Content-Type: text/plain blake-d Digest Volume 1996 : Issue 110 Today's Topics: re:flying phalli Re: innocence and Eternity Re: innocence and Eternity -Reply Blake's "A Poison Tree" Re: re:flying phalli Re[2]: flying phalli Re: re:flying phalli how to use Re: re:flying phalli re:flying phalli Re: re:flying phalli re:flying phalli -Reply Re: re:flying phalli -Reply Re: re:flying phalli and stained glass windows Reply to William Neal Franklin . Blake Sighting/Citing ----- Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 10:56:46 -0500 From: jmichael@seraph1.sewanee.edu (J. Michael) To: blake@albion.com Subject: re:flying phalli Message-Id: Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I've just come across some information on this subject. Apparently in the latter 18c it became known that some women in Sicily were participating a cult that worshipped phallic objects. In response, Richard Payne Knight published _A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus and Its Connection with the Mystic Theology of the Ancients_ (1787). The illustrations include some "Roman scuplture from Nimes" featuring winged dinosaur-like creatures made up of three (!) phalli. One of them appears to be on a leash held by a woman. They're not "bat-winged," but I wouldn't be surprised if Blake knew of Knight's work. I don't have access to Knight's book, but found these references and illustrations in an article by Paulette Singley, "The Anamorphic Phallus within Ledoux's Dismembered Plan of Chaux." _Journal of Architectural Education_ 46.3 (February 1993) 176-88. Jennifer Michael ----- Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 01:55:48 -0400 From: TomD3456@aol.com To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: innocence and Eternity Message-Id: <960916015547_309410952@emout01.mail.aol.com> Suz- Congratulations on completing your dissertation! Regarding eternity and innocence, I think you will find a lot in Louis Martz's fine old anthology "The Meditative Poem," though the poets are 17th rather than 18th century. Henry Vaughan would be a good source ("I saw Eternity the other night..."), and Thomas Traherne ("Wonder," "Eden," "Innocence," "Centuries of Meditation") as well. --Tom Devine ----- Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 10:47:31 -0500 (CDT) From: Suzanne Araas Vesely To: blake@albion.com Cc: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: innocence and Eternity -Reply Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Avery and Pam: Thanks for the good hints on Eternity.--Suz ----- Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 16:24:04 -0400 From: "Nicholas Clark" To: "Blake Mailing List" Subject: Blake's "A Poison Tree" Message-Id: <9609162026.AA07692@osf1.gmu.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I am looking for some interpretive ideas from other people regarding William Blake's poem "A Poison Tree." I have placed a copy of the poem at the bottom of this message. More specifically I am wondering about the relationship of the tree in this poem to the tree of knowledge in the bible. - Nick nclark1@gmu.edu nclark@inmind.com --- William Blake's "A Poison Tree" 1 I was angry with my friend: 2 I told my wrath, my wrath did end. 3 I was angry with my foe: 4 I told it not, my wrath did grow. 5 And I watrd it in fears, 6 Night & morning with my tears; 7 And I sunned it with smiles, 9 And with soft deceitful wiles. 10 And it grew both day and night, 11 Till it bore an apple bright. 12 And my foe beheld it shine, 13 And he knew that it was mine, 14 And into my garden stole, 15 When the night had veild the pole; 16 In the morning glad I see 17 My foe outstretched beneath the tree. ----- Date: Mon, 16 Sep 1996 22:09:55 -0500 From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM) To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: re:flying phalli Message-Id: <96091622095551@wc.stephens.edu> It has been widely assumed that Blake knew the work of Richard Payne Knight--I remember references to Knight's works in several critical studies as well as reproductions of some of the illustrations from his priapic studies in at least one study of influences on Blake. The only critical texts I have handy that make direct reference to Blake/Knight are Anne K. Mellor's _Blake's Human Form Divine_ ["Blake's concept of the unitive mode of vision is partly derived from his reading of Jacob Bryant and perhaps of such other syncretic mythologists as Richard Payne Knight and J. Sylvain Bailly: (Mellor 217)] and Nelson Hilton's _Literal Imagination_ which includes, in chapter 8 "Spectres [The Text, 3] a discussion of the very imagery under discussion here. Hilton quotes from Knight on the metamorphoses of the symbol of the butterfly. Knight's _Discourse on the Worship of Priapus_ (1786) used to be available in a reprint from Julian Press entitled _Sexual Symbolism_, with an introduction by Ashley Montagu and an accompanying study by Thomas Wright (1866) on phallic worship in the middle ages. Tom Dillingham ----- Date: Tue, 17 Sep 96 08:26 CST From: MLGrant@president-po.president.uiowa.edu To: blake@albion.com, jmichael@seraph1.sewanee.edu (J. Michael) Subject: Re[2]: flying phalli Message-Id: <199609171331.IAA19443@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> Don't have time just now to comment on this recurring theme, but as for Richard Payne Knight (and a similar -- but non-flying -- motif in ruins from Pompeii) see Jean Hagstrum (his first book on Blake, I think.) -- MLJ ----- Date: Tue, 17 Sep 1996 11:18:11 -0500 From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM) To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: