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Daughter of Albion: A Novel of Ancient Britain

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Welch invokes late-twentieth-century arguments to justify the “resistive potential” of essentialism (108). However “essentialism” means something very different in 1970 than it does in an eighteenth-century epistemological debate. Welch cites Stephen Heath, Alice Jardine and Gayatri Spivak as endorsing “a reconsideration of essentialism” (107). Yet reading these critics’ ‘endorsements’ undermines Welch’s project: Jardine and Heath discuss the case for strategic essentialism in group collectivity, and Spivak mentions “strategic use of a positivist essentialism in a scrupulously visible political interest,” followed by the observation that “the strategic use of essentialism can turn into an alibi for proselytizing academic essentialisms,” which is what Welch seems to invoke her for (Spivak 3-4). The root * albiyo- is also found in Gaulish and Galatian albio- 'world' and Welsh elfydd ( Old Welsh elbid 'earth, world, land, country, district'). It may be related to other European and Mediterranean toponyms such as Alpes, Albania or the river god Alpheus (originally 'whitish'). It has two possible etymologies: either from the Proto-Indo-European word * albʰo- 'white' (cf. Ancient Greek ἀλφός, Latin albus), or from * alb- 'hill'. One of the most striking aspects of the poem is the way in which Blake portrays the male characters. They are depicted as cruel and selfish, using their power to exploit and abuse the women around them. This is particularly evident in the character of Bromion, who is described as a “fiend of lust” and a “tyrant”. Blake’s portrayal of the male characters is a powerful critique of the patriarchal society in which he lived, and a call for change.

this is of no importance to anyone; this, apparently, has no meaning. And yet all this means: my body is not the same as yours. Hence, in this anarchic foam of tastes and distates, a kind of listless blur, gradually appears the figure of a bodily enigma, requiring complicity or irritation. Here begins the intimidation of the body, which obliges others to endure me liberally, to remain silent and polite confronted by pleasure or rejections which they do not share. (117) Bromion represents the passionate man, filled with lustful fire. Oothoon is the representation of a woman in Blake's society, who had no charge over her own sexuality. Blake has the Daughters of Albion look to the West, to America, because he believed that there was a promise in America that would one day end all forms of discrimination. It was to be in America, that races would live in harmony, and women would be able to claim their own sexuality. At the same time, Blake recognizes that though America has freed itself from British rule, it continues to practice slavery. They used their flint knives to dress and slice meat and cut the skin from their victims using the hides to make clothes and other items. From the flints they learnt how to make fire and cook their meat and they drank from the clear bubbling springs of Albion. They grew strong and they could feel vitality running again through their veins and they began to experience a longing for male companions, but there were none, but they were being watched. The Incubi of Albion Firstly, a tradition dominant for much of last century has presented Visions as a “hymn to free love” whereby sexual experience is eternally redemptive of fallen materiality (Bloom, E900). Raine claims that Oothoon “knows the spiritual nature of love, and eloquently defends Platonic love, ‘free’ love, whose laws are based upon the nature of the soul as the Platonists conceived it” (1.166). This summarises the problem nicely: that ‘free’ love is seen to be timeless and “spiritual,” thus the body is always “defiled” already, and must be tutored by fallen experience and transcended. As Otto explains, “If the fallen world can be redeemed by a simple turn to the imagination, there is no need to analyse its causes, mechanisms, or structures…one could [then] argue that the violence of the fallen world is redemptive” (8). This is what numerous readers have done. [5] Bloom refers to “the sexual awakening [Bromion] has brought about in his victim” (E901) and describes Oothoon as “having enjoyed the sexual act, though it was a rape” (anthologised in Romantic Poetry 45). He glosses Oothoon’s call for the eagles to “Rend away this defiled bosom”— a self-harming reflection of Theotormon’s body-negating asceticism— as a display of sexual enjoyment designed to manipulate Theotormon (E901). Michael G. Cooke describes the violent results as “an act of enlargement and love” (110). Robert P. Waxler writes how “entrance into sexual passion could lead the feminine consciousness to grace” (50). These perspectives, which as Goslee notes, assume that “sexual experience is so essentially good that it leads to a liberating imaginative experience” (114), rely upon a mutually exclusive distinction between mind/spirit and matter. [6] “Oothoon’s degrading experience of sex asserts the holiness of her love,” writes Stephen Cox in 1992 (113). Cox argues that in Visions “Blake hardens his dualism” in distinguishing between the “repellently sensuous” and “defiled body,” and the “undefiled soul,” which in his formulation benefits from sexual violence. In his version of Visions, “every form of sexual joy can be a legitimate form of ‘Love’,” because delight is “incorruptible” (117, 113). Cox supports this with Wollstonecraft’s statement “I discern not a trace of the image of God in either sensation or matter,” aligning this with Blake’s view of the senses (119). The problem with Blake’s depiction of rape, Cox writes, is that “no matter what Oothoon may say against common notions of reason and sense, she will retain the reader’s sympathy” (123). Williams calls Oothoon’s statement “I am pure,” “seemingly nonfactual” (86). These critical arguments would collapse if the central section of the poem were fully considered in the context of Bromion and Theotormon’s actions, as the poem’s dissection of dualistic perception would undermine their own critical assumptions.

