ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how Blake used the books of 1794 and 1795 to explore the ramifications of symbolic form. The phase opens with Europe a Prophecy, an incoherent text best described as the misguided attempt to mediate an esoteric vision through the exoteric symbolic form. Though the book itself proved unsatisfactory, through the process of its composition, Blake realized that the exoteric and esoteric modes of thought are incompatible. He then used The [First] Book of Urizen as the vehicle for determining the source of the problem. The explanation, as indicated by The Book of Ahania, was the fallacies inherent in the material laws undergirding the exoteric symbolic form. Taking the analysis back yet another step, The Book of Los seeks the source of the original error, the imposition of the exoteric mode of thought. Finally, in The Song of Los, Blake corrects that error by consolidating the esoteric symbolic form to structure the mature art.
