by William Blake (1757 - 1827)
A memorable fancy
Language: English
As I was walking among the fires of Hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius, which to Angels look like torment and insanity, I collected some of their Proverbs; thinking that as the sayings used in a nation mark its character, so the Proverbs of Hell show the nature of Infernal wisdom better than any description of buildings or garments. When I came home, on the abyss of the five senses, where a flat-sided steep frowns over the present world, I saw a mighty Devil, folded in black clouds, hovering on the sides of the rock: with corroding fires he wrote the following sentence now perceived by the minds of men, and read by them on earth: -- How do you know but ev'ry Bird that cuts the airy way, Is an immense World of Delight, clos'd by your senses five?
Confirmed with Blake, William. The Poetical Works of William Blake, ed. by John Sampson. London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1908; Bartleby.com, 2011. http://www.bartleby.com/235/253.html
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "A memorable fancy", appears in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Pasquale J. Spino (b. 1942), "A memorable fancy", 1975 [tenor solo, SATB chorus, violin, piano], from the cantata Lament, no. 4, unpublished [text not verified]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2014-02-17
Line count: 13
Word count: 140