The Song of Los (1975)
Title
The Song of Los (1975)
Original Date:
1795
Facsimile Date:
1975
Publisher:
Trianon Press
Physical Description:
9 plates ; 33 cm
Background Information:
The Song of Los, composed in 1795, was color-printed rather than watercolored later. This technique was more efficient and subject to less variation, but it produced thicker, denser areas of color than when watercolor was added later. The Trianon Press facsimile was made from copy B. It was purchased for Union College by the Friends of the Library.
Student Commentary:
Overview: The Song of Los contains many themes similar to those in The Book of Los, but the events are written from the human perspective. The poem is split into two sections, Asia and Africa, and it comments on historic developments as well as many of the political and social ills that Blake observed in his contemporaries. More generally it explores the consequences that befall the humans, led by Adam and Noah, following the deliverance of the oppressive laws of Urizen. After the installment of these new laws, humans begin to engage in wars because of the jealousy and animosity that springs up between them. The only time humanity is able to unite is when they rot in a common grave created at the end of the poem by Urizen. Other figures from the Blakean universe also play roles in this work, including the revolutionary spirit Orc and, of course, Los, whose energies are suppressed by Urizen’s laws.– Jessica Rosenthal ‘18