Trees and People:

• Blake's trees frequently correspond with people. "In Europe the 'shadowy female' finds her body hanging upside down so that her fruit or her mental creations, symbolized by her head, are imbedded in the earth. 'The Human Abstract' indicates that the upside-down tree exists in the human mind, which is another way of saying, for Blake, that the body is an imaginative extension (perverted in this case) of the mind. In "Love and harmony combine . . . " the association of trees and human forms is the basis of the poem" (Adams 37).



"Love and harmony combine . . ."


Love and harmony combine,
And around our souls intwine,
While thy branches mix with mine,
And our roots together join.


Joys upon our branches sit,
Chirping loud, and singing sweet;
Like gentle streams between our feet
Innocence and virtue meet.


Thou the golden fruit dost bear
I am clad in flowers fair;
Thy sweet boughs perfume the air,
And the turtle buildeth there.


There she sits and feeds her young,
Sweet I hear her mournful song;
And thy lovely leaves among,
There is love: I hear his tongue.


There his charming nest doth lay,
There he sleeps the night away;
There he sports along the day,
And doth among our branches play.


(qtd. in Adams 37).

• One can observe the relationship between the tree and the body; the two sometimes almost become interchangeable (Adams 37-38). The body is the tree, and the tree is the body. This can best be seen in Jerusalem, where Albion's tree represents his own vile and malignant nature and sins--until he is recovered by Christ and the Tree is transformed into the proffered Tree of Life.
  

Albion's Tree:

• Albion's tree is the epitome of the false tree of virtue and the Tree of Mystery combined. Its branches extend throughout Jerusalem, until it is finally overcome by the sacrifice of Christ--which transpired upon a tree.
  
  • Watch as the tree grows and spread through Jerusalem. Note that the tree imagery is not always bad. Sometimes, even, the tree is the Tree of Life, which is symbolic of the word of God. This tree, Christ's tree, ultimately wins; Albion's poisonous tree disappears, vanguished.
  
  
  • Plate 9:
    

    I saw the limbs form'd for exercise, contemn'd: & the beauty of
    Eternity, look'd upon as deformity & lovliness as a dry tree:
    I saw disease forming a Body of Death around the Lamb
    Of God, to destroy Jerusalem, & to devour the body of Albion
    

    
    

  • Plate 12:
    

    Terrified at the sublime Wonder, Los stood before his Furnaces.
    And they stood around, terrified with admiration at Erins Spaces
    For the Spaces reachd from the starry heighth, to the starry depth;
    And they builded Golgonooza: terrible eternal Labour!
    

    What are those golden builders doing? where was the burying-place
    Of soft Ethinthus? near Tyburns fatal Tree? is that
    Mild Zions hills most ancient promontory; near mournful
    Ever weeping Paddington? is that Calvary and Golgotha? Becoming a building of pity and compassion? Lo!
    

  • Plate 13:
    

    And there it meets Eternity again, both within and without,
    And the abstract Voids between the Stars are the Satanic Wheels.
    

    There is the Cave; the Rock; the Tree; the Lake of Udan Adan;
    The Forest, and the Marsh, and the Pits of bitumen deadly:
    The Rocks of solid fire: the Ice valleys: the Plains
    Of burning sand: the rivers, cataract & Lakes of Fire:
    The Islands of the fiery Lakes: the Trees of Malice: Revenge:
    And black Anxiety; and the Citiesof the Salamandrine men:
    (But whatever is visible to the Generated Man,
    Is a Creation of mercy & love, from the Satanic Void.)
    

  • Plate 14:
    

    One hair nor one particle of dust, not one can pass away.
    

    He views the Cherub at the Tree of Life, also the Serpent,
    Orc the first born coild in the south: the Dragon Urizne:
    Tharmas the Vegtated Tongue even the Devouring Tongue:
    A threefold region, a false brain: a false heart:
    And false bowels: altogether composing the False Tongue,
    Beneath Beulah . . .
    

  • Plate 18:
    

    . . . No more the sinful delights
    Of age and youth and boy and girl and animal and herb,
    And river and mountain, and city & village, and house & family.
    Beneath the Oak & Palm, beneath the Vine and Fig-tree.
    In self-denial! . . .
    

