love so terrible, what then"; lower right: " in. & s | WB"
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1992.8.10(35)
- Classification:
- Prints
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Subject Terms:
- clouds | earth | globe | literary theme | man | men | planet | pointing | religious and mythological subject | text
- Associated People:
- angel
- Access:
- Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:3565
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
YCBA Collections Search
Print made by William Blake, 1757–1827, British, 'His hand the good man fastens on the skies' (Page 86), 1797
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