America 13

Rosenwald LC
America 13
PLATE 12
So cried he, rending off his robe & throwing down his scepter.
In sight of Albions Guardian, and all the thirteen Angels
Rent off their robes to the hungry wind, & threw their golden
     scepters
Down on the land of America. indignant they descended
Headlong from out their heav'nly heights, descending swift as
     fires        
Over the land; naked & flaming are their lineaments seen
In the deep gloom, by Washington & Paine & Warren they stood
And the flame folded roaring fierce within the pitchy night
Before the Demon red, who burnt towards America,
In black smoke thunders and loud winds rejoicing in its terror   

Breaking in smoky wreaths from the wild deep, & gath'ring thick
In flames as of a furnace on the land from North to South

(Erdman 55-6)

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About the Text

So cried he: 'he' here seems to me to mean Boston's Angel.

Taking off their robes and throwing away their golden sceptors

mean the governors, etc. are renouncing their place as agents

of the King.

Descending from their heavenly heights means the fire of 

resistence to the King's power in America.

Blake named Washington Paine and Warren; those were the ones

that he was apparently most familiar with.

The Demon red signified military hostilities.

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About the Image

Erdman has this to say on page 150 about this plate:

The tree that overshadows the text is a birch.

Below the text is a tomb being entered by a bearded old man with a crutch under 

hisleft arm ; he is creeping forward into the tomb.  This is said to be Blakes emblem 

of Death's Door.

Widimedia Common
Gates of Paradise

Here is another similar image, in Gates of

Paradise:

"13 But when once I did descry 

The Immortal Man that cannot Die
14 Thro evening shades I haste away
To close the Labours of my Day
15 The Door of Death I open found
And the Worm Weaving in the Ground
16 Thou'rt my Mother from the Womb
Wife, Sister, Daughter to the Tomb
Weaving to Dreams the Sexual strife
And weeping over the Web of Life" (Erdman 269)

It likely appears at other places as well.

We need to remember that for Blake going through

Death's Door is not a trial but a joy.

Back to America:  the background is stormy and
colorful, suggesting a sunset.  Beyond the clouds the distance shows mountains.

The old man is coming from a green grassy area. We're in " In England's green & pleasant Land"