74

In the addition to Night the Second (K. II. 302-382) Stevenson and Erdman. II. 512-592), Los dies and is revived by Enitharmon in a song cycle. Once Los is revived, Enitharmon dies, and is revived, in turn, by Los. The regenerative cycle of Eden stands in an inverse contrast. The cycle of Los and Enitharmon is a life/death cycle in which the male is revived by the female and the female by the male, but the perverse sublimation of Los and Enitharmon renders their cycle impotent:

And Los said: "Lo, the Lilly pale & the rose redd'ning

fierce

"Reproach thee, & the beamy gardens sicken at thy beauty;

"I grasp thy vest in my strong hand in vain, like water

springs

305 "In the bright sands of Los evading my embrace; then

I alone

"Wander among the virgins of the summer. Look, they

cry,

"The poor forsaken Los, mock'd by the worm, the shelly

snail,

"The Emmet & the beetle, hark; they laugh. § mocis

at Los."

(K. II. 302-308)

The worm, snail, emmet, and the beetle, symbolic of the lowest order of generative life, "mock" the impotence of Los. They share in

sexual generation while Enitharmon enforces Los' chastity:

Enitharmon answer'd: "Secure now from the smitings

of thy Power, demon of fury,

310 "If the God enraptur'd me infolds

"In clouds of sweet obscurity my beauteous form

dissolving, "Howl thou over the body of death; 'tis thine.

But if among the virgins

"Of summer I have seen thee sleep & turn thy cheek

delighted

"Upon the rose or lilly pale, or on a bank where

sleep

31S "The beamy daughters of the light, starting, they

rise, they flee "From thy fierce love, for tho' I am dissolv'd in

the bright God, "My spirit still pursues thy false love over rocks

& valleys."

(K. II. 309-317)