re:flying phalli Message-Id: <96091711181189@wc.stephens.edu> I needed to check books at my office to fill out my memory of references to Blake and Richard Payne Knight. Jean Hagstrum mentions Knight in his book on Blake, but not the priapic essay--he refers rather to Knight's syncretic study, _The Symbolical Language of Ancient Art and Mythology_. Morton Paley (in _William Blake_, Phaidon 1978) states: "Blake drew winged phalluses, some of which have been rubbed away (perhaps by a later hand), while others remain on pp. 42, 100, and 134. Blake evidently got the idea for these from both the text and illustrations of Richard Payne Knight's _An Account of the Remains of Priapus . . . A Discourse on the Worship of Priapus [London, 1786]. Knight had discovred a remnant of Priapic worship at Isernia, near Naples, in 1781, and he published his findings with speculations about their meaning as a letter addressed to Sir William Hamilton. In ancient painting and sculpture, according to Knight, 'the organ of generation represented the generative or creative attribute' (p. 27). Blake took over this symbolism in _Vala_ but gave it a decidedly more negative twist of meaning in accordance with the 'torments of Love and Jealousy' theme. He seems to have been particularly influenced in this respect by a half-page engraving of phallic objects in Knight, fig. 2, showing a flying phallus, and by fig. 4 of plate 5, showing a phallic snake" (45). Paley does not cite an authority for the assertion that Blake knew Knight's work, but the date of publication and nature of the work would suggest that Blake could have, and given his interests, would have been attracted to the book if he had access to it. I am not convinced by the reference to the "more negative twist of symbolism"-- that seems wrong to me, but I would need to go back through the text again. I believe there is also a discussion of Knight (and other syncretists) in Frank Manuel's _The Eighteenth Century Confronts the Gods_. Tom Dillingham ----- Date: Thu, 29 Aug 1996 18:16:30 +0000 From: "bambi@usa1.com" To: blake@albion.com Subject: how to use Message-Id: <9609172321.AA28380@uu6.psi.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT where do I begin? I do not know how to use one of these mailing lists. Can someone hellp me? ----- Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 18:15:54 -0400 (EDT) From: "Avery F. Gaskins" To: Subject: Re: re:flying phalli Message-Id: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Content-Type: Text/plain; charset=US-ASCII These posts have sent me back to Payne Knight. I can't find any illustration that is close enough to the ones by Blake that prompted the first question. I'll check Mellor next to see what connections she makes. Avery Gaskins ----- Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 19:53:51 -0500 (CDT) From: RPYODER@ualr.edu To: blake@albion.com Subject: re:flying phalli Message-Id: <960918195351.2028771a@ualr.edu> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT I'm just wondering, could Blake have been aware of the winged/plumed serpents of the Aztec and Mayan tribes of Mexico? Paul Yoder ----- Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 21:00:01 -0500 From: tomdill@wc.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM) To: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: re:flying phalli Message-Id: <96091821000188@wc.stephens.edu> I agree with Avery, as I implied in my reference to Paley. The illustrations to Knight seem to me not really that similar to what Blake is doing in the Four Zoas ms., and though I could accept the idea of Blake revering the generative powers, there is at least some reason to think such feelings would be painfully mixed or ambivalent, given his childlessness. But Blake and sexuality need (and have received in print, with mixed results) far more detailed and subtle discussion than is possible here. Tom Dillingham ----- Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 12:58:56 +0200 From: P Van Schaik To: blake@albion.com, jmichael@seraph1.sewanee.edu Subject: re:flying phalli -Reply Message-Id: Interesting input, Jennifer... I wonder whether the phallic worship in Sicily might have been a continuation of that of Roman times as, in Pompeii, in the Villa dei mysterii, there is a wall painting in which women are initiated into one of the mystery religions by contemplating bread in the form of phallic shapes in a basket. It may have had something to do with being prepared for the rites of sexual fulfilment , or this may have been allegorical , relating to acceptance of pain if greater fulfilment of spirit and of life were to be attained. I seem to remember reading somewhere too, that some Etruscan symbols were also winged above and had serpent bodies. Pam ----- Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 08:30:49 -0400 (EDT) From: "Avery F. Gaskins" To: Subject: Re: re:flying phalli -Reply Message-Id: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Content-Type: Text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Pam, It's interesting that you should bring up the question of sexual symbolism carrying over from Roman times in Italy. The Payne Knight book of the Worship Priapus I checked out of the library is bound together with Thomas Wright's _The Worship of the Generative Powers During the Middle Ages of Europe_ (1866). He argues just that point. In fact, he says many churches in medieval Europe and the British Isles were decorated with representations of male and female sexual organs to ward off evil spirits. One illustration (plate IX) contains drawings of ornaments from the church of San Fedele (no indication of