The Book of Thel by William Blake

At the Harvard University Library there is an online copy of The Book of Thel by William Blake.
Everything was done by Blake who was a poet, an illustrator and was responsible for the publication.

Richard Dover explains The Book of Thel:

"Dated 1789, but probably engraved between 1788 and 1791, The Book of Thel is an intriguing allegorical counterpart to the Songs of Innocence.

Here Thel, a mythological figure associated with the daugher of Venus (Desire), is a young virginal figure, intrigued by the world of sex and experience, but she is frightened by the prospect.

In the course of the 'Book' she confronts various forms of created life - the Lilly, the Cloud, the Worm, the Clod of Clay - and asks them about the mysteries of mortal life: what is it like to be mortal, to live and to experience, but also to have to face the prospect of disillusionment, depair and death.

At the end of the 'Book' Thel almost summons the courage to enter the world of the Real, but at the last minute her nerve gives way, and she runs shrieking back to the sanctuary of immortality. In allegorical terms The Book of Thel presents the State of Innocence, confronted by the world of Experience.

Thel is, in one sense, a virginal goddess, pure and untouched by material reality, about to embark on the passage from childhood to adult maturity. Yet she is also, in metaphorical and archetypal form, a symbol of a state of mind or, better still, "State of Soul", a platonic essence intrigued by, but apprehensive of the realities of experience.

Through mythological personification Blake is able to express, in symbolic terms, aspects of innocence and experience which are difficult to express in other terms. Thel's final failure of nerve is, the poem suggests, to be pitied rather than applauded: 'Innocence' may well be an idyllic state but, "Without Contraries there is no Progression".

The Book of Thel can, therefore, be read on a number of levels, from being a literal exploration of various forms of innocence and hesitance (the child's reluctance to grow up), to more abstract and metaphorical levels, an allegorical exploration of the relationship between Thought and Action, or between the Immortality of the Idea or Image, and the mortality of lived experience."

James Joyce in the news; William Blake and... Hemingway?

"Deal with him Hemingway, deal with him." lol

The only reason that makes me doubt that something like that could appear on the news today is that writers are not celebrities and their lives are not a good source of gossip. I found it funny and I also want to take Joyce away from this difficult and unattainable place he is .

Yes, he has a difficult and different way of writing but shouldn't be left only for scholars and few people who like it.

There are many books published about "how to read Ulysses" and I found this site here that is very simple, is very easy to understand and helps those who are not familiar with Joyce's universe.

As far as the scholars are concerned I found this study Elaine Mingus did about James Joyce and William Blake. What I liked about it is that she raises the complexity of both writers without closing the door using theories and insights that makes it more difficult to read their work:

JAMES JOYCE AND PALE BLAKE

By Elaine Mingus

Critics and scholars often do not agree on the writings of either Joyce or William Blake. This is because of their complexity, also inconsistencies especially in Blake, and it humbles us to try and understand their writings. Nor is there agreement about how and how much Joyce used the writings of Blake. I have tried to steer a middle course between two extremes. There are sources common to both, such as The Egyptian Book of the Dead. Some things were merely corroborated for Joyce in Blake. Whatever Joyce did take from anyone was reshaped, expanded, and fused into his own vision.

William Blake was an engraver by trade and had his own technique of illuminated printing. He embellished all of his writing beautifully in color and also with drawing, and was better known for his painting than for his writing.

Blake lived in London from 1757 to 1823, a very different time than Joyce’s time. It was an age that was very unsympathetic to any “open vision” or what seemed eccentric or heretical. But Blake was from a dissenting family with the belief that God might speak to one directly. He was self-taught and did not accept anything wholly but was inspired by Jacob Boehme, Swedenborg and others. He greatly benefited by his marriage to Catherine Boucher and she supported his efforts always.

“Imagination leads to wisdom and insight” said Blake, and “The harlot’s cry from street to street shall weave Old England’s winding sheet”. He had his own style and copied no one.

Blake believed in the divinity of man and in identification of body with soul. He was not seen as a mystic but a visionary artist and poet. He was once considered a madman, now revered as a major poet of English Literature, though still considered by many to be a genius who was half-mad. Blake once said, “The prophets Isaiah and Ezekial dined with me”, and he claimed that supernatural powers dictated to him. In his “Milton”, Milton reincarnates and enters the body of Blake.

William Blake was greatly influenced by the American and the French Revolutions which he and others thought heralded the Apocalypse, expected at any time. A social rebel with very radical beliefs, Blake was mainly ignored by the general public. He rebelled against prevailing Victorian morals. “Thou Shalt Nots”, and followed natural instincts rather than adhere to standards of society, and the same can be said of Joyce. Blake was a symbolist who invented his own symbols, like spectres and emanations.

“I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s”, he said.

The British government was cracking down on radicals, and some of Blake’s friends were being jailed, which is partially the reason for some of the obscurity in his writing. As with Joyce, he had financial difficulties all his life in part because of the lack of getting published. (Keep reading)

Ulysses is one of the most important works of the last century and I will publish more about it.

William Blake - "The Lamb" - Have a great December!

The poem The Tyger, post below, is more famous than The Lamb. I did choose The Lamb, from "Songs of Innocence", as a way to bless us all in this December.
Have a peaceful last month of the year.
  THE LAMB by William Blake



Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
       
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:

He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and he is mild;
He became a little child.

I a child, and thou a lamb.
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!

William Blake - "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" poems

I have received some visits to William Blake's post with two of his poems illustrated by him and I think that some people are searching for the poems. Since it is difficult to read them with Blake's handwriting here is The Tyger and in the post above is The Lamb:

The Tiger
by William Blake
1757-1827

TYGER, tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?

Tyger, tyger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake - "The Tyger" and "The Lamb"

"William Blake (1757-1827), English artist, mystic and poet wrote Songs of Innocence (1789): a poetry collection written from the child’s point of view, of innocent wonderment and spontaneity in natural settings which includes “Little Boy Lost”, “Little Boy Found” and “The Lamb”;...." I will write the poems in another post because I first want to share the illustrations he did with the poems.