Page:Works of William Blake; poetic, symbolic, and critical (1893) Volume 2.djvu/108

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THE BOOK OF THEL.

Chapter IV.—Thel hears the Laments ov the Mortal Body.

The power who guards the realm of clay, lifts the bar that shuts spirit out and Thel goes down to see the place where sleep tho dead, those who have died out of pre-natal life into bodily dwellings. She sees that all the living desires and affections draw nourishment and find support—are rooted — in this place of generation (1-5). She wanders along among vegetated emotions—"clouds"—through places of iiiianative or attractive feminine power—"dark valleys.'" At last she hears the voice of her own body—her "graveplot" (6-10). It laments because of the mysterious sorrows and limitations of the flesh (15-20). Thel flies back in terror to the land of un-embodied innocence from which she came (21, 22).