Although Erdman does not address this issue in his notes, he does make some silent decisions regarding the order of the text, the most
significant
being his placement of this 4-line stanza at the very end of his transcription of p.
Blake - Zoas
such the period of many worlds
Others triangular their right angled course maintain. others obtuse
Acute & oblong Scalene , in simple paths. but others move
In intricate ways biquadrate. Trapeziums Rhombs Rhomboids
Paralellograms. triple & quadruple. polygonic In their amazing fructifying hard subdued course in the vast deep
PAGE 34
And Los & Enitharmon were drawn down by their desires
Descending sweet upon the wind among soft harps & voices [Laughing and mocking ? Luvah breaking in the woes of Vala] {Erdman suggests that 'breaking' is a word from an unrelated layer of ms, and 'woes of Vala' as previously misrecognised in Ellis' transcription as 'womb of Vala' EJC}
[But soon ? he ? formd the lovely limbs of Enitharmon XXX & to lamentation of Enion ? answer for fear]
[XXX for vindication of Urizens word] [Thy name is familiar XXX] {These 2 partially recovered erased pencil lines are discerned by Erdman beneath line 3. This group of erased lines, which appeared in pencil under lines 2-4 and, partially obscured by a note by Ellis, in the right margin, are written here with Erdman's suppositions and unrecoverable sections so marked EJC}
To plant divisions in the Soul of Urizen & Ahania
To conduct the Voice of Enion to Ahanias midnight pillow
Urizen saw & envied & his imagination was filled
Repining he contemplated the past in his bright sphere
Terrified with his heart & spirit at the visions of futurity
That his dread fancy formd before him in the unformd void
For Now Los & Enitharmon walkd forth on the dewy Earth
Contracting or expanding their all flexible senses
At will to murmur in the flowers small as the honey bee
At will to stretch across the heavens & step from star to star
Or standing on the Earth erect, or on the stormy waves
Driving the storms before them or delighting in sunny beams
While round their heads the Elemental Gods kept harmony
Thus livd Los driving Enion far into the deathful infinite {According to Erdman, there is some partially recoverable erased material written above this line and in the margin: '? From ? Ahanias woe all XXX XXX only wrath & Envy follows in XXX their fXXXds / Urizen saw and aXXX. ' EJC}
That he may also draw Ahania's spirit into her Vortex {This line appears to have been inserted between 2 previously written lines EJC}
Ah happy blindness [she] Enion sees not the terrors of the uncertain
And oft thus she wails from the dark deep, the golden heavens tremble {Of the 100 lines that make up p. 34, only 19 comprise the standard text block; the rest are marginal additions, with 2 sizeable columns at the foot of the page, a 5-line stanza written up the lower righthand side of the page, and 2 additional larger stanzas appearing in the lefthand margin.
Although Erdman does not address this issue in his notes, he does make some silent decisions regarding the order of the text, the most significant being his placement of this 4-line stanza at the very end of his transcription of p. 34. Given his lack of explanation, this in particular would seem somewhat arbitrary; although there do appear to be some markings on the page which could be suggestions for the re-ordering of the material, these do not seem conclusive enough to justify this silent alteration to the text as it appears in the Erdman edition. Instead, the text is shown here in the order in which it appears on the page; in agreement with Erdman, the marginal material seems to flow most logically as the bottom of the page, moving to the stanza in the right margin and then concluding with the material in the left margin EJC}
And Los said. Lo the Lilly pale & the rose reddning fierce
Reproach thee & the beamy gardens sicken at thy beauty {According to Erdman, beneath and below these 2 lines are about 11 erased pencil lines, the first [partially recovered] beginning 'XXX she wails,' the following 2 the same as the existing lines, and the remainder apparently different from the final text EJC}
I grasp thy vest in my strong hand in vain. like water springs
In the bright sands of Los. evading my embrace. then I alone
Wander among the virgins of the summer Look they cry
The poor forsaken Los mockd by the worm the shelly snail
The Emmet & the beetle hark they laugh & mock at Los
Secure now from the smitings of thy Power Demon of Fury {The beginning of this inserted line is set well in from the heads of the accompanying lines, but there seems no reason not to bring it into line with them EJC}
Enitharmon answerd If the God enrapturd me infolds
In clouds of sweet obscurity my beauteous form dissolving
Howl thou over the body of death tis thine But if among the virgins {The inserted material is clearly written over erased material EJC}
