THE FOUR ZOASnoteThe manuscript, in the British Library, consists of 133 pages of titles and text written on 70 large sheets (about 16 1/2 X 12 1/2 inches) plus some draft material on two small leaves and a fragment. Of the large sheets, 47 consist of engraved proofs of designs Blake had made for Young's Night Thoughts in 1795-96 and two were made by cutting in half a print of Blake's early engraving, Edward and Elenor. Blake wrote on both sides of most leaves--including the engraved proofs, which had open spaces where Young's text was to be printed. Drawings intended as illumination were made on 84 pages (including the backs of proofs), and the engraved designs on the proofs seem to have been chosen as reminders of drawings he would include in the perfected manuscript. (The draft material, pages 141-145, is dealt with in the notes to pp 7, 105, and 106 and at the end of the notes to this poem.) For a detailed if sometimes confusing account of the ms with a reproduction of all the pages in half-tone plates, seeVala or the Four Zoasedited by G. E. Bentley, Jr (Clarendon Press 1963). In 1981 a facsimile made from infra-red photographs is being prepared, with commentary on the pictures by Cettina Magno and myself. In pages 1, 3-18, 23-42, begun on clean sheets of paper, we can see that Blake's initial aim was a manuscript in fine copperplate script. Revisions at first made neatly over erasures or in the wide paragraph breaks maintain this objective with a modified yet still elegant engraver's hand. Further revisions and additions, however, squeezed between lines and spilling into margins, are in Blake's usual plain hand, as is all the text inscribed on the blank spaces of the proof pages. Possibly a complete Vala in copperplate hand was produced but lay unsold and open to revision which gradually reduced it to a working ms. On the other hand, it may be that the aim to keep each page in copperplate perfection was sustained through a decade or more of labor over the text and drawings, a descent to ordinary hand on any given page occurring only when that page
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became too cluttered with revisions to be saved as perfect. (By this definition, pages 14-18, 26, 33, 40 are unspoiled, and pages 24, 29, 38, 41 have changes suggested in pencil that could still be perfected by careful erasure and inking: contrariwise, the minor but effacing revisions on pages 19, 27, 29, 31, 37, 39 may mean that Blake was giving up.) (See note on p 40, below.) After Blake's death the ms was in loose sheets, but stitch- marks show he had once sewed together into one group all the sheets with elegant script and into another group those sheets containing pages 43-84 and 111-112, all in his usual hand. Possibly he thought of one group as finished, the other as preliminary, and any existing sheets not stitched as rejects (for example, Night VIIb, when he thought of replacing it with VIIa). At various stages of revision Blake counted his lines in each Night, sometimes by 100s, sometimes by 50s or 10s, and only pages 19-22, 87-90, and 111-116 lack numbering of any sort. But all Nights contain additions made after the latest counting. Date: ca 1796-18O7? The "1797" in the title may mark the beginning of a first fair copy, while pages 141-142 represent a fragment of a preliminary draft. The work is named "the Book of Vala" in an early, erased stratum of page 3; Bentley (p 177) suggests that it may have been "originally organized in 'Books' as a continuation of" The First Book of Urizen, noting that borrowings from Urizen occur in Nights IV and V and that these Nights are called "the Fourth Book" and "Book the Fifth" on pp 56 and 57. Also to be noted is the use of "Book" for "Night" in VIIb, p 95. (But Margoliouth, p 121, argues that the use of "Book" is a sign of "very late" indifference--or "a deliberate, but abandoned, idea of giving up the 'Nights'".) It has been tempting to suppose that successive layers of copperplate, modified copperplate, and usual hand represent successive and datable stages in the growth of the ms. On this supposition all the pages in usual hand should be later than those in copperplate--and all the latter should have fairly finished drawings. But the drawings vary in finish throughout. And on certain copperplate pages a distinctly late style appears in the script, marked by the g which Blake adopted after Nov. 1802. On pages 8 and 10 this style appears in modified copperplate hand in revisions made before clutter had set in; on page 12 the basic layer of text itself is in fine copperplate hand of this late character--and so is the chapter heading of "Night the Sixth" on page 67. (It should be added that I have found no distinguishing marks of a pre-1803 script in any part of the ms, all the other g's being of the dateless, sans-serif variety: The rule of g may of course be less invariable than I have supposed. At any rate it is safer to conclude that the copperplate pages range in inception from 1797 to 18O3 than to put them all in the later period.) Bentley has found that the sheet on which pages 48-49 were written (at the beginning of Night IV) bears evidence of prior use as a backing-sheet when Blake printed Hayley's first Ballad in May 18O2, but his argument (p 195) that sheets marred or defective in some such way as this were the last ones Blake would use should upset his assumption that none of the pages following 49 were inscribed before that date. As for the date of stitching of either of the groups described above, the second group includes the sheet with the May 1802 impressions and so cannot have been stitched earlier than that; that neither group can have been stitched earlier than 1803 should be the deduction from the graphic evidence of late g's in the first strata of pages in both groups (12 and 67). To suppose the other, unpierced pages not to have been written before 18O3 would shake all present assumptions. Even if an 18O3 date for the copying out of "Night the Sixth" is accepted, its composition may have been much earlier. On the other hand the date of 1804 or later which has been accepted for Night VIII on the basis of allusions to the renewal of war and of strikingly different symbolism or idiom from the main body of the poem (see Margoliouth, p 174) may need correction to "much later". The writing of VIII, at least, and the very late change of the poem's title to "The Four Zoas" (a pencil revision on the main title page not extended to the chapter headings) as well as a good deal of mending and revising, especially in Night I, must have occurred after Blake had begun if not completed Milton and Jerusalem. Bentley's contention (p 165) that several passages were borrowed from Jerusalem, rather than the other way round, is not convincing in respect to passages in Jerusalem 22 and 67-68, but the connections of Vala, 1, 21, 99 and Jerusale34[38] may go in both directions. It should be recognized, however, that many apparently late additions to Vala turn out to have been salvaged from the erasure of early layers on the same or other pages. Since few of these erased early strata have been deciphered, we cannot be certain how much of the late material is actually new. (See the textual notes on pages 4, 6, 7, 72, 99.)
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Readers should be cautioned against failing back on the all too hypothetical chronological groupings of Nights and parts of Nights presented in Erdman, 1st edition pp 270-271 (on the basis of secondhand evidence and an ignorance of the complexities of the ms). Nevertheless certain salient historical allusions or sources remain, despite uncertainty as to how long after the event Blake wrote: negotiations conducted between Britain and France, in 1796 and 1797 (but again in 1800 and 1801); the Netherlands expedition of 1799; Napoleon's coup d'<accent>e</accent>tat a few weeks later; the Peace of Amiens; its rupture. Readers should also be cautioned against inaccuracies and special pleading in Bentley's criticism of these groupings (pp 168-170)--and of course also against exaggerations in my subsequent critique of the Bentley volume (in an article in The Librarfor 1964). Bentley's warning that a second or third addition on one page may have no chronological relation with a second or third addition on another is well taken--but frequently ignored by all of us. His assumption that the original copperplate writing on all pages represents a single draft may or may not prove to be sound; yet his transcript obscures the evidence by treating the erased copperplate layer as nonexistent (when he cannot read it) and the first added layer as original. Margoliouth's attempt to isolate a "Vala" text by selecting Blake's "fair copy of each Night before erasures, deletions, additions, and changes of order" depends heavily on the assumption that all these deduced fair copies (excluding VIII and the first part of IX) somehow constitute a homogeneous text. He is able to sort out pretty successfully those lines which were in the ms when Blake counted and numbered his lines by fifties, but not to convince us that all the counting took place at one time. The result is useful, however, and only misleading if taken as a really early state of the text or as constituting a uniform layer, so to speak. The complexities of the ms, in short, continue to defy analysis and all assertions about meaningful physical groupings or chronologically definable layers of composition or inscription must be understood to rest on partial and ambiguous evidence.
The text given here is simply that of the latest readings, with deletions occasionally retained (in italics within square brackets) when their omission would leave gaps; when Blake replaced a deleted reading and then deleted the replacement, the earlier reading has been restored. The textual notes contain all the erased or deleted readings thus far deciphered (sometimes differing from or going beyond the Bentley transcript thanks largely to the use of infrared photography and strong magnification). Nights editorially designated VII and VIIb (or VIIa and VIIb) and treated as separate entities in previous editions are here conflated into a single "Night the Seventh". But the distinction between VII and VIIb is indicated in the bracketed note at the head of each page. Line numbers are given page for page, but to facilitate use of the Blake Concordance of 1968, which gives line numbers Night for Night as in the Keynes editions, the Keynes numbers are supplied in each page heading, thus bracketed: { }. A new facsimile edition of The Four Zoas, using improved photography and attempting a plate-by-plate commentary on the illuminations in the manuscript, is being prepared by Professor Cettina Magno of Messina, and myself, with the plates arranged in an order closer to Blake's than that given the loose ms leaves by the twentieth-century binder. The rearrangement involves twelve leaves (twenty-four pages) to produce the following sequence, giving the traditional arrangement in parentheses:
19(21) 87(95) 95(87) 105(113) 109(105) 113(109) 20(22) 88(96) 96(88) 106(114) 110(106) 114(110) 21(19) 89(97) 97(89) 107(115) 111(107) 115(111) 22(20) 90(98) 98(90) 108(116) 112(108) 116(112)
This arrangement will put the pictures in a more meaningful sequence, but to adopt it in the present text would be confusing, since Blake's poem moves about (because of his own revisions) in a sequence that does not correspond exactly to any sequence of the manuscript leaves. 1: title] VALA / OR / The Death and Judgement of the [Eternal] <Ancient> Man / a DREAM / of Nine Nights / by William Blake 1797 1st rdg The unlocated inscription, "The Bible of Hell, in Nocturnal Visions collected. Vol. 1. Lambeth", reported by Ellis and Yeats as written "in title-page form" on the back of a drawing, may have been an early title for this work consisting of nine nocturnal visions. (See Bentley, Writings, 1677,1735.)
