The Book of Urizen

The Book of Urizen

"The Book of Urizen" is one of the major prophetic books of the English poet William Blake, illustrated by Blake's own plates. It was originally published as "The First Book of Urizen" in 1794. Later editions dropped the word "first".

The book takes its name from the character Urizen in Blake's mythology, who represents alienated reason as the source of oppression. The book describes Urizen as the "primeaval priest", and describes how he became separated from the other Eternals to create his own alienated and enslaving realm of religious dogma. Los and Enitharmon create a space within Urizen's fallen universe to give birth to their son Orc, the spirit of revolution and freedom.

In form the book is a parody of the Book of Genesis, with Blake's Urizen being more similar to the demiurge of the Gnostics than a benevolent creator.

Urizen's first four sons are Thiriel, Utha, Grodna and Fuzon (respectively elemental Air, Water, Earth, Fire, according to Chapter VIII). The last of these plays a major role in "The Book of Ahania", published the following year.

External links

* [http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/work.xq?workid=urizen&java=yes Index for online versions]
* [http://www.rarebookroom.org/Control/blkurz/index.html "The Book of Urizen"] ca. 1818, at Rare Book Room.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • 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.The poem of the book consists of six chapters. The content concerns Fuzon, a son of Urizen, a Zoa or major aspect in Blake s… …   Wikipedia

  • The Second Coming (poem) — The Second Coming is a poem by William Butler Yeats first printed in The Dial (November 1920) and afterwards included in his 1921 verse collection Michael Robartes and the Dancer . The poem uses religious symbolism to illustrate Yeats anguish… …   Wikipedia

  • The Marriage of Heaven and Hell — The title page of the book, copy D. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is a book by the English poet and printmaker William Blake. It is a series of texts written in imitation of biblical books of prophecy but expressing Blake s own intensely… …   Wikipedia

  • William Blake's Illustrations of the Book of Job — (published 1826) is a series of twenty two engraved prints illustrating the biblical Book of Job. It is considered to be Blake s greatest masterpiece in the medium of the visual arts [cite book |last=Schoenherr |first= |title= |date=1997 |pages=… …   Wikipedia

  • The Song of Los — (written 1795) is one of William Blake s epic poems known as prophetic books. The poem consists of two sections, Africa and Asia . In the first section Blake catalogs the decline of morality in Europe, which he blames on both the African slave… …   Wikipedia

  • Urizen — This article is about the being from William Blake s mythology. For the character from the Spawn comics, see Urizen (comics). Urizen is depicted in Blake s watercoloured etching The Ancient of Days . In the complex mythology of William Blake,… …   Wikipedia

  • Urizen (comics) — Superherobox caption=Urizen comic color=background:#80ff80 character name=Urizen real name= publisher=Image Comics debut= Spawn #95 creators=Todd McFarlane alliance color=background:#ffc0c0 status=Imprisoned alliances= aliases=The Void, The… …   Wikipedia

  • The Tyger — A William Blake original of The Tyger, printed c. 1795 The Tyger is a poem by the English poet William Blake. It was published as part of his collection Songs of Experience in 1794 (see 1794 in poetry). It is one of Blake s best known and most… …   Wikipedia

  • The Sick Rose — Hand coloured print, issued c.1826. A copy held by the Fitzwilliam Museum, London[1] The Sick Rose is a poem by William Blake. The first publication was …   Wikipedia

  • Urizen — Personnage de fiction …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”