Vala, or The Four Zoas


Vala, or The Four Zoas refers to one of the uncompleted prophetic books by the English poet William Blake, begun in 1797. The titular main characters of the book are the Four Zoas, who were created by the fall of Albion in Blake's mythology. It consists of nine books, referred to as "nights". These outline the interactions of the Zoas, their fallen forms and their Emanations. Blake intended the book to be a summation of his mythic universe but, dissatisfied, he abandoned the effort in 1807, leaving the poem in a rough draft and its engraving unfinished. The text of the poem was first published, in 1893, by the Irish poet W. B. Yeats and his fellow collaborator, the English writer and poet Edwin John Ellis, in their three-volume commentary book about William Blake's works, .
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Background

Blake began working on Vala, or The Death and Judgement of the Eternal Man: A Dream of Nine Nights while he was working on an illustrated edition of Edward Young's Night Thoughts after 1795. He continued to work on it throughout the decade but slowly lost confidence that he could complete the work as he was suffering from a deep state of depression. After 1800, he was able to work on it again. The poem was later renamed The Four Zoas: The torments of Love & Jealousy in The death and Judgment of Albion the Ancient Man in 1807, and this name is used to describe a second version of the poem with the first completed between 1796 and 1802. The actual manuscript of the poem was written on proof engravings of Night Thoughts. The lines were surrounded by large designs and there was around 2,000 lines in the original edition of the poem and 4,000 in the second edition. Of Blake's revision to the work, he primarily changed the last two "nights".
Vala was much larger than any of his previous works. Europe a Prophecy was 265 lines and was printed on copperplates that measured 23 x 17 cm. The plates used to print Vala were 41 x 32 cm. The work also took far longer than his previous works; most of Blake's designs were completed within a year, but Vala took ten years for the whole process to be completed. A notebook was probably used to draft the poem or the designs of the work, but none survived. One of the manuscript sheets was originally used to create a history of England that was abandoned by Blake in 1793. The work was never put into etching, and the manuscript was given to John Linnell. Portions of the work were later used in his Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion.

Poem

The poem is divided into nine "nights". An early draft begins:
In the second "night", the theme of women ruling is discussed but there is an emphasis on how the ability to create constricts them. Humanity is imprisoned by creation, and experience causes great pain:
The final "night" describes Los witnessing a vision of Christ's crucifixion at the hands of Urizen. In response:
Vala concludes:

Themes

Like many of Blake's works, designs in Vala depict sexual activity or the genitals of the individual. Blake used these images as part of a general celebration of sex and sexuality. This emphasis on free sexuality occurs in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, and Blake's designs based on the Book of Enoch. Blake's beliefs emphasised the need for sexual openness in relationships and the lack of jealousy. In Vala, the idea of jealousy is a central theme and one of the bases for the story.
, 1795
William Blake
Between the various editions, the concept of the poem changes. The later edition was on a smaller conceptual scale, and it emphasises the concept of imprisonment found in the Book of Urizen. The early version emphasised the nature of intelligence and spiritual problems. The later edition placed an emphasis on the idea of renovation being found within Christianity. As Blake revised the poem, he added more concrete images and connected the plot to the histories of the Druids and of the Christians along with adding various locations connected to them. In both editions of the poem, Blake changed his mythological system in the Book of Urizen from a dualistic struggle between two divine powers to a struggle of four aspects split from Eternity. These aspects are Blake's Four Zoas, which represent four aspects of the Almighty God and Vala is the first work to mention them. In particular, Blake's God/Man union is broken down into the bodily components of Urizen, Urthona, Luvah, and Tharmas with paired Emanations being Ahania, Enitharmon, Vala, and Enion. As connected to Blake's understanding of the divine, the Zoas are the God the Father, the Son of God, the Holy Ghost, and Satan who was originally of the divine substance and their Emanations represent Sexual Urges, Nature, Inspiration, and Pleasure.
Blake believed that each person had a twofold identity with one half being good and the other evil. In Vala, both the character Orc and The Eternal Man discuss their selves as divided. By the time he was working on his later works, including Vala, Blake felt that he was able to overcome his inner battle but he was concerned about losing his artistic abilities. These thoughts carried over into Vala as the character Los is connected to the image of Christ, and he added a Christian element to his mythic world. In the revised version of Vala'', Blake added Christian and Hebrew images and describes how Los experiences a vision of the Lamb of God that regenerates Los's spirit. In opposition to Christ is Urizen and the Synagogue of Satan, who later crucifies Christ. It is from them that Deism is born.

Critical response

In 1945, Northrop Frye claimed: "There is nothing like the colossal explosion of creative power in the Ninth Night of The Four Zoas anywhere else in English poetry." G. E. Bentley Jr., in 2003, believed that Blake's "most extraordinary achievement" between the "prodigious years" of 1795 and 1800 was Vala in addition to claiming that "The poem provides a profound analysis of man's limitations but no hint of escape from the prison".