The Song of Los (written 1795) is one of William Blake

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...

's epic poems, known as prophetic books

William Blake's prophetic books

The prophetic books of the English poet and artist William Blake are a series of difficult and obscure poetic works. While Blake worked as a commercial illustrator, these books were ones that he produced, with his own engravings, as an extended and largely private project...

. The poem consists of two sections, "Africa" and "Asia". In the first section Blake catalogues the decline of morality in Europe, which he blames on both the African slave trade and enlightenment philosophers. The book provides a historical context for The Book of Urizen

The Book of Urizen

The Book of Urizen is one of the major prophetic books of the English writer William Blake, illustrated by Blake's own plates. It was originally published as The First Book of Urizen in 1794. Later editions dropped the "First". The book takes its name from the character Urizen in Blake's mythology,...

, The Book of Ahania

The Book of Ahania

The Book of Ahania is one of the English poet William Blake's prophetic books. It was published in 1795, illustrated by Blake's own plates....

, and The Book of Los

The Book of Los

The Book of Los is a 1795 prophetic book by English poet and painter William Blake. It exists in only one copy, now held by The British Museum. The book is related to the Book of Urizen and to the Continental prophecies; it is essentially a retelling of Urizen from the point of view of Los...

, and also ties those more obscure works to The Continental Prophecies, "Europe" and "America". The second section consists of Los

Los (Blake)

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Los is the fallen form of Urthona, one of the four Zoas. He is referred to as the "eternal prophet" and creates the visionary city of Golgonooza. Los is regularly described as a smith, beating with his hammer on a forge, which is metaphorically...

urging revolution.

Background

During autumn 1790, Blake moved to Lambeth, Surrey. He had a studio at the new house that he used while writing his what were later called his "Lambeth Books", which included The Song of Los in 1795. Like the others under the title, all aspects of the work, including the composition of the designs, the printing of them, the colouring of them, and the selling of them, happened at his home. Early sketches for The Song of Los were included in a notebook that contained images were created between 1790 until 1793. The Song of Los was one of the few works that Blake describes as "illuminated printing", one of his colour printed works with the coloured ink being placed on the copperplate before printed.

The pages of the work and images were 23 x 17 cm in size, the size of America a Prophecy and Europe a Prophecy, and the work was occasionally bound together with the other two works. Only six copies of the work survived, and the work was not listed along with Blake's other works that he sold in either 1818 or 1827. There were no mentions of the work by either Blake's contemporaries or his early biographer Alexander Gilchrist.

Poem

The work begins with a title page image of an empty, dead world with an old man looking at the title of the work. The story of the work begins in Africa with Los singing of Adam, Noah, and Moses and how they were granted laws by Urizen. This involve abstractions being granted to Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato, gospel being given to Jesus, a bible for Mahomet, and a book on war given to Odin. These caused the world to fail, as they were chains that bound the mind:

Thus the terrible race of Los & Enitharmon gave

Laws & Religions to the sons of Har binding them more

And more to Earth: closing and restraining:

Till a Philosophy of Five senses was complete

Urizen wept & gave it into the hands of Newton & Locke (44-48)

In the second half of the work, Asia, Orc creates fires in the mind that causes kings to be startled and an apocalypse of sorts to start:

The Grave shrieks with delight, & shakes

Her hollow womb, & clasps the solid stem:

Her bosom swells with wild desirel

And mild & glandous wine

In rivers rush & shout & dance,

On mountain, dale and plain. (lines 59-63)

Themes

The Song of Los is connected to both America and Europe in that it describes Africa and Asia, which operate as a sort of frame to the other works. As such, the three works are united by the same historical and social themes. "Africa" section of the poem summarizes Blake's historical cycles, which describes a three part tyrannous power of Egypt, Babylon, and Rome. Of this summary, the line "The Guardian Prince of Albion burns in his nightly tent" appears, which is also the first line of America a Prophecy. The section "Asia" follows the actions in America a Prophecy and describe a world wide revolution in an apocalyptic state. There are many similarities between the way Orc is described within the poem, a pillar of fire that burns oppression away, and how Fingal of Macpherson's Fingal is described. Fingal, in the Ossian work, is a good character that defends the oppressed against the Norse and the Romans. As Fingal fights imperialism, Orc fights against Urizen's rationality, and they both seek to free their people.

The work closely follows the idea of biblical prophecy in that it is brief and concentrated. The first section condenses the history of religion, but does so in a non-chronological manner. His history relies on Urizen to establish the various historical moments as incidents, and the type of order within the poem is similar to the prophetic narrative. The prophetic image is also embodied within the work by Los, who, when he submits to the system created by Urizen, loses his prophetic ability. In addition to the prophetic aspects, the work deals with religion as a whole. The first section describes the origin of priestcraft and the origins of religion, which is established through a bardic form of poetry.

Critical response

Jon Mee claims that "Nowhere in Blake's interest in comparative religion more obvious than in The Song of Los".