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TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 300-301 Night the First note404After the quotation from Ephesians, the chapter number is corrected from "5" to "VI", not necessarily by Blake. note4053:1-3 The Song . . . Battle] Syntax and heavy inking mark these lines as a subtitle. Blake had first made several tries at a six-line introductory stanza, with erasure on erasure. Words visible at the line ends of the first version are: (1) . . . [wr]ath bo[ok] of Vala"; (3) "Round"; (6) "Dream". A second, partly erased, version reads, with revisions: This is the [Dirge] <Song> of [Eno] <Enitharmon> which shook the heavens with wrath And thus beginneth the Book of Vala which Whosoever reads If with his Intellect be comprehend the terrible Sentence The heavens [shall] quake: the earth [shall move] [moves] <was moved> & [shudder] [shudders] <shudderd> & the mountains With all their woods, the streams & valleys: [wail] <waild> in dismal fear [To hear] < Hearing> the [Sound] <march> of Long resounding strong heroic verse Marshalld in order for the day of intellectual battle These lines were numbered 1 2 3 6 7 4 5; later the stanza was reduced to its final 3 lines by another numbering; finally 2-3 ("Hearing . . . Battle") were crossed out and rewritten over the erased lines below 1. note406 Lines 4-11 are written over nine erased lines. note4073:8 no Individual Knoweth nor] Individual Man knoweth not 1st rdg
PAGE 4
note408Lines 1-16, 19-28 are written over erasures. Traces of 19 original lines (in copperplate hand) can be discerned and a few words can be read: (1) ". . . ?oft"; (2)"?Saying . . . of . . . for . . . of Eternal Life"; (3) "?Song of . . ."; (4) "?I ?see . . . of . . . ?Self . . . about"; (6) "Rejoicing ?so ?amongst . . ."; (7) "The . . . ?faded ?slept . . ."; (8) "Till ?far ?dismal . . . ?four . . . all . . ."; (9)" . . . a pleasing"; (10) "?Enion . . . of ?slavery"; (12) ". . . ?cloud"; (13) "?Where . . . the . . ."; (18)" . . . Enion"; (19) " . . . the light of day". (Bentley reads 18 and 19 but supposes them to belong to the second layer of palimpsest.) This first stratum was erased and covered by 21 lines in modified copperplate hand; finally a third state was created by the erasure and replacement of the last 12 of these lines by 13 new lines (in the same hand) and the revision of a few words in the first 9. Six of the erased second stratum lines were repeated elsewhere and can be verified completely: 10-13 ("Arise O Enion . . . for Lo! I have calmd my seas") are identical to 129:24-27, there crowded into a stanza break. Lines 20-21 ("All Love is lost . . . Duty instead of Liberty") reappear as lines 20-21 of the third stratum. Of erased lines 14-19 in the second stratum little can be made out: (14) "?The ?warfare . . . ?shy"; (16) "?He ?fell . . . hid in ?horrible ?caverns of mountains"; (18) ". . . ?chariot"; (19) "To . . . of . . . ?come". Revisions from second to third state are indicated below: note409Line 5 was inserted in ink over partly erased pencil loops covering erased first stratum ink. Two remnant loops I mistook for deleting strokes (see previous printings). N.B.: This correction has involved a renumbering of the lines of page 4.
note4107 Enion O Enion] Enion [come forth] <O Enion> latest revisionthis change and "O Pity Me" in line 9 are additions in a different pen. note4118 We are . . . We] I am . . . I 1st rdg del note4129 Jerusalem in Silent Contrition O Pity Me] thee Enion in jealous Despair 1st rdg del note41310 also . . . Enion] where we may remain for ever alone 1st rdg del note41411 hast] mended from ink has over pencil hast sweet Jerusalem] ink over pencil [Enitharmon] <Jerusalem> note41513 Jerusalem] Enitharmon ms rdg, emended on the editorial assumption that Blake accidentally neglected making the same change here as in lines 9 and 11, and 5:7. (When Jerusalem and Enitharmon are mentioned together in the same manuscript layer, in late additions to this Night--see 21:30 and 19:1,5 on pp 311-12--they have separate roles. Here, if the name "Enitharmon" be retained in line 13, we must nevertheless take the pronouns "She" and "her" in line 14 to refer back to "Jerusalem" in line 11.) note41617 Thy] His 1st rdg del
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PAGE 5 note417First stratum entirely erased and replaced, but the last two lines were probably identical to the two lines "Arise O Enion . . . rejoice" found in the second stratum of page 4 and emerging as 129:24-25. note4181 Eden] Beulah 1st rdg del note4197 tabernacle for Jerusalem] tabernacle [of delight] <for Enitharmon> 1st rdg note4209 then . . . innocent] and . . . holy 1st rdg del note42114 In torment] So saying 1st rdg del note42216 gnawing] dismal 1st rdg del note42324 trembling] ?bright 1st rdg del note42428 dread] sweet 1st rdg del Repentance & Contrition] false woven bliss 1st rdg; self woven sorrow 2d rdg del (Bentley transcript confuses sequence of changes.) Two inserted, then deleted, lines follow: He spurnd Enion with his foot he sprang aloft in Clouds [Alighting down from] Alighting in his drunken joy in a far distant Grove note42534 Dreams] wanderings 1st rdg del note42642 pity & help] help 1st rdg del note42743 Gate of the Tongue] Gate of Auricular [power] <nerves> 1st rdg note428Lines 44-53 were canceled by three diagonal strokes but later circled in ink. The evidence that lines thus circled (here and on pages 6 and 7) were meant to be restored is convincingly presented by Andrew Lincoln in "The Four Zoas: the Text of Night I" in Blake: An Illustrated Quarterly, Summer 1978. note42946 Love is changed to . . . Hate] ?Alone ?possessed by . . . Fears 1st rdg del note43047 All] [All] <A> ms rdg; the erasure of "All" was evidently a slip: Blake never used the phrase "A life" in the meaning it would have here. note43148 Shadow . . . Soul] remembrance . . . eyes 1st rdg del note43249 Doubt . . . Repentance] Trouble . . . sorrow 1st rdg del note43353 There follow a penciled insert and a deleted line which it would replace: <Who animating times on times by the Force of her sweet song] [But standing on the Rocks her woven shadow glowing bright] But both are replaced by 6:1-5, a double insertion on that page.
PAGE 6 note434Of an erased first stratum of 12 copperplate lines, the first two can be recovered: When wilt thou smile on Tharmas O thou bringer of golden day Arise. O Enion arise! for Lo! I have Calmd my seas These continue from the original concluding lines of page 5 and are identical, except in punctuation, to 129:26-27, their intermediate occurrence being in the second stratum of p 4 (above). Line 3 of the erased stratum, "His woe f . . . the crystal sky", concludes like 130:14 but begins differently. Other fragmentary recoveries are: (4) "In . . . ?faded in ?his cave"; (7) "?Luvah . . . Rock"; (8) ". . . Enion . . . the ?Oaks"; (9) ". . . ?Children"; (12) " . . . lovely". Variants between the second and final text of the page follow: note4351 her shining] her silken 1st rdg del note4367 fury] joy 1st rdg del note437After line 8 follow 17 lines deleted by diagonal strokes and a grey wash: Searching for glory wishing that the heavens had eyes to See And courting that the Earth would ope her Eyelids & behold Such wondrous beauty repining in the midst of all his glory That nought but Enion could be found to praise adore & love Three days in self admiring raptures on the rocks he flamd And three dark nights repind the solitude. but the third morn Astonishd he found Enion hidden in the darksom Cave
She spoke What am I wherefore was I put forth on these rocks Among the Clouds to tremble in the wind in solitude Where is the voice that lately woke the desart Where the Face That wept among the clouds & where the voice that shall reply No other living thing is here. The Sea the Earth. the Heaven And Enion desolate where art thou Tharmas O return
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Three days she waild & three dark nights sitting among the Rocks While the bright spectre hid himself among the ?backing clouds Then sleep fell on her eyelids in a Chasm of the Valley The Sixteenth morn the Spectre stood before her manifest
Erased pencil in left margin beside 14th line: The Jealous note4389-18] deleted by diagonal strokes but then restored by a circling ink line. 9 Who art thou . . . shell] An insertion, with this continuation (later deleted) up the right margin: Broke from thy bonds I scorn my prison I scorn & yet I love The insertion before deletion was to replace this 1st rdg: Art thou not my slave & shalt thou dare To smite me with thy tongue beware lest I sting also thee note43910-12 If thou . . . past deeds] inserted over erasure. note44012 So] conjectural reading of stroke or strokes imperfectly inked note44113 Thine] Mine 1st rdg del note44215 Mine] mended from thine (the Spectre is crowding Enion into the outer world while he invades the infinite within.) note44316 whence I emerged] of death & hell 1st rdg del; where 2d rdg del note44417] A deleted line follows: A sorrow & a fear a living torment & naked Victim note44518 for my] for his 1st rdg del
PAGE 7
note446Page 7 is a thicket of erased and deleted original and additional lines. The top block of 9 added lines has been deleted, then restored by an ink circle, then heavily revised; the last of these (line 7 in the present text) is so crossed out and mended that to restore it Blake has written "This line to come in" alongside. The lower half of the page consists of original copperplate writing, with some mending and some deletion of lines. The undeleted original lines appear also on p 143 (a smaller leaf but neatly written as if begun as fair copy, perhaps of a draft preceding the large copperplate pages) and are there revised. Until recently it has been assumed that the revisions of p 143 were later than the final text of p 7, but Andrew Lincoln argues convincingly that the final revisions on p 7 are later than those on p 143. In line 10, for instance, the "Half Woman & half Spectre" was first half "Serpent" on p 7; On p 143 "Serpent" was first written and then replaced by "beast" but not by "Spectre" (which in the whole context must be the final term); thus the final p 7 reading, "Spectre", is later than the p 143 revision. In the evolution of serpent to beast to spectre, the p 143 revisions constitute a middle or "beast" stage. The changes from "scaly armour" to "rocky features", from "lovely changing colours" to "darkly waving colours", and from "monster" to "wonder" were thus temporary; in p 7 the Spectre reassumes the bright, scaly, monstrous quality of the Serpent. (In the first edition of this book the revisions of p 143 were taken as final text, a mistake now corrected.) (The text of p 143 is given at the end of these textual notes on The Four Zoas.) note4471] Preceded by two lines, mended and then heavily cancelled after Blake's encircling: Examining the sins of Tharmas I [have] <soon> found my own O slay me not thou art his Wrath embodied in Deceit note4482] an inserted line. note4493 For] But 1st rdg del, Under lines 1-3 and the preceding cancelled lines are three erased lines in Blake's usual hand, the last word of the 1st line being "threatening". Partly under these but beginning in the top margin is a pencil passage of six lines, the 1st three legible (but short, as if only beginnings of lines): When Tharmas shook his billowy hair Two forms of horror howld beneath ?it A male & female witherd
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Perhaps of the same vintage is a block of six pencil lines written sideways in the right margin beside the original ink text lines 4-10; the left ends of these lines are invisible: Pourd from fibrous veiny pipes Enio[ns] Blood from torrent floods melting [away] . . . chalk white rocks spread from heaven to heaven . . . ?monsters howld ?with ?Urizen ?around . . . living joy fills ?albion
Earliest deletion on p 7 must have been erasure of the 1st six lines in copperplate hand (under lines 7-18 in Bentley's numbering). All six were apparently moved to p 5 for the modified copperplate addition there of lines 9-14. and 25. At least the 4th line is identical to 5:12 except for punctuation: And said Return O Wanderer when the day of clouds is o'er; and the 5th is a variant of 5:13-14: So saying he . . . ?fell . . . into the restless sea and the 3rd is like 5:11 in beginning with a T, ending with "sighs", and having (perhaps) "Destiny" in its center. The last word of the 1st could be "head", that of 5:9; the 2nd is illegible but its configuration does not jar with that of 5:10. The 6th erased line is identical to 5:25, so far as can be made out: Round rolld ?the . . . globe self balanc'd note4504] An inserted line. note4516] Among wild beasts to roam And thou the delusive tempter 1st rdg del, followed by two cancelled lines: [But where is] <[Thou art not]> <And art thou> Tharmas all thy Soft delusive beauty cannot Tempt me to murder [honest love] <my own soul> & wipe my tears & smile note4527 not mine tho] for ah! how 1st rdg del Six cancelled lines follow, after a stanza break: The Spectre said Thou sinful Woman. was it thy Desire That I should hide thee with my power & delight thee with my beauty And now thou darknest in my presence. never from my sight Shalt thou depart to weep in secret. In my jealous wings I evermore will hold thee when thou goest out or comest in Tis thou hast darkend all My World O Woman lovely bane Partial text of lines 2 and 3 of this passage ("That . . . power &"; "And now . . . from my sight") occurs on p 144, verso of p 143, and the only words on it. After another stanza break, we return to the original copperplate text, beginning with three deleted lines: Thus they contended all the day among the Caves of Tharmas Twisting in fearful forms & howling <howling harsh shrieking> <Howling> harsh shrieking, mingling their bodies join in burning anguish Page 143 begins with a variant of the last line: <Opening his rifted rocks> mingling [their bodies] <together they> join in burning anguish (The rocks accord with the "rocky features" of the "beast" of the middle version; see below.) note4538 horrible] 1st and 3rd rdg, del but not erased, p 7; only rdg p 143; terrible 2d rdg p 7, erase brightness] p 7; 1st rdg p 143; darkness 2nd rdg p 143 note4549 Above the ocean;] p 7 Shrieking above the ocean: 143; on p 7 "Shrieking" is inserted before the line but then deleted. Nature] 1st rdg, erased. and 3rd rdg p 7; Beulah 2nd rdg del p 7; "that" and "shudder'd at" are cancelled but not replaced; p 143 reads "that nature shudderd at". note45510 Spectre] 2nd rdg p. 7; Serpent 1st rdg, erased, p 7 1st rdg p 143; beast 2nd rdg p 143 lovely changing] p 7 and 1st rdg del p 143; darkly waving 2nd rdg 143 note45611 poisons] p 7 and 1st rdg del p 143; metals 2nd rdg p 143 note45712 scaly armour] p 7 and 1st rdg del p 143; rocky features 2nd rdg 143 softening] softning p 143
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note45813 monster] p 7 and 1st rdg del p 143; wonder 2nd rdg 143 wandering] wandring
143 PAGE 143 continues: With [Serpent] <female> voice <warbling upon the [hills] & hollow vales> Beauty all blushing with desire a Self enjoying wonder (The insertions are written on top of almost illegible erasures, but the p and t of "Serpent" have left traces in the right places.)PAGE 7 continues with three deleted lines:
With [Serpent] <Spectre> voice incessant wailing; in incessant thirst Beauty all blushing with desire mocking her fell despair
Wandering desolate, a wonder abhorr'd by Gods & Men The revision to "Spectre" suggests that p 143 was put aside before these lines in P 7 were deleted. Page 143 originally continued, after a stanza break: And thus her voice; <Glory, delight, & sweet enjoyment born> <To mild Eternity shut in a threefold shape delightful> To wander in <sweet> solitude <enrapturd> at every wind In the break before these three lines and in the bottom margin
below them are two versions of a passage to be adapted from the deleted text of p 8 and to lead into line 143:11-13 ("And thus her voice" et cetera). In the deletions of p 8 (lines 5-13 following 8:7) Enion broods, after bearing two infants, and vegetation grows up from the rough rocks to shelter them. The revision seems intended to have the vegetation grow up to shelter Enion before she gives birth to the children. The version at the bottom of p 143 (possibly written first) is crowded in like prose, but it may be lined out with the help of Blake's slashes and capitals. The initial half line may have been meant to replace the preceding terminal half line, "a Self enjoying wonder" (143:9). Here is the version, with instructions to copy everything from "The b . .
