Allen Ginsberg on Willam Blake’s “America – A Prophecy” continues from here
AG (reading Blake): “… naked & flaming are their lineaments seen/In the deep gloom, by Washington & Paine & Warren they stood/And the flame folded roaring fierce within the pitchy night/Before the Demon red…” – (Orc) – “..who burnt toward America..” – (So slowly Orc is burning toward America) – “In black smoke thunders and loud winds rejoicing in its terror/Breaking in smoky wreaths from the wild deep, & gath’ring thick/In flames as of a furnace on the land from North to South..”
“What time the thirteen Governors that England sent convene/in Bernards house..” – (That’s Miltonic rhetoric there -) “What time….” – The “Bernard” was Sir Francis Bernard, the Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. It’s a non-historical lie. He was recalled in 1769. He was the British Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1760 to 1769, and apparently he was inept and was recalled before the actual outbreak of the war, but there is a mythological gathering of all the Angels or Governors in his house here.
Then, if you move on to page 55 in the Erdman text, Plate 13, line 8:
“The British soldiers thro’ the thirteen states sent up a howl/Of anguish: threw their swords & muskets to the earth & ran/From their encampments and dark castles seeking where to hide/From the grim flames; and from the visions of Orc..” – (This is the Battle of Saratoga, 1777, and Yorktown, 1781. Where the British were defeated).
Then a very interesting thing happens.
to be continued
[Audio for the above can be heard here, beginning at approximately twenty- three minutes in and concluding at approximately twenty-four-and-three-quarter minutes in]