William Blake's Illustrations of On The Morning of Christ's Nativity - Analysis

Analysis

Blake's literary debt to Milton is key to understanding his illustrations of the earlier poet's writings. In general, Milton: a Poem is a guide to Blake's idea of Milton: that he possessed true spiritual vision, but fell by his adherence to the moralistic and repressive tenets of puritanism and by his preference for the cruel and distant Jehovah of the Old testament over the redemptive figure of Christ. In that regard the Nativity Ode is to Blake the rebirth of Milton's poetry into the creative imagination of Christ. Blake also sees a return to prophetic, Christian ideals of poetry, rather than the "pagan" classical aesthetic represented in The Overthrow of Apollo and the Pagan Gods by the figure of Apollo, who is modeled on the Apollo Belvedere.

Blake's prophetic book Europe: a Prophecy was especially influenced by On the Morning of Christ's Nativity. In that poem, the messianic Orc, a symbol of pure creative energy, rises against the repressive institutions of Church and state. Orc is part of a doomed cycle- his rebellion is inevitably countered by the increased institutional repression of Urizen. Europe in that light is seen as a pessimistic parody of Milton's poem. Orc is often associated with fire, and the closest parallel with him is found in The Flight of Moloch, where a child is about to be given to the god of sacrifice. The similarity of the orifice that frames the child to the shape of the stable in the other illustrations underscores the purpose of Christ's birth, and foreshadows the harrowing of hell.

The illustrations emphasize the simultaneous occurrence of the events they depict by the presence of the stable in almost every image, and by framing the set with two very similar images that focus on the peaceful victory of Christ over darkness. The Descent of Peace also has neo-platonic implications- it represents the descent of the soul into the body, which is symbolized by the cramped stable.