." to "Infolding . . .": Shining across the ocean / Enion brooded groaning the golden rocks vegetate The b . . . [paper torn away] to Infolding the bright woman from the desolating winds/ & thus her voice &[c] [paper torn away] Blake is telling himself to follow, the "Enion brooded" line with the line that follows it (before an insertion) on p 8: The barked Oak, the long limbd Beech; the Ches'nut tree; the Pine. and to copy the next five lines, filled with vegetation and animation, concluding with: Infolding the bright Infants from the desolating winds --but with "the bright woman" replacing the Infants. Blake subsequently deleted all this version except for the phrase "Infolding the bright woman". The alternative version, not deleted, consists of a double line crowded into the stanza break between "a Self enjoying wonder" and "And thus her voice". Here the vegetating is more complex, involving seas, rocks, and vortex: For Enion brooded groaning loud the rough seas vegetate. Golden rocks rise from the [vorte . .] <vast> [paper torn; "vast" written on top of deleted "vorte". ] Possibly the plan was to have this triple vegetating proceed at once to "Infolding the bright woman" (undeleted portion of the first version): it would make up a full line; and perhaps to conclude as before with "Thus her voice" et cetera.
PAGE 8
note4592 little Infants wept] del in pencil, with insertion below the line of three writings and erasings of "Then forms of horror howld"; deleting line then erased. note4605 like richest summer shining] like summer shines 1st rdg
note4616 bright] replaced by fierceabove the linethen "fierce" and the line deleting "bright" were rased note4627] Thirteen deleted lines follow:
But those in Great Eternity Met in the Council of God As One Man hovering over Gilead & Hermon
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<He is the Good Shepherd He is the Lord & Master To Create Man Morning by Morning to Give gifts at Noon day> Enion brooded, oer the rocks, the rough rocks [?vegetating] <groaning vegetate> <Such power was given to the Solitary wanderer.> The barked Oak, the long limbd Beech; the Ches'nut tree; the Pine. The Pear tree mild, the frowning Walnut, the sharp Crab, & Apple sweet, The rough bark opens; twittering peep forth little beaks & wings The Nightingale, the Goldfinch, Robin, Lark, Linnet & Thrush The Goat leap'd from the craggy [Rock]<cliff>, the Sheep awoke from the mould Upon its green stalk rose the Corn, waving innumerable Infolding the bright Infants from the desolating winds
The inserted lines 3-4 derive from an erased passage in p 99, which probably derives from Jerusalem 34[38]:23-25; see also p 21. The revision of line 5 would seem to have been made after and because of the insertion of 6; a date after 1805 is suggested by the letter g in "vegetate", which is in Blake's late style. note4638-9 written over two erased copperplate lines.
PAGE 9 note4641-2 And . . . mountains] Lines inked over erasures, but first written in pencil in top margin, then erased and replaced by a drawing Of Christ in an orb. The first of three erased copperplate lines preceding line 4 may read, at the end, embracd for" (compare line 25); the second ends love". note465Line 7 is penciled over an erased ink line, Till they had ?drawn the Spectre quite away from Enion --which reappears slightly varied in 1O9:25-26 in Night VIII, suggesting that the "Spectrous Life" revisions of p 7 were made during the writing of VIII. note466Line 8, first ending "her spectrous life in dark despair", may have been started as a replacement of 6; it was written after and above the marginal block 9-11, 14-18 which was first marked to go after 6 but the, when 7 was inserted, marked to follow 7. note4679 Eno] written in pencil over Ona note46810 Seven thousand years] twenty years 1st rdg del note46911 in every year] in the [tenty] <Every> years ms rd made windows into Eden] gave visions ?toward heaven 1st rdg del note4709 Eno] written in pencil over Ona note47125 they kiss'd not nor embrac'd for shame & fear] They ?kissd ?not for ?shame <they> embracd notpenciled above the lin Above 26 is a long pencil insertion running into the margin, erased and consisting of three perhaps unconnected fragments, in different strengths of pencil. The first continues the revision started in pencil above 25: "Nor kissd nor em[braced]"; the second reads "hand in hand [in a] Sultry paradise"; of the third only the last two words are certain: "?these ?Lovers ?swum the deep". note472Below 33, in the margin but guided in, is the heading "Night the Second", but "End of The First Night" comes on p 18 and, after additions, on p 19. What we now treat as Night II was probably once headed "Night the Third"; both before and after that it was headed "First", but "End of the Second Night" is clearly marked on p 36, and "Night the Third" begins properly on p 37. note47334 But . . . Tharmas) crowded in margin, after and perhaps to replace an inserted but deleted line reading: Nine years they view the turning spheres [of ?Beulah] <reading> the Visions of Beulah (Keynes read "living" for "turning"; Bentley mistakes the long h of "Enitharmon" from the line below as a beginning the 6th word and reads "?gleaming" and misreads "reading" as "leading", failing to see that the is written large to cover the word "of"; it is a lower case r writ large.)
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TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 305-306 note47435 fierce] bright 1st rdg del (whole line palimpsest) Between 35 and 36 is an erased pencil line beginning "While they" and ending "Harmony". note47537 our . . . mourn] thy . . . weep 1st rdg del PAGE 1 note4761 frowning] smiling 1st rdg del note4772 Dark] Bright 1st rdg del note4783 let them] bow they 1st rdg del note4794-5 while . . . discontent] written over erasures note4807-8 were added, first in pencil then ink, in space after line 2, then marked to precede line 9. note4819 Song . . . Song] Dirge . . . Dirge 1st rdg del note48210 Fallen] Eternal 1st rdg del note48311 woke & flew] wake & fly 1st rdg (ink) del; woke & flew erased pencil above line, preceding ink revision of line itself. note48414-15 are additions within a stanza break, 14 later than 15. (And the g's in 14 are in Blake's late serifed style.) note485The last seven words of 15 are over an erasure almost legible. note486 In 16 "voice" is over a word ending in d. note48717 Enitharmon darken'd in] Vala darkend in her 1st rd note48818 Enitharmon a terror] Enitharmon a Cloud 2nd rdg; Vala lightning 1st rdg del note48920 as Vala] O Vala 1st rdg note49022 over a deleted line almost legible. note49124 followed by deleted passage (evidently replaced by 22): If thou drivst all the [Males] <Females> away from [Vala] <Luvah> I will drive all The Males away from thee PAGE 11 note4924 He answer'd, darkning more with] Los answer'd, darkning with foul 1st rdg note493Lines 5-6 are ink over erased ink; an erased pencil version of 5 is partly visible in the space above it. 5 tho] thou 1st rdg del note4946 Fallen] Eternal 1st rdg del note4957 Vala,] followed by erasure, perhaps "but" note49610 Fallen] Eternal 1st rdg del In the margin are nine lines marked to follow 11 but then deleted:
Refusing to behold the Divine image which all behold And live thereby. he is sunk down into a deadly sleep But we immortal in our own strength survive by stern debate Till we have drawn the Lamb of God into a mortal form And that he must be born is certain for One must be All And comprehend within himself all things both small & great We therefore for whose sake all things aspire to be & live Will so recieve the Divine Image that amongst the Reprobate He may be devoted to Destruction from his mothers womb
note49720 is followed by this inserted and then deleted line: Threaten not me O visionary thine the punishment! note49824 rebellious] free 1st rdg del
PAGE 12 note499A page requiring further study; some lines that seem to be original copperplate may not be; oddly enough "muttering" in 7 and "golden" in 34 have late-style g's. The erased line under 3 begins "Rejoicing in" and ends "rejoicing in victory & blood". Inserted line 6, in pencil, has its first word inked over--in the same copperplate hand as "muttering" and "golden". (See below.) note5001-3 derive from erased pencil drafts beneath 18-24; in these, line 1 appears unchanged, but the Spirits" and "an orb of blood!" are found in the 2nd pencil draft, not the first--where the
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TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 306-309
clarions are plainly Luvah's: "A groan was xxxx xxxxly The warlike Clarions / Of Luvah ceasd xxxxx xxxx ?shudderd xxxx ?Orb". note5016 the other] Bentley reads "the Man", misled by an uncrossed tNot only is "the one must have murderd the Man" unidiomatic, but it is also a misconstruction of the text: the Eternal Man is weak but not under threat of murder; it is Los and Vala or Enitharmon, within him, who seek to murder each other: she sings a Dirge/Song of Death; he smites her and refuses to die; she in turn cries for help from Urizen; "And the one must have murderd the other if he had not descended". note5029 he eyed the Prince] he Urizen eyed 1st rdg note50310-31 are marginal additions in two blocks, the first consisting of 10-17, 30-31, but with a guide line after 17 leading in the block 18-29. Keynes and Bentley ignore the line, though Bentley notes it yet keeps 30-31 as if 18-19. Keynes copes with the bad transition this leaves to 32 ff by arbitrarily moving 24 down to a position between 29 and 32. note50427-28 are crowded in as a single line running into the margin, but scansion indicates the division required note50535 Rejoicing in the Victory . . . blood] Bentley (p 168) makes much of the fact that this is an "addition written over an erased pencil line", jumping to the conclusion that "it is clear that the original passage had nothing to do with either victory or war": but the full context, at every stage of the ms, is of deadly strife between male and female, a Dirge or Song of Death, and a Urizenic victory. And note the original reading of line 3. Erasures in the gap after 9 include a two-line variant Of 23 (". . . I am God from Eternity to Eternity / Obey thy Lord . . ."). In the adjacent right margin are six erased line segments, ". . . hands Pity not Vala / ?Pity ?not Luvah / ... / ... / & these / ...", apparently a draft for 14-16. Below 34 is an erased pencil line beginning "A" and ending "of Enitharmon"; in the adjacent margin is a second line in four segments, the first, conjecturally, "Luvah said". note506Lines 40-43 were inserted--to stop the duel pictured on this page and to reverse the drift. note50744 nervous] bloody inserted but erased rdg Both "fleshly" and "nervous" are written over erasures.
