Book 1, Book 1 : Chapter 5, Jerusalem Cont. Summary

Here we have chapters 3 and 4 of Blake's Jerusalem. These also appear on illuminated plates. The author uses numerous references to deities at this time. The presentation is melodramatic. On one page the author is citing Albion and ranting about delusions, when a few pages later he connects the two by setting Albion, Canaan and Moab together in just a few short lines of poetry.

During these chapters, William Blake explains the Spectre further to readers. Here, he tells people that this entity is the reasoning power of man, when it is limited in ways that the Imagination is not.

The poetry itself continues to be perfectly formed. The stanza lengths vary from as little as 3 lines to more than 20. The words selected are highly emotive. By way of example, "Lest Hand the terrible destroy his...