ABSTRACT
This chapter reveals how in Milton a Poem, Blake identifies self-annihilation as the characteristic operation of his myth. In this esoteric narrative, the action revolves, in Book the First, around Milton’s re-formation of the rational faculty, and in Book the Second, Ololon’s separation from her virginity, to produce generation as the means by which cosmic restoration can be achieved. Consistent with the previous discussions, the analysis demonstrates how Blake transformed the elements of conventional narrative. The purpose is to indicate how the audience, by annihilating the selfhood, can develop the prophetic faculty. The point of view is fragmented into four discrete perspectives, each corresponding to a particular hermeneutical plane. The setting is our world of time and space within the context of the four phases of the temporal cycle and the four cosmic planes; and the characters correspond to each other in terms of the macrocosm and microcosm. Finally, the plot is structured around three descents: the Bard’s Song, describing how the error was consolidated into a distorted form; Book the First, correcting the form; and Book the Second, implementing the corrected form in the World of Fact.