PAGE 13 note5084 But] The ?shades of 1st rdg del Lines 4-10 are inserted, partly in a stanza break and partly in the margin; Bentley treats 8-10 as a late addition to this addition--apparently on the basis of imagery ("Luvah robes of blood"). note5099 Luvahs] Luvah ms rdg note51011-12 first read: The purple night the crimson morning & the golden day ?descended ?While the clear changing atmosphere display'd green fields among (But "While" may be "Where".) note511Above 16 are two erased pencil segments with a blank between: But monstrous delusion ?invaded wrath ?enterd his world of love note512Above 19 is an erased pencil line running into the right margin: In beauty love & scorn ?the ?earthbound bride & bridegroom ?sulk note51320 thousand thousand spirits] orbits highmarginal rdg eraseddemons by the thousands out of a golden cloud xxxx xxx 2nd marginal rdg erased: whole line del, then del erased note51424 Bright Souls] ?Elementspenciled above but erase
PAGE 14 note5157 Ephraim . . . to Zion] The Mountain . . . to the Mountain 1st rdg del, but the revisions and lines of deletion are in faint pencil and may have been erased note51614 Men] mended from men note51716 Valleys] mended from valleys note51817 dark] ?weak 1st rdg del (whole line palimpsest) note51920 Let us plat a] Let ?us light 1st rdg erased, as if Blake thought first to have the Cities call for fires (see Song of Lo6:20) note52022 Children] mended from children
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TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 309-313
PAGE 15 note5218 Human] mended from human note52210 Siez'd] ?he ?was siezd 1st rdg erased note52311 Horse] mended from horse note52412 Mighty] Eternal 1st rdg erased note52517 By night nor] To ?light ?the 1st rdg erased note52620 Thou] mended from thou or then (When Ellis and Yeats were sorting the leaves of the manuscript, in 1891, they could not find where to put the leaf bearing pages 15-16. Blake, who had numbered p 14 "12" and p 17 "13", must have created pp 15-16 as an insert but not added page numbers. Ellis put this leaf at the end, numbering it 69 (having written "68" on p 139). In the top margin of p is he wrote: "(a separate sheet: It cannot be placed as its sequel is missing.) E.J.E. [Edward J. Ellis]--1891." Thirteen years later he wrote, beside this, "Perhaps it is all an insertion designed to preceed 'Enion blind & age bent wept upon the desolate wind,--(373 in the 1st printed numbering [i.e. the 1893 text]--suggestion of Mr F G Fleay 1904". He was right, and in the next numbering of the ms folios it was marked "8".)
PAGE 17 note5271 Enion] And Enion 1st rdg note5284] over erased line: "Why......... & . . note5297 waving] the waving 1st rdg note5308 howl] howls 1st rdg note5319 summers] the summers 1st rdg
PAGE 18 note5323 but he know not that] he knows not that the 1st rd note53311-12] over erased line End of the First Night note53415 followed by End of The First Night note535Pages 19-22 are bound out of order; the conjectural arrangement 21-22, 19-20 made by Keynes and Bentley seems acceptable
PAGE 21 note5364 One] mended from one (the second "one" being overlooked) note5377 the Mountain of Snowdon] Mount Gilead 1st rdg del note5389 Albion He] Shiloh he 1st rdg mended note53913 Beulah] mended from beulah note54015 Conways Vale] Beth Peor 1st rdg del note54131 O] mended from o
PAGE 22 note5427 Atlantic] deep 1st rdg del note54311 oer] round 1st rdg del
PAGE 19 note5441 is] will soon 1st rdg del note5452 are] will be 1st rdg del note5463 led] let ms the indefinite] all nations 1st rdg del note5478 High Snowdon] Mount Gilead 1st rdg del note54815 followed by "End of The First Night"; the further addition on the verso, page 20, is in pencil and may have been finally rejected by Blake; serpentine spirals drawn in crayon, apparently over the writing, may mean deletion.
PAGE 20 note549"No satisfactory position in the text has been devised for this page", says Bentley (p 20). See preceding note. note5504 Beulah] Eternity 1st rdg del note5518 Gates] mended from gates note55215 consuming] tending 1st rdg del
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TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 313-319
Night the [Second]
PAGE 23 note553 title] Night the [Third] <[First]> <[First]> ms, never written "Second", though the "End of the Second Night" is declared on p 36. This would have been Third when the Second began on p 9, q.v. It was evidently twice tried and rejected as First.
note5543 Albion] The Man 1st rdg del
note5554 Porches] Ears 1st rdg del
note5566] line crossed in pencil for deletion, and replacement written in the right margin, then deleting lines and replacement thoroughly erased, The line leaves traces: "?Remember ?O ?Urizen / Cxxxg xxdxding / xxxvns"
note557 7-8] ink over pencil, within a stanza break. Blake first wrote and erased a different text for 8, ending "of fallen man"; his next pencil text was followed verbatim in ink.
note55810 Exulting at the voice that calld him from the Feast of envy 1st &final rdg] Indignant at the voice that calld him from the Feast of love 2nd rdg "Exulting" and "envy" were lined through in pencil, and "Indignant" and "love" written in pencil in the left and right margins; then these words and the deleting lines were erased.
PAGE 24 note5594 followed by erased pencil: Above him he xxx Jerusalem ?in ?the bloody ?Heaven as xxx xxx his eyes
note560 5 great Work master] lord of ?day 1st rdg del
note561 9 Urizen] the lord 1st rdg del
PAGE 25 note5622] A pencil line, followed by erased pencil lines in right margin.
note5636-33] An insertion beginning in a stanza break and continuing in the right margin (obviously fair copy from a working draft).
note56411] Blake first wrote "Fled" at the end of this line, then deleted it and began his new line with this word.
note56533 is not properly spliced back to the original passage; a linking line, with a verb for the "While" clause, must have been dropped in transcribing from working notes.
note56635] Antecedent of "they" is the human leopards, tygers (and horses) of lines 1-5, line 34 having originally followed 5.
PAGE 26 note5675 Valas King] Luvahs Lord 1st rdg erased
note56813 Till] But revision, erased while wet Dragon] mended from de[for_demon?]
PAGE 27 note5699 O Lamb] I ?die 1st rdg erased
note57010-12] written over two erased lilies, the first perhaps beginning "Albion"
note57114 was love but] am love & 1st rdg (above this line is an erased insertion beginning "And Urizen who"; it may have been identical to 15 in its first or its revised form) note572 17 delusion] terror 1st rdg del
PAGE 28 note5732] written over erased pencil, beginning under "from" with a word that may be "Los"
note57411-24] marginal insertion 11 Man] mended from Men
note57518 darksom] dismal 1st rdg del
note57626 pyramid] globe mended to Globe 1st rdg del
note57729 center] center 1st rdg del; basement 2nd rdg del(the deletion of "center" was a strong ink stroke not easily erased)
note57831 Sons] mended from sons
PAGE 29 note5791 Fallen] Eternal 1st rdg erased; Fallen 2nd rdg; Ancient 3rd rdg pencil erase
note5802 Cubes] Globes 1st rdg del
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TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 319-322
PAGE 30 note5815 condensing] together 1st rdg erased
note58216 wondrous] golden 1st del Central Domes] centr f[orm] 1st rdg erased
note58319 are] mended from were (or perhaps vice versa) Mountains] mended from mountains
note58423 White] bright 1st rdg erased
note58533 Please] mended from pleasd
note58634 misty] cloudy 1st rdg del
note58743 returnd] descended 1st rdg del
PAGE 31
note5889-10 are written in margin at this place, though not marked to go in; put after 16 by Keynes and (formerly) Bentley
PAGE 32 note5893-4 deleted but then marked "To come in"
note5907 But] For 1st rdg del
note5918 sorrow & care] songs & joy 1st rdg erased
note59212 Cubed . . . window square] Circled . . . infinite orb 1st rdg del. The second reading is erased; yet it is supported by the reference back to "Cubes" and "window" in 33:4-5. If ears are porches, mouth, nose, and eyes had better be doors and windows; yet the concept of micromacrocosm is better expressed in "infinite orb immoveable", with its matching of the oxymoron in "primum mobile". If Blake hesitated to choose either reading, an editor hesitates to reject either. 12 walls & cielings] arches all 1st rdg del
note59314 is written over an erased line ending "?within"
note59416 Sorrowing . . . to sow] Then . . . forth to sow 1st rdg
PAGE 33
note5954 Cubes] mended from cubes; orbs 1st rdg del
note5966 World] mended from world note5978 Heaven walled round] over erasure; intermediate draft, above the line reads: [the ?heavens <?were> walld]
note5989 comforted saw] over erasure; draft above line is possibly identical. The erased words may have been "in comfort saw": an i dot and an f are in the right places.
note59911-15 written over four revised and erased lines, traces of which are: "And ?Luvah Iding fly / R rejoicing & triumph / S falling / A walkd of the Mundane Egg".
note60017 Body] The B curiously mended, perhaps merely from b Abyss] mended from abyss
note60118 sorrow & care] songs & joy 1st rdg erased; eternal fear 2nd rdg, written below the line and then erased Immediately below 18 Blake wrote lines 22-26 followed by 19-21; then, while 18 ended with eternal fear", he put an X after it and another X in front of what was to be line 19, to indicate insertion of 19-21 after 18. Later he put "1" after the first X, "2" before the second X, and "3" before line 22, to confirm the final sequence. (Bentley's "missing section" may be a ghost.)
note60223 number weight] weight & measure 1st rdg del
note60325 unornamented pillar] ornamented pillar square 1st rdg
note60428 strength] pow[er] 1st rdg del
note60529 season] spring 1st rdg del
note60632 right angled] their 1st rdg del
note60733 Scalene] & oblong 1st rdg del
note60836 hard subdued] fructifying 1st rdg del
PAGE 34 note609Erased pencil lines under 2-4 and in right margin (partly obscured by an "Ellis" note): Laughing & mocking Luvah ?breaking [word from an unrelated layer of ms?] in the woes of Vala [Bentley's "womb of Vala"] But soon [for them] ?he ?formd the lovely limbs of [Enion] Enitharmon xxx & to lamentation of Enion ?answer for fear
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TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 322-327
note610Below 3 are two layers of erased pencil, the first ending "for Vindication of Urizens world", the second beginning "Thy name is familiar".
note6119 For] Now 1st rdg del
note61215 Elemental] mended from elemental
note613Beneath 16-17 are about 11 erased pencil lines, the first beginning "X[And oft] <thus> she wails", the next two like 16-17 ("And Los said. Lo the Lilly . . . / Reproach thee & the but the rest apparently different from final text.
note61423-24 Secure . . . fury] words inserted above the single line beginning "Enitharmon" and ending "infolds"; spacing and meter suggest the proper distribution.
note61526 Howl . . . thine] over erased words
note61628 sleep] sleeps 1st rdg
note61736 written over erased line
note61849 written over erased line
note61956-57 began as one line, "She sang Oer Los. I seize the sphery harp I strike the strings"; above the second portion Blake then added "reviving . . . terrible" and below the first portion "But thus she sang", making the present two lines. He forgot to move the stop after "Los", where it marked the beginning of the song to come, to its proper new position after "sang", but I have done so.
note62094 reviving] delighted 2nd rdg erased
note621Erased pencil above 97 and in margin: "?From ?Ahanias woe all xxxx xxxx only wrath & Envy follows in xxxx their fxxxds / Urizen saw and axxxxx".
note62299 Enion] written over she
note623100 Thus Enion] And oft she 1st rdg; And thus she 2nd rdg
PAGE 36 note62414-15 written over End of the Second Night erase note62518 Spectrous] terrible 1st rdg del
Night the Third
PAGE 37 note626title] "Third" is written over one or two erasures, possibly in the sequence. [Third] <[Fourth]> <Third>. Perhaps at one time Night 11 began on P 7, II was Third, III was Fourth.
note6273 Me] thy Wife, that 1st rdg del
note6284 I Embrace . . . wet My . . . my] Embraces . . . wets her . . . her 1st rdg note62910 Thou sitst in harmony for God hath set thee over all 1st rdg del
PAGE 38
note6302 Ahania] shadow penciled above; both rdgs del
note6317 but . . . Decree) & all my Kingly power 1st rdg del
note6328 Vala shall] ?That Vala ?may 1st rdg; But Vala shall 2nd rdg (the "But" now redundant)
note633NB: Some penciled revisions in Ahania's speech (which runs from 38:15 through 42:17) adapt it for use in Jerusalem 43:33-82 as a speech by two "fugitives". Changes (e.g. of pronouns to plural) that only disrupt the text cannot have been intended for The Four Zoas and are here noted but not adopted. Insertion of the name "Albion", however, does suit Blake's latest intentions for this poem, as we know from its revised title.
