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{{Short description|1793 book by William Blake}}
{{About|the prophetic book by William Blake|the musical composition|America: A Prophecy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:America a Prophecy copy a plate 02.jpg|thumb|Title page of ''America a Prophecy'', copy A (printed 1793), collection the Morgan Library]]
'''''America a Prophecy''''' is a 1793 [[William Blake's prophetic books|prophetic book]] by the [[English people|English]] poet and illustrator [[William Blake]]. It is engraved on eighteen plates, and survives in fourteen known copies. It is the first of Blake's ''[[Continental prophecies]]''.<ref>[http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/work.xq?workid=america&java=no Blake Archive page]</ref>

==Background==
During autumn 1790, Blake moved to [[Lambeth]], [[Surrey]] (today within the bounds of [[Greater London]]). He had a studio at the new house that he used while writing what were later called his "Lambeth Books", which included ''America'' in 1793. Like the others under the title, all aspects of the work, including the composition of the designs, the printing of them, the colouring of them, and the selling of them, happened at his home.<ref>Bentley 2003 pp.122-124</ref> ''America'' was the first book printed by Blake to include the place of origin and Blake's full name on the title page, which showed that Blake would continue to expound his visions of revolution even though parliament had passed acts against seditious writings earlier that year.<ref name="Damon 20">Damon 1988 p. 20</ref> Blake wrote in his notebook "I say I shan't live five years. And if I live one it will be a Wonder. June 1793".<ref name="Damon 20" />  Early sketches for ''America'' were also included in this notebook, which Blake used between 1790 and 1793.<ref>Bentley 2003 p. 142</ref> While early drafts of ''America'' mentioned [[King George III]] by name, Blake scrupulously avoided this in the final draft, referring to him as "the King of England", or other synonyms.<ref name="Damon 20" />

Only a few of Blake's works were fully coloured,<ref>Bentley 2003 p. 158</ref> and ''America'' was one of the few works that Blake describes as "[[Illuminated manuscript|illuminated]] printing", those of which were either hand coloured or colour printed with the ink being placed on the copperplate before printed.<ref>Bentley 2003 pp. 149–150</ref> There were 17 copies of ''America'' created with 4 of them coloured. The work contained 18 plates,<ref name="Bentley 2003 p. 140">Bentley 2003 p. 140</ref> and were 23 x 17&nbsp;cm in size. The lines of poetry included in the work were organized into septenaries.<ref>Bentley 2003 p. 312</ref> Henry Crabb Robinson contacted [[William Upcott]] on 19 April 1810 inquiring about copies of Blake's works that were in his possession. On that day, Robinson was allowed access to ''Europe'' and ''America'' and created a transcription of the works.<ref>Bentley 2003 p. 338</ref>

==Poem==
[[File:America a Prophecy copy a plate 08.jpg|thumb|In plate 8 (copy A) Orc, spirit of revolution, arises. "The grave is burst, the spices shed, the linen wrapped up"]]The image ''A Breach in a City'' served as the frontispiece for ''America'' and was originally shown on its own at the Royal Academy during April 1784. The work was probably based on the Gordon riots at Newgate Prison during June 1780.<ref>Bentley 2003 pp. 91-92</ref>

The implications of the work are taken up again in ''America'' with the King of England trembling as he sees Orc, the embodiment of the American colonies. The Angel of Albion believes Orc is the Anti-Christ and Orc believes the King of England is the same. This is followed by Orc's apocalyptic vision:<ref name="B1389">Bentley 2003 pp. 138-139</ref>
{{blockquote|<poem>
The morning comes, the night decays, the watchmen leave their stations;
The grave is burst, the spices shed, the linen wrapped up<ref name="B1389" /></poem>
|source=Lines 37-38}}

Orc provokes the Angel of Boston to rebellion:<ref name="B139">Bentley 2003 p. 139</ref>
{{blockquote|<poem>
"What God is he, writes laws of peace, & clothes him in a tempest
What pitying Angel lusts for tears, and fans himself with sighs
What crawling villain preaches abstinence & wraps himself
In fat of lambs? no more I follow, no more obedience pay."<ref name="B139" /></poem>
|source=Lines 126-129}}

Together, the rebels are able to be freed of the psychological chains that bind them:<ref name="B139" />
{{blockquote|the five gates of their law-built heaven<ref name="B139" />|source=Line 222}}

==Themes==
[[File:America a Prophecy copy a plate 01.jpg|thumb|The frontispiece to ''America a Prophecy'' (Copy A)]]''America'', like many of Blake's other works, is a mythological narrative and is considered a "prophecy". However, only ''America'' and ''Europe'' were ever given that title by Blake. His understanding of the word was not to denote a description of the future but to describe the view of the honest and the wise.<ref>Bentley 2003 p. 130</ref> ''America'' was also the first book that Blake titled ''a Prophecy''. This change indicates that he was no longer dramatizing history, as in ''[[The French Revolution (poem)|The French Revolution]]'', but instead "recording the formula of all revolution".<ref name="Damon 20" /> For that reason the events of the revolution are portrayed without regard for chronological order: the governors meet at the house of [[Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet|Sir Francis Bernard]] (who had been recalled in 1769), the 37-year-old King George is described as having "aged limbs", and other episodes are compressed or out of order.<ref>Damon 1988 pp. 20-21</ref>