  • Plate 23:
    

    He recoil'd: he rush'd outward; he bore the Veil whole away
    His fires redound from his Dragon Altars in Errors returning.
    He drew the Veil of Moral Virtue, woven for Cruel Laws,
    And cast it into the Atlantic Deep, to catch the Souls of the Dead.
    He stood between the Palm tree & the Oak of weeping
    Which stand upon the edge of Beulah; and there Albin sunk
    Down in sick pallid languor! . . .
    

  • Plate 27:
    

    Where Albion slept beneath the Fatal Tree
    And the Druids golden Knife,
    Rioted in human gore,
    In Offerings of Human Life
    

    They groan'd aloud on London Stone
    They groan'd aloud on Tyburns Brook
    Albion gave his deadly groan,
    And all the Atlantic Mountains shook
    

  • Plate 28:
    

    And Albion spoke from his secret seat and said
    . . .
    I therefore condense them into solid rocks, stedfast!
    A foundation and certainty and demonstrative truth:
    That Man be separate from Man, & here I plant my seat.
    

    Cold snows drifted around him: ice coverd his loins around
    He sat by Tyburns brook, and underneath his heel, shot up!
    A deadly Tree, he nam'd it Moral Virtue, and the Law
    Of God who dwells in Chaos hidden from the human sight.
    

    The Tree spread over him its cold shadows, (Albion groand)
    They bent down, they felt the earth and again enrooting
    Shot into many a Tree! an endless labyrinth of woe
    

    From willing sacrifice of Self, to sacrifice of (miscall'd) Enemies
    For Atonement: Albion began to erect twelve Altars,
    Of rough unhewn rocks, before the Potters Furnace
    He name'd them Justice, and Truth . . .
    

  • Plate 29:
    

    Vala replied in clouds of tears Albions garment embracing
    

    I was a City & a Temple built by Albions Children.
    I was a Garden planted with beauty I allured on hill & valley
    The River of Life to flow against my walls & among my trees
    Vala was Albions Bride & Wife in great Eternity
    . . .
    Why was I one with her [Jerusalem] embracing in the Vision of Jesus
    Wherefore did I loving create love . . .

  
  
  • Plate 38 [43]
    

    Instead of Albions lovely mountains & the curtains of Jerusalem
    I see a Cave, a Rock, a Tree deadly and poisonous, unimaginative
    

  
  
  • Plate 40 [45]:
    

    Oxford take thou these leaves of the Tree of Life: with eloquence
    That thy immortal tongue inspires; present them to Albion:
    Perhaps he may recieve them, offerd from thy loved hands.
    

    So spoke, unhear'd by Albion: the merciful Son of Heaven
    To those whose Western Gates were open, as they stood weeping
    Around Albion: but Albion heard him not; obdurate! hard!
    He frown'd on all his Friends, counting htem enemies in his sorrow
    

  • Plate 41 [46]:
    

    Bath, mild Physician of Eternity, mysterious power
    Whose springs are unsearchable & knowledge infinite.
    Hereford, ancient Guardian of Wales, whose hands
    Builded the mountain palaces of Eden, stupendous works!
    Lincoln, Durham & Carlisle, Councellors of Los.
    And Ely, Scribe of Los, whose pen no other hand
    Dare touch! Oxford, immortal Bard! with eloquence
    Divine, he wept over Albion: speaking the words of God
    In mild perswasion: bring leaves of the Tree of Life.
    

  • Plate 50:
    

    The Atlantic Mountains where Giants dwelt in Intellect;
    Now given to stony Druids, and Allegoric Generation
    To the Twelve Gods of Asia, the Spectres of those who Sleep:
    Sway'd by a Providence oppos'd to the Divine Lord Jesus:
    A murderous Providence! A Creation that groans, living on Death.
    Where Fish & Bird & Beast & Man & Tree & Metal & Stone
    Live by Devouring, going into Eternal Death continually:
    Albion is now possess'd by the War of Blood! the Sacrifice
    Of envy Albion is become . . .
    