PAGE 39 note6341 Leave . . . Light] replacing two deleted lines: Raise then thy radiant eyes to him raise thy obedient hands And comforts shall descend from heaven into thy darkning clouds
note6355 To forge] over deletion
note63614 Ancient] Eternal 1st rdg erased
note63715 Darkning] Eternal 1st rdg erased; Fallen 2nd rdg erase
note63817 thee . . . thy] the . . . with 1st rdg
note63918 and 40:1 are lightly lined through in pencil; excluded from Jerusalem (see J 43:35-36).
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TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 327-331
PAGE 40
note6401 In] Of 1st rdg del
note6412 Man] mended from man
note6423 Shadow] mended from shadow
note64310 I . . . my heart . . . me] We . . . our hearts . . . us pencil revision for
note64411 I] We pencil revision for J Slumberous] Eternal 1st rdg del
note64512 written in stanza break, over erased line identical to unrevised 10
PAGE 41 note6462-3 ms rdg: that shadowy Spirit of the [Eternal] <Fallen> One <Albion> / Luvah, decended . . . ; [the Eternal Man] arose <In terror> <Albion rose> The wisto change the One" to "Albion carried out elsewhere on the page, was halted here by the awkward juxtaposition of "Albion/Luvah" that would result; the earlier reading ("One") is not deleted, and Keynes is right to call "Albion" an alternate reading, but the insertion of "Albion" in the FZ was a late development.
note6474 Awful] Eternal 1st rdg; Fallen 2nd rdg erased
note6485-9] Ahania, speaking parenthetically to Urizen, as in 18; pencil bracket in margin directs Blake to exclude these lines from Jerusalem (J43[29]), as he did, running directly from 4. to 10. (Bentley, 1978, p 1134., gets the message confused and mistakenly moves 10 to precede 5-9, thus giving these lines to the wrong speaker.)
note6496 Eyes] mended from eyes
note65010 I] We pencil rdg Albion] the Eternal 1st rdg; the Falln One, 2nd rd
note65112 Love] mended from love
note65213 mighty Albion] Eternal Man 1st rdg; Ancient Man 2nd rdg, not del
note65315 Albion] Man 1st rdg del
note65417 the Fallen Man) the Eternal Man 1st rdg; Albion pencil, partly erase
PAGE 42
note655The last of the pages in copperplate hand on new paper; Bentley notes that "The modified copperplate band strangely turns into the most beautiful copperplate hand at the end of the tenth line"; but the modified hand is over original copperplate, erased.
note6567-8 were first written in pencil in the margin, then in ink in a stanza break.
note6579 &] they penciled above but erased
note65810 I saw that] the Spirits 1st rdg erased; I saw that penciled above and erased, then inked in line
note659Beside 11-12 in the margin is the material for two lines that might have been meant to follow "now the Human Blood foamd high" but were never fitted in: Albion closd the Western Gate & / shut America out by the Atlantic / for a Curse and hidden horror / and an altar of victims to Sin / & Repentance
note66017] In the following stanza break and in the margin is this pencil draft of lines the "fugitives" speak in Jerusalem
Whether this is Jerusalem or Babylon we know not All is confusion All is tumult & we alone escaped Beneath thiis an erased pencil draft: ?Then labour ended love for Vala Our hearts sick we on his Rock We fled from ?Jerusalem ?after ?the Merciful Lord & Saviournote66118 From] for ms rdg, a slip
PAGE 43 note6622 hand] mended from had
PAGE 44 note6632 shuddering] darkning 1st rdg del
note6647 roared] reared 1st rdg mended sulphureous written suphuireous in hast
note66518 Struggling to utter the voice] To take the limbs of Man 1st rdg erased, a mistaken skipping of a line in transcription
PAGE 45 note66627 his voice of Thunder rolld] the voice of Tharmas rolld 1st rdg
PAGE 46 note667 5 Hope] Joy 1st rdg del
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TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 331-334
PAGE 47
Night The Fourth
note6687 written over erased line: H d s Tharmas ?rolling ?his thundring seas Encompassd thee
note6699 How . . . fled] And Tharmas said All my hope I thought <Enion> for ever gone 1st rdg
note67016 beneath] upon 1st rdg del
note671 22 over] for over me?
PAGE 48
note672This page bears, as Bentley discovered, "a faint impression of mirror-printing: 'Ballad the First', &c." from p 9 of Ballads Relating to Animalby William Hayley, for which Blake made engravings dated 1 June 1802. Bentley (p 162) deduces that the sheet was used as backing when Blake printed the Ballad and only later used as ms paper. His further deduction or assertion that "There is no evidence to suggest that any of the succeeding pages [of The Four Zoas] were transcribed beforpage 48" is contradicted by his own argument (on pp 194-195 on "Anomalous pages [i.e. leaves]") to the effect that such imperfect leaves as this would have been avoided by Blake until he reached the end of his supply of perfect leaves. The discovery, in short, helps date pages 47-48, but it also seems to mark them as a late insertion. (Bentley does not count 47-48 among the anomalies. His categories consist of odd-sized leaves; "make-shift" leaves made of two overlapping pieces of paper but otherwise of good size and good enough to have been used for Night Thoughts proofs--for all the leaves under discussion are proofs made in 1796, with one possible exception, and available for ms use any time thereafter; three sheets that were once folded together horizontally; one with a small patch in the inner margin. In another group Bentley counts as "very late" a sheet cut into two leaves bearing Blake's 1793 engraving of Edward & Elenoon one side. Yet leaf 47-48 is described (p 4-8 n) as having vertical "creases . . . as if [from] a great weight" "made after the Night Thoughts engraving was printed, but after (sc. before?] the Vala writing . . .". Presumably the creases were made by the weight of the press and before ms use, or the whole argument collapses; elsewhere Bentley is fairly confident that the writing "appears to be on top of the printing" (p 162 n 1); he apparently also means us to connect the "creases" with the process which made "a regular indentation . . . where Blake's copperplate repeatedly pressed the paper". These creases and indentation surely qualify the leaf for inclusion among such "anomalous" leaves as the three once folded; the transferred printing would seem to put it rather further along the scale toward the very imperfect end. Another kind of evidence that a succeeding page was transcribed before pages 47-48 is the striking fact that p 57, the title of Night The Fifth, is so early it first read "Book" (erased and written "Night"), while no such early wording occurs on the title of "Night The Fourth" on p 47.
note673 13 Eternal] Anci[ent] 1st rdg del
note67421 solemn] dismal 1st rdg erased
PAGE 49 note6758 griding] dismal 1st rdg erased
note67624 seeing] answerd 1st rdg del
PAGE 50 note6772 abhorrence] followed by eternal del
note6785 dread] great 1st rdg del
note67911] written over an apparently nonvariant draft of 12
PAGE 51 note6804 dreary] dismal 1st rdg del
note6817 solid] mended from sold
note68223 Vala] mended from Valan The six occurrences of such mending are on pages of rapid fair-copying; the mending is current and does not represent a change of name but a slip; perhaps from the influence of other names of emanations, Enion, Enitharmon. See 59:5, 19; 63:13; 83:12.
note68324 Urizen] U mended from L (for Luvah)
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TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 335-339
PAGE 52 note68410 Trumpets Horns & Clarions] mended from trumpets horns & clarions
PAGE 53 note68515 Ladles huge] lables 1st rdg del, error of rapid transcription
PAGE 54 note6866 heated] pourd 1st rdg del
note68720 brain] mended from brains.Line followed by deletionRound the branches of his heart
note68826 in] mended from as
PAGE 55 (FIRST PORTION) note68910-15] added at bottom of page, over erased closing "End of The Fourth Night". Text originally continued with "In terrors Los . . . Abyss" (16-31, moved below); but this block was bracketed to go at the end of p 56 . After line 9 is inserted the instruction: "The Council of God &c as below. to immensity 31 lines"; at the end of p 56, before the new colophon, is written: "In terrors &c <to Abyss> as 31 lines above".
PAGE 56 (FIRST PORTION)
note69011-16] over six erased lines: ?And ?in ?five days of Great Eternity The Eternal Death Then ?Jesus Then all [Co]ntr[ac]tion Then all the Space of Empyrean ?playd in Song Witherd with ?silent ?compassion after endless ?war
note69113 Albion] Man 1st rdg del
note69218] inserted, over a deleted earlier insertion.
note69323 Starry Wheels] Deep beneath 1st rdg del
note69427] written over erased: "The End of the Fourth Book"; followed by instruction: "In terrors <to Abyss> as 31 lines above".
PAGE 55 (SECOND PORTION) note69518 with noises] in noises 1st rdg, error of copying from Book of Urizen
note69623] followed by instruction Bring in here the Globe of Blood as in the B of Urizen (a reference to Urizen 18; Blake in pp 54-55 has been adapting Urizen chapters IV-V). Editors have shirked their duty heretofore, but Blake plainly wanted the Urizen lines inserted here; I have put them within editorial brackets and treated two lines as one to suit the Four Zoas meter--and renumbered the lines that follow.
note69728 fro] mended from from
note69830 shriek] mended from shrieks
note69931 With] written over On
PAGE 56 (SECOND PORTION) note700 colophon] End of the Fourth [Book] Night At bottom of page is this erased pencil: Christs Crucifix shall be made an excuse for Executing Criminals
PAGE 57
Night The Fifth
note701title] [Book] <Night> The Fifth (I argue above that the correction of "Book" to "Night" seems evidence of early draft; it may, however, be only a careless slip in a relatively late stage of the work; Blake in these pages is writing rapid fair copy from presumably heavily revised sheets; if he had already begun to write Milton, in Books, such a slip would be easy.) (Note that the colophon on p 56, written first of the several for Night IV, reads simply "Night".)
note7025 dreary] dismal 1st rdg del
note7037 shrunk] written shrink (symptom of rapid copying)
note70414 Nadir] written Nader (or just an undotted i)
- 833 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 339-346
PAGE 58 note7059 & fro &] written & fro & &
note70621 new born] youthful 1st rdg del
note70723 Urizen cast] When Urizen cast 2nd but canceled rdg
note70825 Discord began then] Discord began & 1st rdg; Then Discord began 2nd rdg firmament is misspelled firmaent An erasure of 5 lines circled in ink begins under 24-25: The demons ?howld round his Chariot ?raging ?Luvah Emp[tied] In clouds of ?tent Abyss Was Luvah he stood ?glowing in the dark flame Around the Abyss [d]efiantly <?shout[ing]> xxxxx all his Demons Of hope & fear then sing the same song around the glowing bed In the left margin of the 3rd and 4th lines Blake wrote "This to be before".