In regards to the prophetic works, the character Oothoon represented America in ''[[Visions of the Daughters of Albion]]'' and she is raped by the character Bromion. The book represents her as trapped by a philosophical system created by [[John Locke]], and no one is able to hear her pleas except for the daughters of Albion. The implications of the work are taken up again in ''America'' with the King of England trembling as he witnesses Orc and the rebelling colonies. Although there is a vision of rebellion, there is no actual freedom at the end of the poem just as in the ''Visions of the Daughters of Albion''.<ref>Bentley 2003 pp. 137-140</ref> Unlike the ''Visions of the Daughters of Albion'', ''America'', as well as ''Europe'', describes nations that are trying to determine their own destiny instead of individuals trying to deal with theirs.<ref>Bentley 2003 p. 152</ref> The ''Song of Los'' is connected to both ''America and Europe'' in that it describes Africa and Asia, which operate as a sort of frame to the other works. As such, the three works are united by the same historical and social themes.<ref>Bentley 2003 p. 154</ref>

When Blake describes pity becoming a trade along with generosity becoming a science, it is possible that he is referring to how a Parish School of Industry at Golden Square transformed from a school that educated students in manual labour to a factory system in which the students were producing goods for sale after 1786.<ref>Bentley 2003 p. 90</ref> Other political aspects of the work include Blake's portrayal of Thomas Paine as a defender of liberty in regards to Paine's ''[[Rights of Man]]''.<ref>Bentley 2003 p. 112</ref> Furthermore, the image of the English prince being a dragon figure is connected to a literary tradition of heroes slaying a dragon that has tyrannised a country. Likewise, in Biblical and apocalyptic tradition, the dragon is defeated by the Messiah. As such, the image in ''America a Prophecy'' is that the rebellion is a natural struggle for freedom against oppression and a renewal of society. It is part of a natural cycle.<ref>Frye 1990 p. 209</ref>

In other regards, the work deals with the oppression of the mind, with the dragon being representative of this repression. The "Ancient of Days", represented in ''America a Prophecy'' by Urizen, who is like Zeus, Jehovah and other leaders of gods, is the creator of religion. He is old in a mentally frail manner as well as cruel. Urizen is represented as white, which is connected to snow, colourlessness, atheism and the unknown. He is always an abstraction, Orc, on the other hand, is the representation of revolution, along with blood, rage and passion. The polarity of the characters and their contest is connected to the Ossian poem ''Carric-Thura'', which describes the old and cruel god Loda being attacked by the hero Fingal, who drives the god away. However, both characters are interconnected, with Orc being the force of new life in the cycle and Urizen representing the older version of Orc that dies at the end of the cycle.<ref>Frye 1990 pp. 209–210</ref>

Blake had many expectations for the [[American Revolution]], which is described in a prophetic way within the poem. However, he was disappointed when the fallen state of existence returned and that slavery was not immediately ended. He was also disappointed when there was not a sensual liberation. After [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] declared himself Emperor in 1804, Blake believed that the Americans would start treating [[George Washington]] as their god-king in the manner that the French treated Bonaparte and the British monarch George III. He continued to believe in an apocalyptic state that would soon appear, but he no longer believed that Orc man, the leader of a revolution, would be the agent of the apocalypse. Instead, he believed that God could only exist in men, and he distrusted all hero worship.<ref>Frye 1990 pp. 216–217</ref>

==Critical response==
[[Allan Cunningham (author)|Allan Cunningham]] believed that the work was "plentifully seasoned with verse".<ref name="Bentley 2003 qtd. p. 140">Bentley 2003 qtd. p. 140</ref> [[Henry Crabb Robinson]] believed the work to be obscure.<ref name="Bentley 2003 p. 140"/> J. T. Smith was confused by the "expressions," which "are mystical in a very high degree," but thought the poem's designs were "very fine".<ref name="Bentley 2003 qtd. p. 140"/> [[Alexander Gilchrist]] remarked that "Turning over the leaves it is sometimes like an increase of light on the retina, so fair and open is the effect of particular pages".<ref>Damon 1988 qtd. p. 21</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|2}}

==References==
* Bentley, G. E. (Jr). ''The Stranger From Paradise''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.
* [[Damon, S. Foster]]. ''A Blake Dictionary''. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1988.
* [[Frye, Northrop]]. ''Fearful Symmetry''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.
* Mee, Jon. ''Dangerous Enthusiasm''. Oxford: Clarendon, 2002.
{{Commons category|America a Prophecy}}

{{Wikisource|America a Prophecy}}

==External links==
*[http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/work.xq?workid=america&java=no Record and Electronic Editions] available at the [[William Blake Archive]]
*[http://www.georgegrey.org.nz/TheCollection/CollectionItem/id/38/title/europe-a-prophecy-and-america-a-prophecy.aspx ''Europe, a prophecy'' &#91;and&#93; ''America, a prophecy''] - Grey Collection at [[Auckland Libraries]]

{{William Blake|lit}}

[[Category:Poetry by William Blake]]
[[Category:Works by William Blake]]
[[Category:William Blake's mythology]]
[[Category:1793 poems]]