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Creator:
Print made by William Blake, 1757–1827
Hand colored by William Blake, 1757–1827
Text by Edward Young, 1683–1765
Published by Richard Edwards, active 1796–1797
Title:
'Draw the dire steel? – ah no! – the dreadful blessing' (Page 73)
Part Of:

Collective Title: Young's Night Thoughts

Date:
ca. 1797
Materials & Techniques:
Etching, line engraving, and letterpress, with hand coloring in watercolor on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper
Dimensions:
Spine: 16 3/4 inches (42.5 cm), Sheet: 16 1/2 x 12 3/4 inches (41.9 x 32.4 cm), Plate: 15 5/8 x 12 inches (39.7 x 30.5 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Lettered inside image: "73 | With joy--with grief, that healing hand I see; | Ah! too conspicuous! it is fix'd on high! | On high?--what means my phrensy? I blaspheme; | Alas! how low! how far beneath the skies-- | The skies it form'd! and now it bleeds for me: | But bleeds the balm I want?--yet still it bleeds. | *Draw the dire steel?--ah no!--the dreadful blessing | What heart or can sustain, or dares forego? | There hangs all human hope!!! that nail supports | The falling universe!!! that gone, we drop! | Horror receives us, and the dismal wish | Creation had been smother'd in her birth: | Darkness his curtain! and his bed the dust! | When stars and sun are dust beneath his throne: | In heaven itself can such indulgence dwell? | O what a groan was there! a groan not his, | HE seized our dreadful right; the load sustain'd; | And heaved the mountain from a guilty world: | A thousand worlds so bought were bought too dear. | Sensations new, in angels bosoms rise; | Suspend their song, and make a pause in bliss. | O for their song to reach my lofty theme! | Inspire me, night! with all thy tuneful spheres inspire, | Whilst I with seraphs share seraphic themes, | And shew to men the dignity of man; | Lest I blaspheme my subject with my song. | Shall pagan pages glow celestial flame, | And christian languish? on our hearts, not heads, | Falls the foul infamy: my heart! awake; | What can awake thee, unawaked by this?--"

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1978.43.1409
Classification:
Prints
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
crowns | flames | hands | literary theme | nails | text | thorns
Associated People:
Jesus Christ (7–2 BC/BCE to 30–36 AD/CE)
Access:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:2335
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The Romantic Print in the Age of Revolutions: Hero, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History (Yale Center for British Art, 2003-01-23 - 2003-06-01) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]


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