Milton 3

Rosenwald LC
Book of Milton

The identity of these three figures has been considered variously:

1) the spectre on the platform; on the side are Los and Enitharmon.


2) Rintrah, Satan and Palamabron.


3) the Elect, the Reprobate, the Redeemed.

From Plate 5 of Milton:

And this is the manner of the Daughters of Albion in their beauty
Every one is threefold in Head & Heart & Reins, & every one
Has three Gates into the Three Heavens of Beulah which shine
Translucent in their Foreheads & their Bosoms & their Loins
Surrounded with fires unapproachable: but whom they please
They take up into their Heavens in  intoxicating  delight   
For the Elect cannot be Redeemd, but Created continually
By Offering & Atonement in the crue[l]ties of Moral Law
Hence the three Classes of Men take their fix'd destinations

From Plates 7-8 of

Here the Three Classes of Mortal Men take their fixd destinations
And hence they overspread the Nations of the whole Earth & hence
The Web of Life is woven: & the tender sinews of life created
And the Three Classes of Men regulated by Los's hammer.         

PLATE 7
The first, The Elect from before the foundation of the World:   
The second, The Redeem'd. The Third, The Reprobate & form'd
To destruction from the mothers womb: 
Of the first class was Satan: with incomparable mildness;
His primitive tyrannical attempts on Los: with most endearing
     love    
He soft intreated Los to give to him Palamabrons station;

(Erdman 100)

In prosaic language those who know nothing and 

don't want to know anything Blake thought of as the Elect; 

those who want to know something he call the Redeemed.

Those whose imagination has enabled them to grasp something of 

Reality and who can express it were the Reprobate.

The prophets were called reprobate and are generally persecuted

in one way or another.

Prophets are subjected to 

Harassment and suffering which people and institutions inflict upon 

others for being different in their faith, world view, culture, or race. 

Persecution seeks to intimidate, silence, punish, or even to kill people.



Old Testament Israel was the agent of persecution of nations 

(Judges 2:11-23 ; Leviticus 26:7-8 ). The Bible gives special attention 

to Israel's fate in Egypt (Exodus 1-3 ) and in the Exile (Psalm 137:1 ). 

On an individual level, Saul persecuted David (1 Samuel 19:9-12 ), 

and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were persecuted because 

they refused to worship the image of the king (Daniel 3:1 ). Jezebel 

persecuted the prophets of the Lord, and the prophet Elijah persecuted 

and killed the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:1 ). The prophets—Amos 

(1 Kings 7:10-12 ), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:19 ; Jeremiah 15:15 ; 

Jeremiah 37-38 ), and Urijah (Jeremiah 26:20-23 )—suffered persecution 

because they fleshed out the will of God in adverse circumstances 

(In Studylight.org)




Blake felt persecuted in various ways and numbered himself among Moses,

Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jesus.