Blake: Milton Inside Milton

PAUL MINER Blake: Milton Inside Milton He has now by him a long poem nearly finished, which he affirms was recited to him by the spirit of Milton. —Concerning the “Nativity of Mr. Blake,” Urania, 1825 J ohn milton’s writings often were a prism through which william Blake organized his own critical apparatus,1 and the complexity with which Blake in his epic Milton alludes to Milton’s various works has not been understood, in part because Blake frequently re-visioned such emula­ tions. Accordingly, Blake attempted to outdo Milton.2 The Argument of this essay, thus, assesses many of these nuances of meaning and counter­ meaning.3 To facilitate clarity of exposition, I have—insofar as possible— addressed the relevant particulars sequentially as they appear in Milton. 1. All citations to Blake, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake, ed. David V. Erdman, revised edn. (New York: Anchor, 1988). Stan­ dard abbreviations of Blake’s works are used in the citations. For plate numeration concern­ ing Blake’s designs to Milton, I also utilize Erdman’s The Illuminated Blake (Garden City, NY: Dover, 1992), a republished issue of the 1974 edition—hereafter referred to as TIB. Quota­ tions from Milton, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from Paradise Lost and from Paradise Regained, the Minor Poems and Samson Agonistes, 2 vols., ed. Merritt Y. Hughes (New York: Odyssey Press, 1937). 2. Blake often twists Milton’s contexts, and as early as An Island in the Moon, c. 1784-85, “Quid” (Blake) in mock audacity declares that “I think that Homer is bombast & Shake­ speare is too wild & Milton has no feelings (my emphasis) they might be easily outdone” (E 455). Blake’s aspersion to Milton tacitly reflects Samuel Johnson's criticism of Lycidas, where in Lines of the Poets (vol. 1) the lexicographer sternly declares there is no “effusion of real passion” in Milton’s poem—as it expresses “little grief.” Blake later modified his forego­ ing perspective, because Milton was inspired by the Holy Ghost, the Poetic Genius. Blake m A Descriptive Catalogue (E 544) confirmed that the “human mind cannot go beyond the gift of God, the Holy Ghost,” and Blake in his annotations to Wordsworth (E 665) further clarified that works inspired by the Holy Ghost can be “equal to . . . but not Superior” to each other. Hence, the Holy Ghost cannot be “outdone.” See also John B. Pierce, “Rewriting Milton: Orality and Writing in Blake’s Milton, ” in William Blake, A Critical Study, eds. T. Joseph and S. Francis (New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 2005). 3. The most comprehensive survey ofBlake’s Milton is The Illuminated Books, vol. 5 ofthe William Blake Trust, edited with commentary by Robert N. Essick and Joseph Viscomi (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993). Subsequent references to this work are desig­ nated as MAP (“Milton/a Poem”). SiR, 51 (Summer 2012) 233 234 PAUL MINER Parenthetically, it should be emphasized that themes in Milton often were initiated in The Four Zoas and expanded and consolidated in Jerusalem, Blake’s last great epic. Scholars repeatedly have called attention to the opening lyric of Milton (E 95—96)/ where Blake passionately demands: “Bring me my Bow of burning gold” and “my Arrows of desire: / Bring me my Spear: O [vagi­ nal] clouds unfold!” (cf. J 20:26, E 165). Blake in this introductory poem also possesses a “Chariot of fire,” reflecting Book Six of Paradise Lost (71018 , 832, 836), in which Christ with his fiery “Chariot” will “bring forth all my War” against Satan. Hence, Milton’s Christ in Book Six (lines 763-75) is armed with a stringed “Bow,” while his “Quiver” stores “three-bolted Thunder”—arrows of lightning, directed against devilish hoards.4 5 6 Christ in Paradise Lost (6.714) also possesses a “Sword,” placed upon his “puissant Thigh,” and, thus, militant Blake’s “Sword” in the initial lines of Milton (E 95) will not “sleep” in his hand, layered phrasing that residually amplifies Zechariah (13:1, 7), where “the LORD of [starry] hosts,” anticipatmgjerusalem ’s terrible purification, expostulates: “Awake, O sword” (my emphasis). The terminating stanza in Blake’s lyric in Milton (lines 13—16, E 95...