- Title:
- "They call'd her Pity, and fled..." (Plate 17)
- Part Of:
- Date:
- 1794
- Materials & Techniques:
- Color-printed relief etching in green ink, with watercolor on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
- Dimensions:
- Sheet: 11 7/8 x 9 5/8 inches (30.2 x 24.4 cm), Plate: 6 1/4 x 4 1/8 inches (15.9 x 10.5 cm)
- Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in graphite, lower left: "18"
Lettered inside image, left: "They call'd her Pity, and fled | 11. 'Spread a Tent. with strong cur- | -tains around them | 'Let cords & stakes bind in the Void | That Eternals may no more behold them' | 12. They began to weave curtains of | darkness | They erected large pillars round the Void | With golden hooks fastend in the pillars | With infinite labour the Eternals | A woof wove. and called it Science | Chap: VI. | 1. But Los saw the Female & pitied | He embrac'd her, she wept, she refus'd | In perverse and cruel delight | She fled from his arms, yet he followd | 2. Eternity shudder'd when they saw. | Man begetting his likeness. | On his own divided image. | 3. A time passed over, the Eternals | Began to erect the tent; | When Enitharmon sick. | Felt a Worm within her womb. | 4. Yet helpless it lay like a Worm | In the trembling womb | To be moulded into existence"; right: "5. All day the worm lay on her bosom | All night within her womb | The worm lay till it grew to a ser- | -pent | With dolorous hissings & poisons | Round Enitharmons loins folding. | 6. Coild within Enitharmons womb | The serpent grew casting its scales, | With sharp pangs the hissings began | To change to a grating cry, | Many sorrows and dismal throes. | Many forms of fish. bird & beast. | Brought forth an Infant form | Where was a worm before. | 7. The Eternals their tent finished | Alarm'd with these gloomy visions | When Enitharmon groaning | Produc'd a man Child to the light. | 8. A shriek ran thro' Eternity: | And a paralytic stroke: | At the birth of the Human shadow. | 9. Delving earth in his resistless | way: | Howling, the Child with fierce flames | Issu'd from Enitharmon. | 10. The Eternals, closed the tent | They beat down the stakes the cords"
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1978.43.1436
- Classification:
- Prints
- Collection:
- Prints and Drawings
- Subject Terms:
- kneeling | literary theme | men | nudes | text | vines | women
- Access:
- Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details. - Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:2362
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
The Human Form Divine - William Blake from the Paul Mellon Collection (Yale Center for British Art, 1997-04-02 - 1997-07-06) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]
William Blake - His Art & Times (Art Gallery of Ontario, 1982-12-03 - 1983-02-06) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]
William Blake - His Art & Times (Yale Center for British Art, 1982-09-15 - 1982-11-14) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]
William Blake, Libros profe´ticos, vol. 1, Atalanta, Vilau¨r, Spain, 2013, p. 319, PR4142 .S35 2013 [ORBIS]