America II

Continuing our study of America a Prophecy we look now at Plates 

10-12

Wiki Commo

The fiery young man in the picture 

can certainly be thought  of as Orc, 

harbinger of Revolution, which appalls 

the King  (or the forces of oppression) 

and also Albion's Angel because of the

violence involved.

PLATE 10:
"Thus wept the Angel voice & as he 

wept the terrible blasts Of trumpets, 

blew a loud alarm across the Atlantic deep.
No trumpets answer; no reply of clarions or 

of fifes,
Silent the Colonies remain and refuse the loud alarm.

On those vast shady hills between America & Albions 

shore; Now barr'd out by the Atlantic sea: call'd 

Atlantean hills: Because from their bright summits you may 

pass to the Golden

 world
An ancient palace, archetype of mighty Emperies,
Rears its immortal pinnacles, built in the forest of God
By Ariston the king of beauty for his stolen bride,              

Here on their magic seats the thirteen Angels sat perturb'd
For clouds from the Atlantic hover o'er the solemn roof."

 

Ariston was the father of Atlantis; Blake used this oblique
inference to relate America with Atlantis. The thirteen angels of
course symbolize the thirteen colonies.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis:  According to Plato, Atlantis was a naval power lying "in front of the Pillars of Hercules", that conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa in approximately 9600 BC. After a failed attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean "in a single day and night of misfortune".
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lc plate 11

PLATE 11:
"Fiery the Angels rose, & as they rose deep thunder roll'd
Around their shores: indignant burning with the fires of Orc
And Bostons Angel cried aloud as they flew thro' the dark night.
He cried: Why trembles honesty and like a murderer"
(This is timely, brothers: our country is so parlous that to
ever speak of it is a no, no.)
"Why seeks he refuge from the frowns of his immortal station!     
Must the generous tremble & leave his joy, to the idle: to the
 pestilence!
That mock him? who commanded this? what God? what Angel!
To keep the gen'rous from experience till the ungenerous
Are unrestraind performers of the energies of nature;
Till pity is become a trade, and generosity a science,           
That men get rich by, & the sandy desart is giv'n to the strong
(Read Erdman 33, the Argument of the Marriage of Heaven and Hell.)
What God is he, writes laws of peace, & clothes him in a tempest
What pitying Angel lusts for tears, and fans himself with sighs
What crawling villain preaches abstinence & wraps himself
In fat of lambs? no more I follow, no more obedience pay." 

'What God?' Blake was painfully aware of the close allegiance of 

the (Established) Church to the empirical forces of oppression that

must lead to war.

PLATE 12
"So cried he, rending off his robe & throwing down his scepter.
In sight of Albions Guardian, and all the thirteen Angels
Rent off their robes to the hungry wind, & threw their golden
     scepters
Down on the land of America. indignant they descended
Headlong from out their heav'nly heights, descending swift as
     fires        
Over the land; naked & flaming are their lineaments seen
In the deep gloom, by Washington & Paine & Warren they stood
And the flame folded roaring fierce within the pitchy night
Before the Demon red [Orc], who burnt towards America,
In black smoke thunders and loud winds rejoicing in its terror   

Breaking in smoky wreaths from the wild deep, & gath'ring thick
In flames as of a furnace on the land from North to South"