Poem
The story begins with Fuzon rebelling against Urizen, his father:
- "Shall we worship this Demon of Smoke,"
- Said Fuzon, "This abstract non-entity
- This cloudy God seated on Waters
- Now seen, now obscur'd; King of sorrow?" (10-13)
After the verbal attack, Fuzon attacks Urizon with fire and declares himself God. This leads to the creation of the tree of mystery by Urizon on accident followed by the nailing of Fuzon's body to it:
- Amaz'd started Urizen! when
- He beheld himself compassed round
- And high roofed over with trees
- He arose but the stems stood so thick
- He with difficulty and great pain
- Brought his Books, all but the Book
- Of iron, from the dismal shade (lines 116-122)
The poem continues with Ahania lamenting her disconnection from Urizen:
- Cruel jealousy! selfish fear!
- Self-destroying: how can delight
- Renew in these chains of darkness (lines 233-235)
Read more about this topic: The Book Of Ahania
Famous quotes containing the word poem:
“The poem is the cry of its occasion,
Part of the res itself and not about it.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“This is the poem of the air,
Slowly in silent syllables recorded;
This is the secret of despair,
Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,
Now whispered and revealed
To wood and field.”
—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1809–1882)
“I have never felt a placard and a poem are in any way similar.”
—Kristin Hunter (b. 1931)