Of summer I have seen thee sleep & turn thy cheek delighted
Upon the rose or lilly pale. or on a bank where sleep
The beamy daughters of the light starting they rise they flee
From thy fierce love for tho I am dissolvd in the bright God
My spirit still pursues thy false love over rocks & valleys
Los answerd Therefore fade I thus dissolvd in rapturd trance
Thou canst repose on clouds of secrecy while oer my limbs
Cold dews & hoary frost creeps tho I lie on banks of summer
Among the beauties of the World Cold & repining Los
Still dies for Enitharmon nor a spirit springs from my dead corse {Clearly written over erased material. EJC}
Then I am dead till thou revivest me with thy sweet song
Now taking on Ahanias form & now the form of Enion
I know thee not as once I knew thee in those blessed fields
Where memory wishes to repose among the flocks of Tharmas
Enitharmon answerd Wherefore didst thou throw thine arms around
Ahanias Image I decievd thee & will still decieve
Urizen saw thy sin & hid his beams in darkning Clouds
I still keep watch altho I tremble & wither across the heavens
In strong vibrations of fierce jealousy for thou art mine
Created for my will my slave tho strong tho I am weak {This line appears to have been inserted between 2 existing lines. EJC}
Farewell the God calls me away I depart in my sweet bliss
She fled vanishing on the wind And left a dead cold corse
In Los's arms howlings began over the body of death {Line written over erased text. EJC}
Los spoke. Thy God in vain shall call thee if by my strong power
I can infuse my dear revenge into his glowing breast
Then jealousy shall shadow all his mountains & Ahania
Curse thee thou plague of woful Los & seek revenge on thee
So saying in deep sobs he languishd till dead he also fell
Night passd & Enitharmon eer the dawn returnd in bliss
She sang Oer Los reviving him to Life his groans were terrible
But thus she sang. I seize the sphery harp I strike the strings {As Erdman notes, these 2 lines began as 1, 'She sang Oer Los. I seize the sphery harp I strike the strings. ' Above the 2nd part, Blake added 'reviving.
Others triangular their right angled course maintain. others obtuse
Acute & oblong Scalene , in simple paths. but others move
In intricate ways biquadrate. Trapeziums Rhombs Rhomboids
Paralellograms. triple & quadruple. polygonic In their amazing fructifying hard subdued course in the vast deep
PAGE 34
And Los & Enitharmon were drawn down by their desires
Descending sweet upon the wind among soft harps & voices [Laughing and mocking ? Luvah breaking in the woes of Vala] {Erdman suggests that 'breaking' is a word from an unrelated layer of ms, and 'woes of Vala' as previously misrecognised in Ellis' transcription as 'womb of Vala' EJC}
[But soon ? he ? formd the lovely limbs of Enitharmon XXX & to lamentation of Enion ? answer for fear]
[XXX for vindication of Urizens word] [Thy name is familiar XXX] {These 2 partially recovered erased pencil lines are discerned by Erdman beneath line 3. This group of erased lines, which appeared in pencil under lines 2-4 and, partially obscured by a note by Ellis, in the right margin, are written here with Erdman's suppositions and unrecoverable sections so marked EJC}
To plant divisions in the Soul of Urizen & Ahania
To conduct the Voice of Enion to Ahanias midnight pillow
Urizen saw & envied & his imagination was filled
Repining he contemplated the past in his bright sphere
Terrified with his heart & spirit at the visions of futurity
That his dread fancy formd before him in the unformd void
For Now Los & Enitharmon walkd forth on the dewy Earth
Contracting or expanding their all flexible senses
At will to murmur in the flowers small as the honey bee
At will to stretch across the heavens & step from star to star
Or standing on the Earth erect, or on the stormy waves
Driving the storms before them or delighting in sunny beams
While round their heads the Elemental Gods kept harmony
Thus livd Los driving Enion far into the deathful infinite {According to Erdman, there is some partially recoverable erased material written above this line and in the margin: '? From ? Ahanias woe all XXX XXX only wrath & Envy follows in XXX their fXXXds / Urizen saw and aXXX. ' EJC}
That he may also draw Ahania's spirit into her Vortex {This line appears to have been inserted between 2 previously written lines EJC}
Ah happy blindness [she] Enion sees not the terrors of the uncertain
And oft thus she wails from the dark deep, the golden heavens tremble {Of the 100 lines that make up p. 34, only 19 comprise the standard text block; the rest are marginal additions, with 2 sizeable columns at the foot of the page, a 5-line stanza written up the lower righthand side of the page, and 2 additional larger stanzas appearing in the lefthand margin.