  • Plate 52:
    

    Thou lazy Monk they sound afar
    In vain condemning glorious War
    And in your Cell you shall ever dwell
    Rise War & bind him in his Cell.
    

    The blood. red ran from the Grey Monks side
    His hands & feet were wounded wide
    His body bent, his arms & knees
    Like to the roots of ancient trees
    

  • Plate 53:
    

    But Los, who is the Vehicular Form of strong Urthona
    Wept vehemently over Albion where Thames currents spring
    From the rivers of Beulah; pleasant river! soft mild parent stream
    And the roots of Albions Tree enterd the Soul of Los
    As he sat before his Furnaces clothd in sackcloth of hair
    In gnawing pain dividing him from his Emanation;
    Inclosing all the children of Los time after time.
    

  • Plate 55:
    

    Let the Human Organs be kept in their perfect Integrity
    At will Contracting into Worms, or Expanding into Gods
    And then behold! what are these Ulro Visions of Chastity [?]
    Then as the moss upon the tree: or dust upon the plow:
    . . .
    Such are these Ulro Visions . . .
    

  • Plate 59:
    

    And formed into Four precious stones. for enterance from Beulah
    

    For the Veil of Vala which Albion cast into the Atlantic Deep
    To catch the Souls of the Dead: began to Vegetate & Petrify
    Around the Earth of Albion. among the Roots of his Tree
    This Los formed into the Gates & mighty wall, between the Oak
    Of Weeping & the Palm of Suffering beneath Albions Tomb.
    Thus in process of time it became the beautiful Mundane Shell,
    The Habitation of the Spectres of the Dead & the Place
    Of Redemption & of awaking again into Eternity
    

  • Plate 65:
    

    For in the depths of Albions bosom in the eastern heaven,
    They sound the clarions strong! they chain the howling Captives!
    They cast the lots into the helmet: they give the oath of blood in Lambeth
    They vote the death of Luvah, & they naild him to Albions Tree in Bath:
    They staind him with poisonous blue, they inwove him in cruel roots
    To die a death of Six thousand years bound round with vegetation
    The sun was black & the moon rolld a useless globe thro Britain!
    

  • Plate 65:
    

    This is not warbling brook, nor shadow of a mirtle tree:
    But blood and wounds and dismal cries, and shadows of the oak:
    And hearts laid open to the light, by the broad grizly sword
    

  • Plate 66:
    

    Six months of mortality; a summer: & six months of mortality; a winter:
    The Human form began to be alterd by the Daughters of Albion
    And the perceptins to be dissipated into the Indefinite. Becoming
    A might Polypus nam'd Albions Tree: they tie the Veins
    And Nerves into two knots: & the Seed into a double knot:
    They look forth: the Sun is shrunk: the Heavens are shrunk:
    Away into the far remote: and the Trees & Mountains witherd
    Into indefinite cloudy shadows in darkness & separation.
    By Invisible Hatred adjoind, they seem remote and separate
    From each other, and yet are a Mighty Polypus in the Deep!
    As the Mistletoe grows on the Oak, so Albions Tree on Eternity: Lo!
    He who will not comingle in Love, must be adjoind by Hate
    

  • Plate 67:
    

    The Rocks are opake hardnesses covering all Vegetated things.
    And as they Wove &Cut from the Looms in various divisions
    Stretching over Europe & Asia from Ireland to Japan
    They divided into many lovely Daughters to be counterparts
    To those they Wove, for when they Wove a Male, they divided
    Into a Female to the Woven Male. in opake hardness
    They cut the Fibres from the Rocks groaning in pain they Weave;
    Calling the Rocks Atomic Origins of Existence; denying Eternity
    By the Atheistical Epicurean Philosophy of Albions Tree
    Such are the Feminine & Masculine when separated from Man
    

  • Plate 68:
    

    Breeding Women walking in pride & bringing forht under green trees
    With pleasure, without pain, for their food is. blood of the Captive
    

  • Plate 73:
    

    Perusing Albions Tomb in the starry characters of Og & Anak:
    To Create the lion & wolf the bear: the tyger & ounce:
    To Create the wooly lamb & downy fowl & scaly serpent
    The summer & winter: day & night: the sun & moon & stars
    The tree: the plant: the flower: the rock : the stone: the metal:
    Of Vegetative Nature: by their hard restricting condensations.
    

