Page:Works of William Blake; poetic, symbolic, and critical (1893) Volume 2.djvu/150

 136 Notes.

C. 1-12. — The general structure of the book may be seen by the following table of correspondences: —

Though different in expression and distribution of emphasis the main structures is in agreement with Jacob Boehmen's scheme of creation. The first triad is identical with the alchemical categories, salt, mercury and sulphur ; as contraction, motion, and whirling. It must be remembered, too, that the first and second of any triad produce the third, as alchemical salt and mercury produce sulphur.

To recapitulate the abstract of the book: iu the first chapter a self-hood arises in eternity ; in the second it hides itself in darkness, and so enters the womb of nature ; in the third it tosses with agony, and these tossings are fixed into various states of consciousness in the fourth chapter; the fifth sees the creation of an organized outer nature ; and the sixth the birth of passion, the product of the states of consciousness and their nature; the seventh and eighth chapter see the rise respectively of memory and moral restraint, and these solidify in the ninth into the mortal body.

Prologue, l. 2. — "Religion" used in its common Blakean sense of restriction.

L. 3. — North is equivalent to matter.

C. 2, v. 2, l. 1. — A trumpet means a creative or unimaginative thought; musical instruments are always generative.

V. 2, l. 2. — The cold clouds of Urizen are changed by the