The Notebook of William Blake - Folio N111 and N110

Copyright © The British Library Board

• Audio

N111 & N110

The sideways pencil drawing that straddles these two folios shows God instructing his son to save man from Satan. Satan is shown on folio N111: he appears to be bound, and struggles to free himself as he hovers over the abyss.

Of the poems on N111, the first two, written one above the other, are related thematically. The first, beginning 'Thou hast a lap full of seed', was never etched, despite being intended for selection (this can be seen by the vertical line drawn through it by Blake, signifying that it was intended for inclusion in Experience). The poem below, 'Earth's Answer', was included, and the bleakness of its vision is common to many of the poems in the notebook.