Analysis of I see the Four-fold Man

William Blake 1757 (Soho) – 1827 (London)



I see the Four-fold Man, The Humanity in deadly sleep
   And its fallen Emanation, the Spectre and its cruel Shadow.
   I see the Past, Present and Future existing all at once
   Before me. O Divine Spirit, sustain me on thy wings,
   That I may awake Albion from his long and cold repose;
   For Bacon and Newton, sheath'd in dismal steel, their terrors hang
   Like iron scourges over Albion: reasonings like vast serpents
   Infold around my limbs, bruising my minute articulations.

I turn my eyes to the schools and universities of Europe
  And there behold the Loom of Locke, whose Woof rages dire,
  Wash'd by the Water-wheels of Newton: black the cloth
  In heavy wreaths folds over every nation: cruel works
  Of many Wheels I view, wheel without wheel, with cogs tyrannic
  Moving by compulsion each other, not as those in Eden, which,
  Wheel within wheel, in freedom revolve in harmony and peace.


Scheme XXAXXBXA XXXXBXX
Poetic Form
Metre 110111001000101 011001001001101 110110010010111 01110110011111 111011001110101 110010101011101 110101010011110 10111101101 111110100100110 0101011111101 110101110101 010111010010101 1101111011111 1010101101110101 101101001010001
Closest metre Iambic octameter
Characters 918
Words 154
Sentences 5
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 8, 7
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 46
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 348
Words per stanza (avg) 76
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 18, 2023

46 sec read
175

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. more…

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    And miles to go before I _______
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