PAGE 59 note7095 Vala] mended from Valan; so also in line 19
note71021 round red Orc] of the deep & 1st rdg del
PAGE 60 note7112 Extinction] mended from extinction
note71220 griding] dismal 1st rdg del
note71322 Calld] subject omitted: he or they
note71429 acursed] dismal 1st rdg del
PAGE 61 note71514 lament] rejoice 1st rdg del
note71624 a fiery] with fiery 1st rdg
PAGE 62 note7176 strength in] strength rejoice 1st rdg, skipping by mistake
note71832 it] mended from its
PAGE 63 note71910 Golgonooza] G mended from g
note72012 deadly] dismal 1st rdg erased
note72113 Vala] mended from Valan
note72214 dreary] dismal 1st rdg erased
note72318 Tho] mended from Uri (for Urizen, beginning next line)
PAGE 64 note7245] in the noon] with the noon 1st rdg
note725 9 to] mended from into
note72622 Saying O] Saying S 1st rdg
note72724 & said] Saying 1st rdg del
PAGE 65 note728colophon: Night] Book 1st rdg erased
PAGE 67
Night the Sixth
note729The "g" in the title has a rightward serif, dating it after 1802.
note73017 Woman] W mended from w
note73118 current] river 1st rdg del
PAGE 68 note7321] Then Urizen raisd his spear. but they reard up a wall of rocks 1st rdg; the two clauses were then numbered "2" and "1" to reverse their order, and the conjunctions changed.
PAGE 69 note73313 Live] mended
- 834 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 346-352 note73417 End] Cease 1st rdg del
note73530 dreary] dismal 1st rdg erased
PAGE 70 (FIRST PORTION) note73610] In the margin is a rhymed couplet in crayon, not marked for entry: Till thou dost injure / the distrest Thou shalt never have peace / within thy breast
note73717] Followed by 3 deleted lines, the first replacing the second: Not so closd up the Prince of Light now darkend wandring among <For> Urizen beheld the terrors of the Abyss wandring among The Ruind Spirits once his Children & the Children of Luvah
note73837 Some ?as columns of fire & of water . . . in length 1st rdg
note73938 length] breadth 1st rdg del
note74045 ff] In the following rearrangement of lines on pages 70-71 I follow Keynes's interpretation of the series of bracketings on those pages; the textual fit hardly allows an alternative.
PAGE 71 note7413 his] their 1st rdg del
note74216 iron . . . rain] eternal . . . snow 1st rdg del
note74326 clay] slime 1st rdg del
note74436 his] mended from him note74537 gloomy] dismal 1st rdg del
PAGE 72 note7462-9 are written over an erasure of 7 1/2 lines which prove to be identical to the last lines on this page and the first on the next (72:34-39; 73:1-2), where they make a better textual fit. The general pace of the writing, everywhere on these pages, is rapid fair copy. The erased lines would not have fitted where they were first written; the new lines were not freshly created; the best explanation is that Blake inadvertently began copying the wrong passage, noticed his error in the middle of the 8th line, and rectified it at once. (The erased passage begins "O what a world is here" and ends "Upon the green plains".)
PAGE 73 note7474 destruction] confusion 1st rdg del
note74815 bosoms] bowels 1st rdg del This line is an insertion in a stanza break; its introduction of mountain riches prepares for the change in the next line.
note749 16 So . . . iron] So Saying he began to form of gold silver & [brass] iron 1st rdg; then "Saying" was deleted and "dig" was inserted above "form" but without deletion of the latter word. The reason for removing "Saying" must have been to gain an extra metrical foot; the intention must therefore have been to retain both "dig" and "form". Of the possible alternative readings, "to dig & form" or "to dig, forming", I have adopted the latter as more characteristic.
note75027 feet] mended from foot
note75136 bursts] mended from burstings
PAGE 74 note75220 Snows] ?Enion 1st rdg del, a slip
note75328 Urizen] U written over O (a slip?)
PAGE 75 note7543 by] with 1st rdg del
note7556 Shadow] mended from Shade
note75611 him] his ms rdg 6 11-12 are written over erased lines which prove to be identical to 13-14; evidently a slip in copying note75720 shores] deeps 1st rdg del
note75831 gorg d] mended from gord
- 835 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 352-357
PAGE 77
Night the Seventh note759There are two sections in Blake's ms each headed "Vala / Night the Seventh" and by editorial convention identified as VIIa (pp 77-90) and VIIb (91-98). The text of VIIa, when first inscribed as fair copy from drafts not extant, ended at 85:22, fitting fairly well the fair-copy opening of VIIb (91:1) but not smoothly. From the nature of the fit it is reasonable to conjecture that 91-98 (VIIb) already existed. These pages remain fair copy with minor revisions, but Blake achieved one drastic revision by writing instructions to himself on pages 91, 95, and 98 to begin "the Seventh Night" with 95:15 and move the preceding passages (91:1 to 95:14) around to follow the end of 98--a change which improved the fitting of VIIa to VIIb. (In either sequence VIIb could bring the Night to a cadence, ready for Night VIII.) But later Blake erased the finish line after 85:22 and extended VIIa, first for a few lines, with a new finis line, then, erasing that, to the bottom of the page and on into the margins of picture page 86, originally a tailpiece for the Night; then on through pages 87 and 90 (there being no room for text on pages 88-89). This new termination of the Night fitted VIIa very nicely to the beginning of Night VIII, but it left VIIb dangling.
Blake might have thought to discard VIIb, but he did not do so; it contains passages needed in The Four Zoas, somewhere.
But their disposition remains an editorial problem, with no instructions from the author. Recently three scholars, working independently, have come up with three proposed reading sequences, each more elegant than simply taking VIIa and VIIb consecutively. Andrew Lincoln, arguing from an impressive hypothetical reconstruction of the evolution of the ms, would insert VIIa between the two portions of VIIb (as Blake rearranged them). Mark Lefebvre and John Kilgore, arguing mainly from fit, propose inserting all of VIIb between the two portions of VIIa (taking the first portion of VIIa as concluding with 85:22, originally followed by "End of the Seventh Night"). Kilgore would return the transposed parts of VIIb to their original order; Lefebvre would keep them in the order of Blake's transposing. In the present edition I have decided to follow the latter course. (All these proposals are discussed in detail in the Summer 1978 issue ofBlake: An Illustrated Quarterly._)
note7605-17 draw upon 98:18-20; 99:1-21 (or at least a reverse direction seems improbable).
note761 More narrowly, 8-16, dealing with beasts in the plural (lions, tygers, bulls) seems to derive from 98:18-20, where they were first Bull, Lion, Tyger, but revised to Lions, Tygers.
note76219] inserted in a stanza break
PAGE 78 note763Upside down in the left margin are written "B Blake / "B Blake / Catherine Blake / 76", erased. The combined ages of William (Bill) and Catherine would have been 76 in 1797-98.
note76413 rangd his Books around] ranged his rocks a[round] Book around 1st rdg
note76516 an] his 1st rdg del
PAGE 79 note76613 roll] mended from rolls
PAGE 80
note7671 read . . . tones] written over erasure; 2-8 are evidently an amplification, crowded between lines and continuing in the margin, yet possibly only another accidental slip in copying.
note7683 Ye] be ms rdg
note76916 the] mended from them
note77027 Then Orc cried] Orc answerd 1st rdg
note77144 And Orc began] So saying he began 1st rdg
note77247 affection] wisdom 1st rdg del
PAGE 81 note7737 watching cold) cold watching 1st rdg; "Urizen" ends in a wiggle that may include an S, perhaps for "Urizen's cold"
note77415 Men] M mended from m note77517] Two deleted lines follow:
- 836 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 357-3 60
She Secret joyd to see She fed herself on his Despair She said I am avengd for all my sufferings of old
note77619 root] mended from roots
note77728 the spring] early spring 1st rdg
PAGE 82 note77824 Tree] T mended from t
note77926 in tears] in vain 1st rdg
note780 33 face lightnings] face [thy Sons] & his lightnings 1st rdg
note78134 Orc] O mended from o
note78236 Sweet] written over woe
PAGE 83 note78312 Vala] mended from Valan
PAGE 84 note78410 Livd] L written over j (for joys? see next line)
note78513 manhood was divided for the]written over erasur
note78619 tubelike] mended from tublike
note78726 returning] mended from returnd
note78829 wert] written were and revised to wert with uncrossed "t
note78936-40] inserted from margin, with guide line. Blake's line count on this page, "292 or 297", indicates a moment when he was undecided whether to keep or drop the five lines of this inserted passage. 36 brutish] moved here from the head of the next line, where it was written but deleted while wet
note79039 thee not] between these words is a deleted passage: & till I have thee in my arms & am again united to Los To be one body & One spirit with him
--perhaps deleted to avoid interference with the more effective "till" clause of 41. (Keynes and Bentley put 41-42 before the marginal insertion, which is to miss the need for this deletion as well as to overlook the guide.)
PAGE 85 (FIRST PORTION) note7912 Embracing] E mended from e
note79215 broke] mended from burst
note79319-20] guided in from margin; line 21 is written over a long erased line that may have been the original conclusion to this Night
note79421 dark] sweet 1st rdg del
note79522 terrified] smild & 1st rdg, the "&" not del. Before the addition of lines 23ff, this line was followed by "End of the Seventh Night" (see note on Second Portion of p 85).
PAGE 95 (SECOND PORTION) note796The text of pp 91-97 was written down in that order, after the heading "Vala / Night the Seventh" on p 91, but then was rearranged by a note on p 91 stating that "This Night begins at line 153 the following comes in at the End" and a note on p 95 after its 14th line: "Beginning of the [Book] <Seventh Night>" plus a note at the end of p 98: "Then follows Thus in the Caverns of the Grave &c as it stands now in the beginning of Night the Seventh".
note79715 Roots] tree 1st rdg overwritten
note79816 brooded] brooded dismal 1st rdg
note79917 his warriors] the Shadowy female 1st rdg del
note80024] followed by deleted line: The shadowy voice answered O urizen Prince of Light (NB: Here and in line 32 "Urizen" is written over a different name, possibly "Luvah" or "Satan" though no h or is visible.)
