Page:The letters of William Blake (1906).djvu/41

 Rh Sunday paper called The Examiner,... and the manner in which I have rooted out the nest of villains will be seen in a poem concerning my three years' herculean labours at Felpham, which I shall soon publish." But it seems to have been ready not long after these words were written, as in every copy known to me the paper is watermarked with the year 1808, a coincidence which must, I think, fix the approximate date of its appearance. The intention of the book is clearly stated on p. 36, ll. 21-25:

The story of the events at Felpham having reached the dwellers in eternity, the poet Milton receives a heavenly command to return to earth, with the double purpose both of redeeming his own imagination from the state of bondage into which it had fallen during his lifetime owing to the detestable nature of his religion, and of delivering Blake from the tyranny of his oppressors. He comes as "the Awakener," to overthrow "the idiot Reasoner," who "laughs at the Man of Imagination." Visionary art is to be restored once more, and the poetry of vision is to silence