Although Erdman does not address this issue in his notes, he does make some silent decisions regarding the order of the text, the most significant being his placement of this 4-line stanza at the very end of his transcription of p. 34. Given his lack of explanation, this in particular would seem somewhat arbitrary; although there do appear to be some markings on the page which could be suggestions for the re-ordering of the material, these do not seem conclusive enough to justify this silent alteration to the text as it appears in the Erdman edition. Instead, the text is shown here in the order in which it appears on the page; in agreement with Erdman, the marginal material seems to flow most logically as the bottom of the page, moving to the stanza in the right margin and then concluding with the material in the left margin EJC}
And Los said. Lo the Lilly pale & the rose reddning fierce
Reproach thee & the beamy gardens sicken at thy beauty {According to Erdman, beneath and below these 2 lines are about 11 erased pencil lines, the first [partially recovered] beginning 'XXX she wails,' the following 2 the same as the existing lines, and the remainder apparently different from the final text EJC}
I grasp thy vest in my strong hand in vain. like water springs
In the bright sands of Los. evading my embrace. then I alone
Wander among the virgins of the summer Look they cry
The poor forsaken Los mockd by the worm the shelly snail
The Emmet & the beetle hark they laugh & mock at Los
Secure now from the smitings of thy Power Demon of Fury {The beginning of this inserted line is set well in from the heads of the accompanying lines, but there seems no reason not to bring it into line with them EJC}
Enitharmon answerd If the God enrapturd me infolds
In clouds of sweet obscurity my beauteous form dissolving
Howl thou over the body of death tis thine But if among the virgins {The inserted material is clearly written over erased material EJC}
Of summer I have seen thee sleep & turn thy cheek delighted
Upon the rose or lilly pale. or on a bank where sleep
The beamy daughters of the light starting they rise they flee
From thy fierce love for tho I am dissolvd in the bright God
My spirit still pursues thy false love over rocks & valleys
Los answerd Therefore fade I thus dissolvd in rapturd trance
Thou canst repose on clouds of secrecy while oer my limbs
Cold dews & hoary frost creeps tho I lie on banks of summer
Among the beauties of the World Cold & repining Los
Still dies for Enitharmon nor a spirit springs from my dead corse {Clearly written over erased material. EJC}
Then I am dead till thou revivest me with thy sweet song
Now taking on Ahanias form & now the form of Enion
I know thee not as once I knew thee in those blessed fields
Where memory wishes to repose among the flocks of Tharmas
Enitharmon answerd Wherefore didst thou throw thine arms around
Ahanias Image I decievd thee & will still decieve
Urizen saw thy sin & hid his beams in darkning Clouds
I still keep watch altho I tremble & wither across the heavens
In strong vibrations of fierce jealousy for thou art mine
Created for my will my slave tho strong tho I am weak {This line appears to have been inserted between 2 existing lines. EJC}
Farewell the God calls me away I depart in my sweet bliss
She fled vanishing on the wind And left a dead cold corse
In Los's arms howlings began over the body of death {Line written over erased text. EJC}
Los spoke. Thy God in vain shall call thee if by my strong power
I can infuse my dear revenge into his glowing breast
Then jealousy shall shadow all his mountains & Ahania
Curse thee thou plague of woful Los & seek revenge on thee
So saying in deep sobs he languishd till dead he also fell
Night passd & Enitharmon eer the dawn returnd in bliss
She sang Oer Los reviving him to Life his groans were terrible
But thus she sang. I seize the sphery harp I strike the strings {As Erdman notes, these 2 lines began as 1, 'She sang Oer Los. I seize the sphery harp I strike the strings. ' Above the 2nd part, Blake added 'reviving.
