Relief etching, ink and watercolour on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
Urizen
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-blake-39" aria-label="More by William Blake" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">William Blake</a>
Plate 2 Urizen Teach these Souls to Fly
Purchased 1922
abstract concepts
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
adults
baby
Blake, William, ‘Urizen’
characters
children
emotional states and conditions
Enitharmon
family
flying
freedom
freedom - flying
holding hands
literature (not Shakespeare)
literature and fiction
mother and child
mysticism
Orc
people
pity - Enitharmon
religion and belief
revolt - Orc
social comment
society
society
spirit
symbols and personifications
woman
<p>This design was made for Blake's poem called The Book of Urizen. The woman  is Enitharmon, who in Blake's mythology symbolises Pity. In Urizen she is made pregnant by Los and 'groaning Produc'd  a man Child to the light.'</p><p>This child was Orc (symbolising Revolt), who is seen here with his mother. Los  was jealous of his son, and chained Orc  to a mountain. Here Enitharmon seems  to be introducing Orc to the idea of  liberty, before he is finally chained up.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2002</em></p>
paper unique relief etching ink watercolour
15 October 2001 – 7 July 2002
2002-07-07
15 October 2001 – 7 July 2002
2002-07-07
2001-10-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-10-15
William Blake and His Followers
Collection based display
8 July 2002 – 1 October 2003
2003-10-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-07-08
William Blake Body and Soul
Collection based display
8 July 2002 – 16 March 2003
2003-03-16
8 July 2002 – 16 March 2003
2003-03-16
2002-07-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-07-08
Body and Soul
Collection based display
18 October 2008 – 5 April 2009
2009-04-05
18 October 2008 – 19 April 2009
2009-04-19
2008-10-18
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2008-10-18
Blake and Collins
Collection based display
1 November 2011 – 21 October 2012
2012-10-21
1 November 2011 – 19 February 2012
2012-02-19
2011-11-01
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow, Russia)
3 July 2012 – 21 October 2012
2012-10-21
2012-07-03
Fundació “la Caixa” (Madrid, Spain)
2011-11-01
Blake Exhibition
Loan-out
20 April 2015 – 7 May 2017
2017-05-07
20 April 2015 – 7 May 2017
2017-05-07
2015-04-20
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2015-04-20
William Blake
Collection based display
15 November 2021 – 10 April 2022
2022-04-10
15 November 2021 – 10 April 2022
2022-04-10
2021-11-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2021-11-15
Poetical Bodies: Works on Paper by Blake and his Contemporaries
Collection based display
29 October 2024 – 30 September 2025
2025-09-30
30 October 2024 – 2 February 2025
2025-02-02
2024-10-30
Reggia di Venaria Reale (Turin, Italy)
1 September 2025 – 31 January 2026
2026-01-31
2025-09-01
Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest, Hungary)
1 March 2026 – 31 August 2026
2026-08-31
2026-03-01
External
2024-10-29
William Blake and the Age of Romantic Fantasy: British Art & Imagination
Loan-out
Plate 2 of ‘Urizen’: ‘Teach these Souls to Fly’
support: 109 × 102 mm
Purchased 1922
<p>
This design was made for Blake's poem called The Book of Urizen. The woman <br/>
is Enitharmon, who in Blake's mythology symbolises Pity. In Urizen she is made pregnant by Los and 'groaning Produc'd <br/>
a man Child to the light.' </p>
<p>
 </p>
<p>
This child was Orc (symbolising Revolt), who is seen here with his mother. Los <br/>
was jealous of his son, and chained Orc <br/>
to a mountain. Here Enitharmon seems <br/>
to be introducing Orc to the idea of <br/>
liberty, before he is finally chained up. </p>
<p>
 </p>
Display caption
2002-09-11T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/blake-plate-2-of-urizen-teach-these-souls-to-fly-n03696" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03696</span></a> <b>Plate 2 of <i>Urizen</i>: ‘Teach these Souls to Fly’</b> 1794/? 1796
<br/></p>
<p>N 03696 / B 261 <i>5</i>
<br/>Colour-printed relief etching finished in ink and watercolour 109×102 (4 5/16×4) on paper 208×187 (8 3/16×7 3/8)
<br/>Inscribed ‘“Teach these Souls to Fly”’ below design
<br/>Purchased from Mrs John Richmond (Grant-in-Aid) 1922
<br/>PROVENANCE John Giles, sold Christie's 2–5 February 1881, 3rd day (440) £2.6.0 bt Dr Richard Sisley; his daughter Mrs John Richmond
<br/>EXHIBITED Paris and Vienna 1937 (6, repr.); <i>English Romantic Art</i>, Arts Council tour 1947 (7)
<br/>LITERATURE Damon 1924, p.355; Keynes and Wolf 1953, pp.70–3, 84–6; Beer 1969, p.79; Paul Miner, ‘Visions in the Darksome Air: Aspects of Blake's Biblical Symbolism’, Rosenfeld 1969, p.264; Bentley <i>Blake Books</i> 1977, pp.176, 183; Mitchell 1978, p.144; Butlin 1981, p.139 no.261 <i>5</i>, pl.354
<br/></p>
<p>This design illustrates the ‘Preludium’ of <i>The First Book of Urizen</i> of which the first copies were made in 1794 (repr. Erdman <i>Illuminated Blake</i> 1974, p.184). It was reissued in <i>A Small Book of Designs</i>, the copy of which in the British Museum is also dated 1794 on the first design (Butlin 1981, no.260 <i>1</i>; this design is no.260 <i>12</i>, pl.316). The version in the Tate Gallery almost certainly comes from the second copy of this collection, in which the date on the first design has been altered to 1796 (Butlin no.261 <i>1</i>, pl.350). The designs in this second set were given titles by Blake in matching inscriptions below each <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a>; many also show signs of having been stitched for binding, as in the case of the Tate Gallery design.
<br/>
<br/>In Urizen, only one book of which was issued, Blake recounts the creation of the world by Urizen, the embodiment of reason unenlightened by the imagination; in this way the Creation is equated with the Fall (Damon 1924, pp.116–21; see also no.25). This design, which occupies the upper part of the page with the writing omitted, shows Enitharmon and her son by Los, Orc; they typify Pity, Poetry and Revolt respectively.
<br/></p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin, <i>William Blake 1757-1827</i>, Tate Gallery Collections, V, London 1990
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-05T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstract concepts actions: expressive actions: postures and motions adults baby Blake, William, ‘Urizen’ characters children emotional states and conditions Enitharmon family flying freedom freedom - flying holding hands literature and fiction literature (not Shakespeare) mother and child mysticism Orc people pity - Enitharmon religion and belief revolt - Orc social comment society society spirit symbols and personifications woman