1
Hager
Eulogy of Eternity: An Analysis of Book of Urizen
Zach Hager
Blake’s poem, the Book of Urizen laments the death of eternity and the birth of reason. The title Urizen has the same phonic construction as “your reason” the killer eternity. Reason aids in the division of all things. By dividing eternity, eternity dies, for eternity encompasses all things. The poem uses circular imagery to better illustrate the death of eternity as well as to articulate the pervasive paradox of how connecting things together, also limits our interpretation of them.
The circular structure of the poem begins in the first stanza of chapter one.
Chapter 1
I. Lo, a shadow of horror is risen
In Eternity! Unknown, unprolific!
Self-Closed, all-repelling; what Demon
Hath formed this abominable void (11)
…
The dark power hid. (13)
Residing in darkness, the scene’s, use of the words “shadow” and “dark” connote some form of blackness. Words such as “unknown,” “unprolific,” and “void” illustrate that this darkness holds no form. The darkness’s formlessness embodies itself the phrase “self-closed.” There lies no way to distinguish the darkness’s parts because they all work toward the same whole, or self. The ambiguity of darkness parallels the ambiguity of eternity therefore darkness in this stanza references the infinite. However, at the end of Blake’s poem darkness adopts a different connotation.
Now that I have laid the groundwork for the structural circle of the Book of Urizen, I can begin an intimate reading of the circular imagery.
Chapter III
3. Sund’ring, dark’ning, thund’ring
Rent away with a terrible crash,
Eternity rolled wide apart,
Wide asunder rolling
Mountainous all around
Departing; departing; departing:
Leaving ruinous fragments of life,
Hanging frowning cliffs, and all between
An ocean of voidness unfathomable.
The infinite and finite display a balance in the stanza that I have just read. For example, the following words, specifically the nouns and adjectives, describe the boundless: “voidness,” “unfathomable,” and “Eternity.” Conveying the boundless lies in the fact that they adhere to vagueness, formlessness. The bound words do not, however connote vagueness but specify: “ocean,” “mountainous,” and “cliffs.” By hearing the series of words that refer to the infinite and the finite, the reader can tell that a balance exists between the two categorizes. The balance commences the division of eternity. The phrases “wide apart” and “rent away” prove the disassembling of eternity. A violent tone exists in these phrases to imply that an involuntary force destroys eternity. Indeed this is the case, line 104 reads, “with a terrible crash.” When force applies itself, a crash occurs. The tone of unwillingness and the images of separation help to illustrate a very interesting paradox. Destruction is a form of creation. When eternity splits finite elements come into existence, “mountainous,” “cliffs,” and “ocean.” The many allusions to the action of rolling help to better explain this paradox. Lines 105 through 107 contain the greatest amount of circular imagery, the rolling allusions. Line 105 tells directly that eternity rents a part. Notice the location of the word “rolled” in line 105 and the placement of the word “rolling” in line 106. Both words do not lie directly below one another instead they lie slightly shifted to one another. The space between the two words shows the act of rolling. In line 107, the reader can truly see the paradox of how eternity’s destruction becomes the finite’s creation. The verb describing the destruction of eternity, “roll” and the phrase “all around” describe the mountainous scene. Both these two words “roll” and “around” imply the same action. An object needs to be round in order to roll. This compatibility between the verb and the adjective helps to better illustrate the intimacy between eternity’s death and finite’s life.
The use of a sensory bridge, the continuous use of circular imagery, between the infinite and the finite allows the reader to explore dual nature present in the imagery itself. In order for a pervasive image to be effective, it must have components of the poem’s theme within its structure. Therefore, circles must have both infinite and finite properties. What also makes the image of circles so effective is that they also embody the paradox that connections also act as restraints. Circles are infinite and finite in themselves. For circles neither begin nor end. Also, their identity completely depends on their connectedness. Take out one curve and the circle ceases to be a circle. Just like breaking down eternity- dividing, it ceases to hold onto infinity. However, circles also have finite properties to them, form restricts them. They must be in a certain shape in order to be a circle; there exists exceptions.
