Europe: A Prophecy
Europe: A Prophecy
Preludium
Original Text
William Blake, Europe, A Prophecy (1794).
3And thus her voice arose:
4"O mother Enitharmon, wilt thou bring forth other sons?
5To cause my name to vanish, that my place may not be found,
6For I am faint with travail,
7Like the dark cloud disburden'd in the day of dismal thunder.
8My roots are brandish'd in the heavens, my fruits in earth beneath
9Surge, foam and labour into life, first born and first consum'd!
10Consumed and consuming!
11Then why shouldst thou, accursed mother, bring me into life?
12I wrap my turban of thick clouds around my lab'ring head,
13And fold the sheety waters as a mantle round my limbs;
14Yet the red sun and moon
15And all the overflowing stars rain down prolific pains.
16Unwilling I look up to heaven, unwilling count the stars:
17Sitting in fathomless abyss of my immortal shrine
18I seize their burning power
20Devouring and devouréd, roaming on dark and desolate mountains,
21In forests of eternal death, shrieking in hollow trees.
22Ah mother Enitharmon!
23Stamp not with solid form this vig'rous progeny of fires.
24I bring forth from my teeming bosom myriads of flames,
25And thou dost stamp them with a signet; then they roam abroad
26And leave me void as death.
27Ah! I am drown'd in shady woe and visionary joy.
31I see it smile, and I roll inward, and my voice is past."
32 She ceased, and roll'd her shady clouds
33 Into the secret place.
Notes
1] Europe, A Prophecy, was first engraved in 1794, in eighteen plates. Its theme is the history of Europe from the birth of Christ to the French Revolution.
shadowy female. Nature in the sense of the non-human basis of European society; the land of Europe, corresponding to the "Daughter of Urthona" in America. Back to Line
shadowy female. Nature in the sense of the non-human basis of European society; the land of Europe, corresponding to the "Daughter of Urthona" in America. Back to Line
2] Enitharmon: the spirit of abstract space (from Greek enarithmios, numbered), represented by the sky, which inspires the worship of tyrannical star-gods. Back to Line
19] kings. The gods and nature-spirits of pre-Christian religions are here symbolized as falling stars, given imaginative form by the human mind. Back to Line
28] infinite: Christ, whose approaching Incarnation terrifies the speaker. Back to Line
29] swaddling bands: cf. Luke 2: 12. Back to Line
30] milk and honey: cf. Isa. 7:15 and Josh. 5:6. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1794
RPO poem Editors
Northrop Frye
RPO Edition
3RP 2.291.