- 837 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PACES 361-368
PAGE 96
note80118 temple] followed by the beginning of a line immediately deleted: Urizen namd it Pande" (i.e. Pandemonium)
note80219 stature] forehead 1st rdg del
note80325 for] mended from of
PAGE 97 note8047 sands] roads 1st rdg del
note80510 all] [till] all ms
note80621 night or day] day by day 1st rdg
PAGE 98 note80719 Lion] Lions 1st rdg
note80820 Tyger] Tygers 1st rdg
note80931] followed by pencil direction "Then Heavd the Earthquake &c" referring to a lost passage perhaps some revision of 91:6ff. Next follows the inked,and earlier, direction to bring in ". . . Thus in the Caverns of the Grave &c as it stands now . . .", i.e. pp 91ff. But see also 104:21 "Heavd like an Earthquake
PAGE 91 note810Unerased title: "Vala / Night the Seventh"
note8111 Thus] Now in ms, but revised when quoted on p 98
note81211 affection] love 1st rdg del
note813 21 [triumphant] fury] Erasure not replaced. One wonders at what date Blake decided that even the triumphant aspect of embattled Orc must be called in doubt. The erasure is evidently a political or moral one.
note81430 clouds] steeds 1st rdg del (a clue to Blake's transpositions)
PAGE 92 note81510 clothe] Now clothe 1st rdg note81612 they . . . blood They . . . helmet] the two clauses written in reverse order, then numbered "2" and "1"; yet see Jerusalem 65:7
PAGE 93
note8178 Marching] mended from Marcing
note81817 in hammerd steel] in darkness are 1st rdg del
note81919 Morn] mended, perhaps from morn note820Two lines in the left margin, the first in pencil and the second in ink, read: Unorganizd Innocence, An Impossibility Innocence dwells with Wisdom but never with Ignorance These seem not part of the text but aphoristic comment upon it--and upon the design, borrowed from the engravedNight Thoughtsof disgruntled warriors drinking and stupid. (Yet a horizontal pencil line between lines 19 and 20 could imply a tentative insertion there.)
note82126 Power] mended from for (a jump to "form" three words farther on)
PAGE 94
note82217 form of Orc which] form which 1st rdg
note82325 Curse and] Curse in 1st rdg
note82427 wrathful then] then furious 1st rdg del
note82555 rage against) anguish for 1st rdg del
PAGE 95 (FIRST PORTION) note8268 Patience for] Patience of 1st rdg
PAGE 85 (SECOND PORTION) note82724 boughs . . . fibre] branches . . . stem 1st rdg del
note82826-27] written over erasure: End of the Seventh Night
note82933 Consummating] ?labouring 1st rdg del
note83034 That] Thy 1st rdg del
note83137-38] over erased: The End of the Seventh Night
- 838 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 368-372
note832(The first "End" would have been after 22, the second after 31; lines 31ff are in a smaller sharper pen.)
note83341-42] written in margin without guide line note83443 If we] If once we 1st rdg
PAGE 87 note8352 But] Then 1st rdg del
note8363 Wondering . . . opend] over erasure, after addition and erasure of words in left margin perhaps reading "Will live" or "With Love"
note837 4-5] inserted as one line, with strokes after "destroy" and "performd" implying division into three lines; but the second stroke was erased; the matter exactly fills two lines.
note838 6 They . . . high] Builded Golgonooza Los labouring inspird builded pillars high 1st rdg
note839 10 Urthonas world] ?Urizens world 1st rdg
note84013 beheld] gatherd 1st rdg erased
note84128 of bitter Contrition] many Tears 1st rdg del
note84234 to] the to 1st rdg (for ?thee to)
note84335-38] in margin but guided in; Blake evidently was groping for some word preferable to "Counterpart"; in the 2nd line he even left a gap to fill in after "Counter"; in the 1st, after deleting the whole word, he underlined "Coun" as if to try again. Meanwhile (apparently) he had written and deleted "Vegetative" or "Vegetating" above "Counterpart"; though he rejected it, the only reading Blake left us with which to fill the gap, and make sense in context, is "Vegetating Counterpart" or "Counterpart, Vegetating miraculous" or simply "Counterpart miraculous": Spectres, without one, "ravin".
note84447 ancient injuries] former injuries 1st rdg del
note84549 enough] mended from enought
note846PAGES 88 and 89 are the engraved sides of leaves made by cutting in half (and excluding the center) a print of Blake'sEdward & Eleno1793. The only writing on these sides is the prose aphorism given above, under Miscellaneous Prose--not a part of The Four Zoabut conceivably a comment on the subject of the engraving.
PAGE 90 note8472 sat] ?stood 1st rdg erased
note8483 where . . . Tree] over deletion beginning which
note8495 refuge] sweet 1st rdg del
note85010 labour] pleasure 1st rdg del
note85112 Sacrifice] life & love 1st rdg del
note85216 Lovely terrible] Lovely 1st rdg del
note85322 forms sublime] sweet forms 1st rdg
note85425] followed by a deleted line: To hew the cavernd rocks of Dranthon into forms of beauty
note855 28 forth delighted upon] forth upon 1st rdg
note856 47 fathers] preceded by second del
note85758 Urizen[s] Shadow] Urizen [Spectre] <Shadow> m
PAGE 99
Night the Eighth
note8581 Met in] which is called 1st rdg del
note8592 as] Met as 1st rdg
note8604 Fallen] Eternal 1st rdg erased 4-9 written over five erased lines: [a] He is [b] He is the Good Shepherd He is the Lord & Master [c] He is the Shep[herd of] Albion he is all in all [d] In Eden in the Garden of God& in heavenly Jerusalem [e] To create Man Morning by Morning to give gifts at Noon Day
- 839 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGE 372
Of these lines, and unerased lines 1-3, four were moved to Night I p 8:8-11, i.e, 1, 2, b, e (after the revision of 1 & 2); they were later erased on p 8, and a new page, 21, was added to Night I beginning with seven lines using some of the material of 1, 2, d, and possibly a (if contains the definition of Jesus as "the Christ"); three lines appear also in Jerusalem 34[38]:23-25, consisting of b c d, unchanged (unless my reading "Shepherd of Albion" is mistaken), and these follow' after one unfamiliar line, five lines which are almost identical to lines 2-6 of page 21 Night I. We should expect line a to contain in some form the material occurring in the same position in p 21 and J 34. (Here and below, Jerusalem is abbreviated J.) They Call Jesus the Christ & they in him & he in them Live in Perfect harmony in Eden the land of life --thus p 21:5-6, changed to the first person in Jerusalem We call Jesus the Christ and he in us and we in him (with the second line identical, and a third reading: Giving recieving and forgiving each others trespasses --followed immediately by b c d.) The last word in a could be "recompense" (see 4:20, a related passage), the penultimate word "seeketh" (not "seeking"), and a largely conjectural reconstruction of the whole line that would not do violence to the graphic evidence is: "He is Calld the Christ who forgiveth & seeketh no recompense". Evidence that the deletion and revision on p 99 (and hence the changes on p 8 and insertion of p 21) were not made before Jerusalewas in progress would be the appearance there of erased lines c d verbatim; but of course the passage may have been saved on a separate sheet now lost. Note that 34[38] inspires--or draws on--unique parts of all three pages in The Four Zoas, as well as on common parts.
note8619 over head] followed by deleted passage including five lines in margin: but other wings They had which clothd their bodies like a garment of soft down Silvery white shining upon the dark blue sky in silence Their wings touchd the heavens their fair feet hoverd above The swelling tides they bent over the dead corse like an arch Pointed at top in highest heavens of precious stones & pearl note86215-16 Then Los said I behold . . . thro the broken Gates / Of thy] Then Los beheld . . . thro the broken Gates / Of Enitharmons 1st rdg; Then first Los beheld &c 2nd rd
note86317 I see] inserted above the line
note86418 Awe] mended from al (a false start?)
note86524 Enitharmon] followed by del: which joins to Urizens temple Which is the Synagogue of Satan
note86625 stood] stood at the Gate 1st rdg
PAGE 100 (FIRST PORTION) note867Between lines 1 and 2 a marginal note, "Los stood &c", with guide lines calling for an insertion from another page, may refer to the preceding words in 99:25 (though no insertion here could work); they more probably refer to 90:2 before revision: "Los stood in Golgonooza in the Gate of Luban"; insertion of all but the first and last two lines of p 90 would work quite well at this point; one would need merely to change the phrase "Into his hands" that begins 100:2 into "In his hands" in the antepenultimate line of p 90. The thematic material of 90, amplified with marginal additions, seems all an amplification backward from the "Looms in Lubans Gate" in 100:2. In short, Blake wrote the two pages 87 and 90 as a sequence, considered using the second page as a second page for Night VIII (i.e. inserting it on p 100), but then chose to tighten the sequence (with additions at bottom of 87 and top of 90) and insert it (unquestionably a late addition) at the end of VII. This bit of masonry (the fitting Of 87 to 90 and to 86) which cements VII(a) closely to VIII seems to indicate a time when Blake considered VIIb as abandoned (or moved). It should be noted that 90:1 is probably an addition, the text originally starting within the platemark, and that 99:26-27 are an addition, which must be treated parenthetically, made to round out the tale when the idea of bringing in the "Los stood . . . in the Gate of Luban" passage had been abandoned; hence too the deletion of "at the Gate" in 99:25.
- 840 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 372-377
1 recieving them] Los receiving "the dead" of 99:19
note86811-13 Astonishd . . . saw] Astonishd Comforted delighted the daughters of Beulah saw 1st rdg del
note86923 single] One fold 1st rdg del
note87025] followed by nine lines marked for transfer to p 101
PAGE 101 (FIRST PORTION) note87116 Upon the mighty Fiend] On the immortal fiend 1st rdg del
note87220 brooding] mended from broods
note87327 among the Stars] his hurtling hand 1st rdg del
note87428 His hurtling hand] Among the Stars 1st rdg del
note87529] followed by instructions to transfer lines from 100 and beginning of 101: But Urizen his mighty rage comes in here: to quenchless rage
PAGE 100 (SECOND PORTION)
note87626 But] But ?thus 1st rdg del
note87727 round] from 1st rdg del
note87833 Satan in dark Sanhedrim] probably suggested by Napoleon's summoning in 1807 of the first Sanhedrin since the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D.70; considered by Blake's contemporaries as a millennial sign.
PAGE 101 (SECOND PORTION) note87931 repelld] Bentley still reads "expelld" (with query) but the r is just like that in "rage" in the next line, and the e cannot possibly be an x, a wide and double letter in Blake's hand. (Nor would "expelld" make sense or fit Blake's usage.)
note88033-37] written in margin without guide line; I follow Keynes in reading them as an addition to the transferred passage, belonging here. Bentley now concurs.
