Albion (Blake)
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2008-05-19T16:34:02Z
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[[Image:Albion rose.jpg|thumb|right|Blake's image of Albion, accompanying the words, "Albion rose from where he labourd at the Mill with Slaves / Giving himself for the Nations he danc'd the dance of Eternal Death"]]In the [[William Blake's mythology|complex mythology]] of [[William Blake]], '''Albion''' is the primeval man whose fall and division results in the '''Four Zoas''': [[Urizen]], [[Tharmas]], [[Luvah]]/[[Orc (Blake)|Orc]], and [[Urthona]]/[[Los (Blake)|Los]]. The name derives from the ancient and mythological name of the British Isles (see [[Albion]]).
==Sources==
In the mythical story of the founding of [[Prehistoric Britain|Britain]], Albion was a [[Gigantes|Giant]] son of [[Poseidon]], the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] god of the sea. He was a contemporary of [[Heracles]], who killed him. Albion founded a country on the island and ruled there. Britain, then called Albion after its founder, was inhabited by his Giant descendants until about 1100 years before [[Julius Cæsar]]'s invasion of Britain, when [[Brutus of Troy]] came and defeated the small number of Giants that remained (as a group of the Giants had killed all of the other ones).
According to another myth, [[Noah]]'s son, [[Japhet]] had a son named [[Histion]], who had four sons. Their names were [[France|Francus]], [[Rome|Romanus]], [[Brutus of Troy|Brittos]], and [[Germany|Alemannus]] and the French, Roman, British, and German people are descended from them. [[Brutus of Troy|Brittos]] divided Britain into three kingdoms and gave each to one of his sons. They were Loegria (a Latinization of the Welsh, Lloegr "England"), [[Scotland]], and [[Cambria]].<ref>[[Thomas Bulfinch]]. Bulfinch's mythology, published: 1913. place: New York, New York</ref>
The division of the primordial man is found in many mythic and mystic systems throughout the world, including [[Adam Kadmon]] in [[cabala|cabalism]] and [[Prajapati]] in the [[Rig-Veda]].
==Usage==
The long, unfinished poem properly called ''[[Vala, or the Four Zoas]]'', expands the significance of the Zoas, but they are integral to all of Blake's prophetic books.
Blake's painting of a naked figure raising his arms, loosely based on [[Vitruvian Man]], is now identified as a portrayal of Albion, following the discovery of a printed version with an inscription identifying the figure.<ref>[http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/goto?id=OBJ2492 British Museum Catalogue]</ref> It was formerly known as "Glad Day", since it was assumed by [[Alexander Gilchrist]] to illustrate a quotation from [[Shakespeare]].
Blake also uses the name [[Albion]] in its traditional meaning, as an ancient synonym for Britain, in his poem "A Little Boy Lost" in ''[[Songs of Experience]]''. The poem tells about a young boy who, using reason, realizes that humans are selfish, and that "naught loves another as itself." He asks the priest, "father, how can I love you/ or any of my brothers more?/ I love you like the bird that picks up crumbs around the door." The priest accuses the boy of blasphemy, and burns him "in a holy place/ where many had been burned before." Blake concludes the poem by asking, "Are such things done on Albion's shore?"
==Children==
The Sons of Albion feature in the poem ''[[Jerusalem (Blake)|Jerusalem]]''. They are 12, and are named as Hand, Hyle, Coban, Guantok, Peachey, Brereton, Slayd, Hutton, Scofield, Kox, Kotope, Bowen. These names are mostly drawn from figures from Blake's 1803 sedition trial.
The Daughters of Albion feature in ''[[Visions of the Daughters of Albion]]'', and other [[prophetic books]]. They are named, not consistently though, in ''[[The Four Zoas]]'' and in ''Jerusalem''; they are mostly drawn from [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]].
==Sources==
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[[Category:William Blake's mythology]]