  • Plate 80:
    

    Encompassd by the frozen Net and by the rooted Tree
    I walk weeping in pangs of a Mothers torment for her Children:
    I waslk in affliction: I am a worm, and no living soul!
    A worm going to eternal torment! raisd up in a night
    To an eternal night of pain, lost! lost! lost! for ever!
    

  • Plate 80:
    

    Hand slept on Skiddaws top: drawn by the love of beautiful
    Cambel: his bright, beaming Counterpart, divided from him
    And her delusive light beamd fierce above the Mountain,
    Soft, invisible: drinking his sighs in sweet intoxication:
    Drawing out fibre by fibre: returning to Albions Tree
    At night . . .
    

  • Plate 80:
    

    According to his changes: she roll'd his kidneys round
    Into two irregular forms: and lookin on Albions dread Tree
    She wove two vessels of seed, beautiful as Skiddaws snow;
    

  • Plate 82:
    

    Let us lead the stems of this Tree let us plant it before Jerusalem
    To judge the Friend of Sinners to death without the Veil:
    

  • Plate 82:
    

    By the fruit of Albions Tree I have fed him with sweet milk
    By contentions of the mighty for Sacrifice of Captives;
    Humanity the Great Delusion: is changd to War & Sacrifice:
    I have naild his hands on Beth Rabbim & his [feet] on Heshbons Wall:
    O that I could live in his sight: O that I could bind him to my arm.
    

  • Plate 82:
    

    Los saw the envious blight above his Seventh Furnace
    On Londons Tower on the Thames: he drew Cambel in wrath,
    Into his thundering Bellows, heaving it for a loud blast!
    And with the blast of his Furnace upon fishy Billingsgate,
    Beneath Albions fatal Tree, before the Gate of Los:
    Shewd her the fibres of her beloved to ameliorate
    The envy . . .
    

  • Plate 86:
    

    Thy Bosom white, translucent coverd with immortal gems
    A sublime ornament not obscuring the outlines of beauty
    Terrible to behold for they extreme beauty & perfection
    Twelve-fold here all the Tribes of Israel I behold
    Upon the Holy Land: I see the River of Life & Tree of Life
    I see the New Jerusalem descending out of Heaven
    Between thy Wings of gold & silver featherd immortal
    Clear as the rainbow, as the cloud of the Suns tabernacle
    

  • Plate 92:
    

    Where the Druids reard their Rocky Circles to make permanent Remembrance
    Of Sin. & the Tree of Good & Evil sprang from the Rocky Circle & Snake
    Of the Druid, along the Valley of Rephraim from Camberwell to Golgotha
    And framed the Mundane Shell Cavernous in Length Bredth & Highth
    

  • Plate 98:
    

    Where is the Covenant of Priam, the Moral Virtues of the Heathen
    Where is the Tree of Good & Evil that rooted beneath the cruel heel
    Of Albions Spectre the Patriarch Druid! where are all his Human Sacrifices
    For Sin in War & in the Druid Temples of the Accuser of Sin: beneath
    The Oak Groves of Albion that coverd the whole Earth beneath his Spectre
    Where are the Kingdoms of the World & all their glory that greww on Desolation
    The Fruit of Albions Poverty Tree when the Triple Headed Gog-Magog Giant
    Of Albion Taxed the Nations into Desolation & then gave the Spectrous Oath
    

    Such is the Cry from all the Earth from the Living Creatures of the Earth
    And from the great City of Golgonooza in the Shadowy Generation
    And from the Thirty-two Nations of the Earth among the Living Creatures
    

  • Plate 99:
    

    All Human Forms identified even Tree Metal Earth & Stone. all
    Human Forms identified, living going forth & returning wearied
    Into the Planetary lives of Years Months Days & Hours reposing
    And then Awaking into his Bosom in the Life of Immortality.
    

    And I heard the Name of their Emanations they are named Jerusalem
    

    The End of The Song of Jerusalem