note88134 hermaphrodite] male 1st rdg del
PAGE 102 note8827 torment] mended from torments
note88321 avert] mended from invert
note88426 words] mended from world
PAGE 103 note8858 these terrors] the human form 1st rdg del
note88614 in followed by deletion, perhaps "that we"
note88715 if] followed by that del
note888 27] followed by traces of a line eliminated when Blake cut in half and then repasted the leaf
PAGE 104 (FIRST PORTION) note88910] followed by marginal direction "We behold with wonder &c"
PAGE 113 (FIRST PORTION) note8901 We . . . wonder] Daughter of Beulah describe 1st rdg del
note8912 Beelzeboul) mended from Baalzebole
note892 3] followed by two deleted lines: The hard dentant hammers are lulld by the flute lula lula The bellowing furnaces blare by the long sounding Clarion
note8936 into wedges] into bars 1st rdg
note89414 Arnon] the Moon 1st rdg del
note89516 Satan] Satan recieves 1st rdg
note89623 Udan] mended from Uaan
note89724 Benithon] followed by it is del
note89825 its Islands & its Margins] the Islands & the Margins of this Lake 1st rdg
note89930 from] to 1st rdg del
note90031 thou O] All 1st rdg del
PAGE 104 (SECOND PORTION) note90116 Begun Already] Already 1st rdg
note90221 Heavd like] Heaving li? 1st rdg del
note90324 Son] mended from Sons
- 841 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 377-380
note90437 Give his vegetated body] rend the Veil of Mystery 1st rdg del_, followed by a deleted line: And then Call Urizen & Luvah & Tharmas & Urthona
PAGE 105 (and 145) note9051-30 The Lamb . . . victims] Identical on p 105 to earlier draft on p 145 (ms fragment), except as here noted 1 Satan] Urizen p 145 (the whole line a pencil addition on p 145)
note9062 shadows of torments] Shadows of torment p 145 (the plural on p 105 perhaps a slip of the pen; not a firm s_)
note9073 Amalek] Entuthon that 1st rdg p 145 del
note9084 for] that 1st rdg p 145 del
note9095 Urizen . . . the . . . dire] He . . . all the . . . dark 1st rdg p 145 del
note9106 death] Death p 145
note9117 he] He p 145
note91210 amidst them beamd] around them stood p 145, 1st rdg p 105
note91311-27] not in p 145, marginal insertions p 105 11 of] inserted between Counterpart and Lovely but guided by a caret to come after Lovely
note91424 then was hidden within] therefore they were calld / The daughters & 1st rdg del, to allow further addition
note91527 namd] called 1st rdg del
note91628 Amalek] inserted p 105 Stones] Stones p 105 & 145; Stems 1st rdg p 105 del
note91729 knives] songs 1st rdg p 145 del
note91835 Away] I have 1st rdg del, a slip
note919 43] followed by deleted line: To see the boy spring into heaven sounding from my sight note92044 heat] pre (for "prepare") 1st rdg del
note92150 task] with uncrossed t
PAGE 106 (FIRST PORTION) note9221-6 were transcribed verbatim from 145:13-17, 19
note9235] followed in 145 by a line deleted and not transferred; In which is Tirzah untranslucent an opake covering
note9246] followed in 145 by ten lines deleted and not transferred: And Rahab stripd off Luvahs robes from off the lamb of God Then first she saw his glory & her harlot form appeard In all its turpitude beneath the divine light & of Luvahs robes She made herself a Mantle Also the Vegetated bodies which Enitharmon wove in her looms Opend within the heart & in the loins & in the brain To Beulah & the dead in Beulah descended thro their gates And some were woven one fold some two fold & some threefold In head or heart or reins according to the fittest order Of most merciful pity & compassion to the spectrous dead
note9257 Jerusalem] She 1st rdg del
note9269 Urizen &] followed by build del
note92712 of] in 1st rdg del
note92816] followed by instruction: But when Rahab &c turn back 3 leaves (i.e. to 113:38)
PAGE 113 (SECOND PORTION) note92938-43] over six erased lines 38 But] And 1st rdg del
note93042 among] above 1st rdg del
note931PAGE 115 (p 114 has engraving without text)
note9321 are] were 1st rdg del
note9337 are our] were their 1st rdg del Elythiria] mended from Elythyria
note93410 our] their 1st rdg del
note93512 his brethren] Los 1st rdg del
note93619 Me] Los 1st rdg del note93723 Rahab] Mortals 1st rdg del
- 842 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 381-388 note93832 Palamabron] Rintrah & Palamabron 1st rdg
note93951] an added line to connect the new matter on P 113
PAGE 116 note9406] followed by instructions: Darkness & sorrow ∓c turn over leaf
PAGE 106 (SECOND PORTION) note94117 Eternity] eternity p 145
note94218 Religion] followed by del: was [?tormented] <darkend> (reading on p 145:32 is "tormented")
note94319 felt] preceded by He del
note94425 eyes shot] eyes [his] <then> 1st rdg
note94529 thro] over 1st rdg del
note94639 the Spectre] Urthona 1st rdg del
note94742 wild] mended from wide
PAGE 107 note9481 Satyr mended from Satur
note9493 his] written hos
note9505 Covers] 1st written at end of 4 but del
note95115] followed by 18 del (a slip in copying?)
note95217 repentant forgets] 2/forgets 1/repentant ms
PAGE 108 note9531 on high] begun above del
PAGE 110 note95424 flaming] dismal 1st rdg del note95529] written above 8 deleted lines: But Rahab [built] <hewd> a Sepulcher in the Rock of Eternity And placing in the Sepulcher the body which she had taken From the divine Lamb wept over the Sepulcher weaving Her web of Religion around the Sepulcher times after times beside Jerusalems Gate But as she wove behold the bottom of the Sepulcher Rent & a door was opend thro the bottom of the Sepulcher Into Eternity And as she wove she heard a Voice behind her calling her She turnd & saw the Divine Vision & her (Lines 2-3 are written over erased "The End of the Eighth Night".) note95632 despair] fear 1st rdg del
PAGE 111 note95712 Enitharmon . . . the Heavens] Enion . . . Heaven penci
note95813 her Harlot Robes] pencil rdg: [the heavens] <her harlot robes>
PAGE 113 [note not linked] 44] inserted in a paragraph break, as is line 48
PAGE 117
Night the Ninth
note9591-13] written over almost identical pencil, over erased ink lines (about 11); the endings of these can be somewhat made out: the 2nd ends "?curst the heavens", the 11th "was Ended"; these do not reappear elsewhere in the poem; apparently this passage was erased without being transferred.
PAGE 118 note96015 asterial 2nd rdg del] eternal 1st rdg del
note96117 sounds] followed by del: Awake ye dead & come / To judgment.
note96239-40] written over two erased lines, a third visible in part
PAGE 119 note9631-14] written over erased title: Vala / Night the Ninth / Being / The Last judgment
note96417 Began to Enter the Holy City] Began to draw near to the Earth 1st rdg del
- 843 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 388-401
note96518 licking] ms liking
note96624 Beyond] Without 1st rdg del
note96741 witherd] narrow 1st rdg del
PAGE 120 note96830-31] added in pencil 31
note969Person] followed by is del
note97042 energy Enslavd] honest energy 1st rdg; an honest energy Enslaved 2nd rdg
PAGE 121 note9714 futurity] the past 1st rdg
note9726 towers] high towers 1st rdg
note9737 gardens] mended from garden
note97414 sword] preceded by plow del
note97518 unto] ms perhaps reads into,but withoudot and with pen-scratch
note97619, futurity] remembrance 1st rdg del
20, note977futurity] remembrance 1st rdg del
21, note978futurity] remembrance 1st rdg del
22note979futurity] remembrance 1st rdg del
note98043 words] voice 1st rdg del
PAGE 122 note9817 to] of 1st rdg del
note98225 where are] perhaps error for where are our owhere rest our
note98328 To bones] written first at end of line 27, then moved
note98432 Eyes] mended from eyes
PAGE 123 note9855 howlings began] repeated in pencil above the line, in a hand not Blake's but probably Ellis's
note98614 dark] black 1st rdg del
note98716 calls] cries 1st rdg del
note98824 the prisoners] a prisoners 1st rdg
note98934 a throne & a] as a throne & as a 1st rdg
note99035 twenty four] over a "twenty four" that may have been mended
note99136 by] of 1st rdg del
PAGE 124 note9925 Redeemd Man] Fallen man 1st rdg
note99316 lions from] lions of 1st rdg
note99418 mortar] mended from mortal
note99525 ardor.] followed by deletion: he rose up from the Rock The Fallen Man wondring beheld.
PAGE 125 note9962 forth] out 1st rdg del
PAGE 126 note9973 Regenerate Man] Ancient Man 1st rdg
note9987 O] & 1st rdg del
note99911 Imagination] Thought 1st rdg del
PAGE 127 note10005 thine he] thine when he 1st rdg
PAGE 129 note100124-27 transferred from p 4 and crowded into a stanza break
PAGE 130 note100229 wet] with 1st rdg del
PAGE 132 note100314 a whirlwind] Then a whirlwind 1st rdg
note100419 By] With 1st rdg del note100525 down] of 1st rdg del
PAGE 133 note10068 They] And 1st rdg del
- 844 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 401-407
note10079 Generative] Vegetative 1st rdg del
note100815 Science] Nature 1st rdg del
note1009134:35 Aha Aha] It seems probable that this African song was suggested by those in a volume of Chansons madécasses, first published in London and Paris in 1787, republished in 1797, and reviewed in British journals. (Suggestion of Paul Miner.)
PAGE 135 note101039 Odors] mended from odors
PAGE 136 note10118 gaping] silent 1st rdg del
note101212 Birth] death 1st rdg del
note101325 and Racks & Saws] the nets and racks & ?Pins 1st rd
note101427 whips) whipt ms (cf Milton 27:36) sports] mended from sport
note101535 Nettle] mended from nettle
PAGE 138 note101621 And] Then 1st rdg del
note101725 behold] written beholds
note1018[Manuscript fragments of The Four Zoas]
PAGE 141 (Fragments on a slip of note paper, not used anywhere in the final text. Lines were drawn to separate the fragments, but fragments 1 and 2 were then revised into one.) Beneath the veil of [?Enion] <Vala> rose Tharmas from dewy tears The [ancient] <eternal> man bowd his bright head & Urizen prince of light [Astonish lookd from his bright Portals calling thus to Luvah O Luvah, in th--------------------------------------] Astonishd lookd from his bright portals. Luvah king of Love Awakend Vala. Ariston ran forth with bright ?Onana And dark Urthona rouzd his shady bride from her deep den <[Awaking from his stony slumber]> Pitying they viewd the new born demon. for they could not love [After their sin]--------------------------------- Male formd the demon mild athletic force his shoulders spread And his bright feet firm as a brazen altar. but. the parts To love devoted. female, all astonishd stood the hosts Of heaven, while Tharmas with wingd speed flew to the sandy shore <[ocean]> He rested on the desart wild & on the raging sea He stood & stretchd his wings &c -------- ----------------------------------------------------------- With printless feet scorning the concave of the joyful sky Female her form bright as the summer but the parts of love Male & her brow radiant as day. darted a lovely scorn Tharmas beheld from his high rocks & ----- ---------
PAGE 142 (Notes not used in final text): The ocean calm the clouds fold round & fiery flames of love Inwrap the immortal limbs struggling in terrific joy Not long thunders lightnings swift rendings & blasting winds Sweep oer. the struggling copulation. in fell writhing pangs They lie in twisting agonies beneath the covring heavens ------------------------------------------------------------ The womb impressd Enion fled & hid in verdant mountains Yet here his heavenly orbs &c ------------------------------------------------------------ Trembling he lay swelld with the deluge stifling in the anguish
PAGE 143 (A variant of the text of ms p 7; see above. Pencil additions are preceded by *): <*Opening his rifted rocks> mingling [their bodies] <*together they> join in burning anguish Mingling his horrible [brightness] <*darkness> with her tender limbs then high she soard Shrieking above the ocean: a bright wonder that nature shudderd at - 845 -
TEXTUAL NOTES FOR PAGES 407-408
From Enion pours the seed of life & death in all her limbs Frozen in the womb of Tharmas rush the rivers of Enions pain Trembling he lay swelld with the deluge stifling in the anguish
PAGE 143 (A variant of the text of ms p 7; see above. Pencil additions are preceded by *): <*Opening his rifted rocks> mingling [their bodies <*together they> join in burning anguish Mingling his horrible [brightness <*darkness> with her tender limbs then high she soared Shrieking above the ocean: a bright wonder that nature shudderd at Half Woman & half [Serpent] <*beast> all his [lovely changing] <*darkly waving> colours mix With her fair crystal clearness in her lips & cheeks his [poisons] <metals> rose In blushes like the morning & his [scaly armour] <*rocky features> softning A [monster] <*wonder> lovely in the heavens or wandring on the earth With [Serpent] <female> voice <warbling upon the [hills] & hollow vales> Beauty all blushing with desire <a Self enjoying wonder> <For Enion brooded groaning loud the rough seas vegetate. Golden rocks rise from the [vorte] <vast>> And thus her voice; <Glory, delight, & sweet enjoyment born> <To mild Eternity shut in a threefold shape delightful> To wander in <sweet> solitude <enrapturd> at every wind <[Shining across the ocean / Enion brooded groaning the golden rocks vegetate The b] [to] Infolding the bright woman [from the desolating winds / & thus her voice &]>
PAGE 144 (The verso of 143. The first line is cut short where the page is torn): That I should hide thee with my power & And now thou darknest in my presence, never from my sight; For page 145 see textual notes on pages 105 and 106.