92

The outward and downward symbolism combines with symbols of sensory constriction to depict the shrinking concomitant with the fall. Ahania describes Luvah and Vala's outward and downward fall into shrunken finitude in a passage united by symbols of excess:

"They heard the Voice & fled, swift as the winter's

setting sun.

"And now the Human Blood foam'd high. I saw that

Luvah and Vala

95 "Went down the Human Heart, where Paradise & its joys

abounded,

"In jealous fears, in fury & rage, & flames roll'd

round their fervid feet,

"And the vast form of Nature like a Serpent play'd

before them;

"And as they went, in folding fires & thunders of

the deep,

"Vala shrunk in like the dark sea that leaves its

slimy banks,

100 "And from her bosom Luvah fell far as the east &

west

"And the vast form of Nature, like a Serpent, roll'd

between.

"Whether this is Jerusalem or Babylon we know not.

"All is Confusion. All is tumult, & we alone are

escaped.

(K. III. 93-103)

Their fall into "the vast form of Nature like a Serpent" is as "swift as the winter's setting sun" and is a fall into darkness. Consequently, as Luvah and Vala fall and shrink, the intensities of their mundane passions compress and erupt "In jealous fears, in fury & rage, & flames" which roll "round their fervid feet."

Ahania's vision consolidates several major symbolic patterns. In particular, symbols of water, darkness, light, and time are contrasted with symbols of blood, fire, rage, and excess in such a way that Albion's fall continues to be depicted as a fall from life into death, light into darkness, expansive unity into shrunken division, and harmony into excess.