The meter of this stanza also reflects the tension between the infinite and the finite. Structure lurks in the meter however the last line does not follow the structure. The last line’s syllable count relates to the line’s content. The last line, “An ocean of voidness unfathomable” conveys the infinite nature of the ocean. Thus, absent of form and therefore unable to adhere to it, This last line, which contains infinite images, breaks the preconceived syllable count of nine to ten hence breaking the structure of the stanza. The line breaks the stanza’s structure clearly because Blake highlights here that infinity has no structure. Infinity retaliates against its destruction by revolting against the meter structure.
Infinity will not give up but it lacks endurance. For now infinity is only up by one, one syllable. The finite pulls ahead when Los, identified with imagination, begins to try to connect everything including the mind of Urizen by the use of nets.
Chapter IVa
4.And Los formed nets and gins
And threw the nets round about.
5.He watched in sudd’ring fear
The dark changes, and bound every change
With rivets of iron and brass;
6.And these were the changes of Urizen. (167-72)
The above stanza articulates the paradox of how connections also act as restraints. Once again, the speaker of the poem uses circular imagery to illustrate this paradox. Line 167 states, “And Los formed nets and gins” in order to capture things. At the same time nets, gather things. Take for example the common application of nets in the sport of fishing. They both capture fish and gather as many of them as possible. Thus, they cover a large area. Los haphazardly applies the nets in order to understand his or her world. More specifically Los uses nets to restore things back to their original form, the infinite. Los does not realize the dual nature of nets, to gather also means to capture. Rather, Los's mistake intensifies with the use of word “gins.” By definition, gins trap.
Further, the net image illustrates an allegory of reason. An allegory presents itself in the last line of the stanza. The line foreshadows nets will be used in the construction of Urizen, reason. Capturing reason’s structure, Reason’s structure designates categories and searches for objects to fulfill them. For example, apples and oranges are both fruits. However, the difference between apples and oranges lays in their two different colors. Apple and orange associate themselves with colors, red for apple and orange for orange. The color discrepancy separates the two fruits but as soon as they separate from each other, they link to other objects with the same color. For example, apple and tomatoes link together because they are both red. Experience of reason binds together every object without our consent. Once a person perceives an apple it slides into the category of a fruit instantly without consideration of any other possibilities. Reason binds to our thought process just as Los’s nets bind objects.
Recall the first stanza: read it. Remember that darkness resides throughout the scene.
However the darkness in the first stanza connotes universality. Now the fourth stanza in chapter
nine resides in darkness however darkness implicates a sense of ignorance. The following stanza also represents the structural circle of the poem.
Chapter IX
No more could they rise at will
In the infinite void, but bound down
To earth by their narrowing perceptions
…
To the jaws of devouring darkness. (504)
Line 501 proves the interpretation that darkness connotes ignorance. Line 501 refers to the narrow perceptions of humans. Darkness now devours humans instead of covering them. Here humans only perceive the fright behind darkness because their senses cannot see eternity in darkness. They blind themselves with what once use to be eternity. Just as nets, darkness has a dual nature: It can be pervasive, but can also be blinding.
The last line of the poem “And the salt ocean rolled englobed” (524), resonates off the last line in the third stanza of chapter three, “An ocean of voidness unfathomable.” (111). (The line that rebels against the third stanza’s meter structure.) These lines carry some obvious differences but they possess striking similarities. The word “salt” brands the mark of science. Science calls “salt” a compound and reason birthed science. The word “englobed" revises the word "unfathomable.” The word “englobed” restricts the scene. The word “englobed” and the word “unfathomable” represent two different worlds. “Unfathomable” refers to the infinite and “englobed” refers to the finite. Also, Blake constructs line 524 with nine syllables. Nine syllables will complete the form in Chapter III (the stanza that contains line 111). The raped syllable cries the one word that killed eternity. Reason.