explication of wiliam blake's Jerusalem, plates 39-41

A detailed Summary of explication of wiliam blake's Jerusalem, plates 39-41

The Explication of Plates 39 through 41 of Blake's Jerusalem.

Of the three plates I was assigned, plate 39, I feel, has the most content. The beginning of plate 39 shows how Albion wishes to gain acceptance. However, Albion was "surround(ed) with kindest violence to bear him back". (ln. 2) This was done, as we see in line three, "Against his will". So these two lines show that one cannot get to Eden through will, but through imagination. This is later backed by line 17, where "Will must not be bended but in the day of Divine".

Lines 21 through 37 show the cruelty of man in this form. For that man becomes a "Sexual Machine: an Aged Virgin". (ln. 25) What this says is that man and women use sex as a weapon, a means, of controlling. In Eden, sex is love. Yet in Ulro, is lust. This lust is breed through "uncircumcised vegetation" (ln 24) The mentioning of "Erin's land toward the north" in line 26 is meant to signify Ireland. On the very next line (27), we learn they follow a false religion. Thus Los is given power, like the prophet Elijah.

Plates 40 and 41 have given me more of a problem to explicate, and thus I turn to book support. According to Damon's Blake Dictionary, Plates 40 and 41 are tied in with the death o

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Plate 41 only yielded two pieces of significant information to me. The first piece, was the death of Oxford (Shelly) which was talked about in plate 40. The death of Shelly is seen when "Oxford trembled while he spoke, then fainted". (ln 17). The other thing I picked up on (with the help of Payley's Jerusalem) was the connection of line 5, the naming of the cities. These cities are linking plate 41 with plate 36. That the cities listed in plate 41 are "the end of the list" which was started in plate 36.

Damon, Samual Foster. Blake Dictionary : The Ideas and Symbols of William Blake. Ed. Eaves, Morris. Brown Univ. Press, Aug. 1988.

Now why the big significance? Well, by comparing Los to Elijah, you get to see that both shared one common interest: imagination. What's even more interesting is that Los's Zoa is man. So is Elijah the Christian name for Los? In my eyes, yes. I feel that Blake is directly "molding" Los in Jerusalem after Elijah and his actions in the old testament. Los will eventually lead the people to Eden, by showing will does not work, but by imagination. This is similar to Elijah disproving the pegan god Baal.

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Some common words found in the essay are:
Payley's Jerusalem, Aged Virgin, Ahab Jezebel, Blake's Jerusalem, Ahaziah Ahaziah, Mt Sinai, Jerusalem Elijah, Oxford Shelly, Shelly Line, Jezebel Ahab, plate 41, plates 40 41, plates 40, 40 41, plate 39, plate 36, blake dictionary, eden imagination, plate 40, wish talk, god baal, plate 41 plate,

Approximate Word count = 830
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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