30

Primal being as matter, in the passage doubly emphasized by the words "sea" and "wat'ry." is 'set'. The world, "Round roll'd" and "Englobing" in a "Globe," becomes "self balanced." Thus, the circle of destiny is translated into formal matter as the spinning globe of Earth.

Blake contrasts the creation of the finite circle of destiny by altering the perspective of the reader from a finite to an infinite plane of reference. From the perspective of the daughters of Beulah the circle is seen as "Eternal Death':

There is from Great Eternity a mild & pleasant rest

Nam'd Beulah, a soft Moony Universe, feminine, lovely.

Pure, mild & Gentle, given in Mercy to those who sleep,

Eternally created by the Lamb of God around,

On all sides, within & without the Universal Man.

The daughters of Beulah follow sleepers in all their Dreams,

100 Creating spaces, lest they fall into Eternal Death.

The Circle of Destiny complete, they gave to it a space,

And nam'd the space Ulro, & brooded over it in care & love. (K. I. 94-102)

Beulah is the place of rest for the exhausted energies of Albion in the infinite. The daughters of Beulah follow Albion's fallen component energies "in all their Dreams. /Creating spaces" for them "lest they fall into Eternal Death." The word "lest" appears to create a paradox, for the daughters seem to fail:" this Spectre of Tharmas/Is Eternal Death" (K. I. 106-107). The problem can be resolved if Blake's multiple planes of reference are considered.

First: Divine mercy encompasses Albion^ entire experience of being, which includes the experience of the Zoas and Emanations in the finite for the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ assures man of redemption. The state of Satan is not excluded, for it can be thought of as a `residue' of dead matter which is consumed in the apocalypse and therefore, is within the bounds of Divine energy. The term "Eternal Death" thus becomes a metaphor for Albion's finite state of being as seen by the daughters of Beulah.