its location). The five phalli depicted are all winged. The date is too late to have influenced Blake, but since we know he spent some time visiting and draw- ing Gothic churches, I wonder if it is too big a stretch to think he may have seen some like those at San Fedele while doing his work. Avery Gaskins ----- Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 12:37:55 -0500 (CDT) From: William Neal Franklin To: "Avery F. Gaskins" Cc: blake@albion.com Subject: Re: re:flying phalli and stained glass windows Message-Id: Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII We just had a flurry of discussion on the C18 discussion list regarding a query I sent out about the stained glass in St. Paul's cathedral in Blake's time. The indication, from Linda Troost and others, is that stained glass went out in the 1640's (more or less violently) and that during the eighteenth century the windows were primarily clear glass. Blake's paintings often have a stained-glass iconic sort of look, but did it come from stained glass windows, or from the murals he sketched as an apprentice with Basire? Could it be that the flying phalli were integrated into more modern stained glass due to Blake's influence on later artists? Or Knight's? I'm still not sure and would welcome more information. On Fri, 20 Sep 1996, Avery F. Gaskins wrote to Pam: > It's interesting that you should bring up the question of sexual symbolism > carrying over from Roman times in Italy. The Payne Knight book of the Worship > Priapus I checked out of the library is bound together with Thomas Wright's > _The Worship of the Generative Powers During the Middle Ages of Europe_ (1866). > He argues just that point. In fact, he says many churches in medieval Europe > and the British Isles were decorated with representations of male and female > sexual organs to ward off evil spirits. One illustration (plate IX) contains > drawings of ornaments from the church of San Fedele (no indication of its > location). The five phalli depicted are all winged. The date is too late to > have influenced Blake, but since we know he spent some time visiting and draw- > ing Gothic churches, I wonder if it is too big a stretch to think he may have > seen some like those at San Fedele while doing his work. > > Avery Gaskins > ----- Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 14:38:52 -0400 (EDT) From: "Avery F. Gaskins" To: Subject: Reply to William Neal Franklin Message-Id: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT Content-Type: Text/plain; charset=US-ASCII The ornaments in Wright's book were round and engraved in stone. There were both male and female representations. I don't recall seeing any mention of stained glass, but I'll look again. On looking at plate IX again, I can't say whether the figures are engraved or sculpted. I don't know what significance there may be to it, but only the phalli are winged. Avery Gaskins ----- Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 15:23:11 -0400 From: FERgriffin@aol.com To: blake@albion.com Subject: . Message-Id: <960920152311_526683862@emout14.mail.aol.com> Hello! This will serve as my brief introduction. I am not obsessed or even knowledgable in Blake study, however I am fascinated by england and english writers and am excited to learn more about Blake through this list. The only thing I've read is about him-William Blake's Inn--a child's book. If anyone knows of mailing lists about other English authors I would be interested in knowing b/c I have studied British LIterature in classes and privately. Sorry for making this very choppy! Rebecca ----- Date: Sat, 21 Sep 1996 19:57:08 -0500 From: tomdill@womenscol.stephens.edu (TOM DILLINGHAM) To: blake@albion.com Subject: Blake Sighting/Citing Message-Id: <96092119570823@womenscol.stephens.edu> IN the September 23 issue of _The New Yorker_, Peter Ackroyd reviews two recently published volumes of the Princeton edition of the collected letters of William Morris. After describing Morris as "a true visionary who takes his place in an English tradition with Blake, Turner, and Dickens," Ackroyd subsequently develops the Blake connection (somewhat tenuously, but it is a New Yorker review, after all): "In many respects, he resembles his great predecessor William Blake, who was similarly preoccupied with the forces of English history. Both of them believed in the firm line of art, or what Blake called 'the bounding outline,' which turned vision into form. They despised commercialization and specialization, and believed that a beautiful object could be the product only of a single craftsman's labor. Both writers combined poetry and prose (often within a single narrative), and the similarity between Morris's typographical works and Blake's 'illuminated books,' if not surprising, given their common preoccupation with medieval manuscripts, is still astonishing. Theirs was the natural suspicion of the ambidextrous for the single-handed, of the visionary for the technician. They were both lovers of Gothic art, too, and believed that eternity resides in the unique detail rather than in some Newtonian world of infinitely reproducible parts. And they both took immense pride in their skill as artisans. Morris began to manufacture his own dyes, and his hands became permanently stained, he wrote his epics with blue fingers, just as Blake composed his great works while covered in engraving ink" (92). Ackroyd asserts that Morris shares membership with Blake "within the history of English dissent." [A propos of another recently mentioned topic, Morris included designing stained glass among his artistic efforts to recapture the media of gothic style.] Tom Dillingham