Blake and Lucretius by Joshua Schouten de Jel

Blake and Lucretius by Joshua Schouten de Jel

Author:Joshua Schouten de Jel
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030888886
Publisher: Springer International Publishing


4 ‘Theotormon is a sick mans dream’

Framed by the epistemological disjunction between Epicurean prolepsis and phantasia , Thel’s progression through a phenomenological unreality is the product of her subjection to the Selfhood, with her dialogic partners exteriorising her thought processes. Thematically, Theotormon’s sadomasochistic retrenchment within the confines of the Selfhood can be read as a (male) counterpart, as Oothoon’s embracement of self-annihilation acts a counterfoil to Thel’s struggles in the vales of Har.

To begin with, there are some notable parallels between the two texts. Out of the 125 lines which compose the main narrative of The Book of Thel (not including the motto), 94 are spoken (75.2%). Out of the 218 lines which compose the main narrative of Visions of the Daughters of Albion (not including ‘The Argument’), 186 are spoken (85.3%). In both poems, the heaviest concentration of dialogue also occurs in the middle section: Plates 2(4), 3(5), and 5(7) of Thel and Plates 3(6), 4(7), 5(8), 6(9), and 7(10) of Visions. Furthermore, in the same way that Thel’s dialogic encounters frame her narrative, in Visions the refrain ‘The Daughters of Albion hear her woes, & eccho back her sighs’ is repeated on Plates 2, 5, and 8 as the role of dialogue in poetic and character-related ontogeny is repeatedly reinforced.

Initially, Oothoon appears to occupy a similar role to Thel as she ‘wanderd in woe’ and speaks to ‘to the bright Marygold of Leutha’s vale’ (VDA 196 1.3–5). The questions she asks, however, and her readiness to implement what she learns suggests a juxtaposition between Oothoon’s utilitarian rhetoricity and Thel’s solipsistic lamentations. Importantly, the dialogic encounter between Oothoon and the Marygold lasts for only five lines and, thereafter, there are no more anthropomorphised apparitions, which ‘points to a receptivity in Oothoon quite different from that of her counterpart [Thel]’ (Vogler 1987, 292). Whereas Thel is limited to the naïve ideology which persists in the vales of Har, Oothoon is wandering through the vales of Leutha, which, although a place of sexual aggressiveness and hypocrisy, is at least a place of Experience and therefore a place of action, involvement, and worldliness. So, whilst Thel moves through her environment without daring to alter it, fearing change as an omen of decay and death, Oothoon acts upon her environment and alters her material reality as a result, claiming her sexuality by plucking the Marygold and placing it provocatively, and defiantly, between her breasts (1.5–13).40

The asexuality of Thel and the sexuality of Oothoon is also pictorially displayed on key plates. On ‘The Argument’ prefacing the main narrative of Visions of the Daughters of Albion , Oothoon is depicted on her knees, hands covering her breasts, head held forward to kiss a childlike nymph jumping up from the Marygold: the flaming flower of Promethean sexuality.41 The nymph’s arms are outstretched, with one extending to where Oothoon claims she places the flower—from which fire blazes on the final plate (Plate 11)—and the other hand stretched towards a sun-lit sky as the spiritual morning accompanies sexual awakening.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.