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He told Brutus, that in accordance with the custom of the time and of their society the king decided that their daughters had come of sufficient age to marry. He then decided without consulting his daughters which daughter would marry which of the many kings, princes and rulers that would be a good political match for his realm. All thirty of the daughters were then married to their allotted husbands with much ceremony and fanfare. Figure 3. Plate 1. Blake, William. Visions of the Daughters of Albion. 1793. Relief etching. British Museum, London.

often in Blake scholarship, issues and questions in Blake’s work that seem, according to a modern political idiom, not to be readily identifiable as political in nature—his understanding of being, his views on art, his sense of love, his conception of the imagination—are assumed to mark a departure into some other realm: the mythic, the cosmic, the universal, the spiritual—all of which are assumed to be somehow opposed to or irreconcilable with the historical, the political, and the real. (2) How Canada Got Its Name". about.com. Archived from the original on 7 December 2010 . Retrieved 3 May 2018. After many adventures, Brutus and his fellow Trojans escape from Gaul and "set sail with a fair wind towards the promised island". [18] Brie, Friedrich W. D., ed. (1906–1908), The Brut or the Chronicles of England ... from Ms. Raw. B171, Bodleian Library, &c., EETS o.s., vol.131 (part 1), London {{ citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link)In his 2nd century Geography, Ptolemy uses the name Ἀλουΐων ( Alouiōn, "Albion") instead of the Roman name Britannia, possibly following the commentaries of Marinus of Tyre. [13] He calls both Albion and Ierne in Ancient Greek: νῆσοι Βρεττανικαὶ, romanized: nēsoi Brettanikai, lit.'British Isles'. [14] [15] The island was then called Albion, and inhabited by none but a few giants. Notwithstanding this, the pleasant situation of the places, the plenty of rivers abounding with fish, and the engaging prospect of its woods, made Brutus and his company very desirous to fix their habitation in it." After dividing up the island between themselves "at last Brutus called the island after his own name Britain, and his companions Britons; for by these means he desired to perpetuate the memory of his name". [19] Geoffrey goes on to recount how the last of the giants are defeated, the largest one called Goëmagot is flung over a cliff by Corineus. Was the story of Albina and her sisters just a curious story invented to tell how an uninhabited island was named and became populated by giants or is there more to it than there seems? The real meaning may be found within in the mind of each reader through their own experience of the world living in their own time and comparing the world of Albina and her sisters, Gogmagog and Brutus with that of their own. Can a legend or myth from medieval society have any relevance in modern society or is it just another curious story? The link between Wollstonecraft’s ideas and Blake’s is apparent in their metaphoric use of slavery as a tool in discussion of British women’s gender-based oppression, demonstrating the influence of Wollstonecraft on Blake, and further indicating how these texts should be analyzed as in conversation with one another. One of the most succinct arguments put forth in Mellor’s readings of these texts revolves around how “Wollstonecraft had argued that the free love of the kind here [in Visions] envisioned by Oothoon is a male fantasy that serves the interests only of the male libertine” (“Sex” 367). Subsequently, the concluding vision presented by Blake, one of unrestricted love for all, becomes somewhat problematic. As argued by Mellor, “[i]nsofar as the female body gratifies the sexual and psychological desires of the male body, she achieves her freedom” (“Sex 368). Significantly, this vision he puts forth only involves Oothoon watching and enabling Theotormon to be involved in this kind of free love, whereas she not only sits on the sidelines, but is left at the end of the work with the man she loves still unable to reconcile her “defiled” state.

Fox, Susan. "The Female as Metaphor in William Blake's Poetry." Critical Inquiry 3.3 (1977): 507-519. Print. Barber, Richard, ed. (2004) [1999], "1. The Giants of the Island of Albion", Myths & Legends of the British Isles, Boydell Press Geoffrey of Monmouth never said where the giants had come from or why the island was called Albion. This perplexed medieval scholars and a story evolved that attempted to explain this discrepancy. According to medieval tradition, before the fight began Brutus was said to have asked Gogmagog who he was and of the origin of his people. Gogmagog was said to have given the Trojan a fantastic tale revealing the origin of the giants and how the island had been named, “ Albion ”. Presented next is a retelling of the story Gogmagog allegedly told Brutus and has been sourced from several medieval and Anglo-Norman accounts and more recent works. Albina and her Sisters To make sure he knew exactly what they planned and that they knew his own opinion of the matter their father interviewed them separately. He told them their behaviour was unacceptable and subverted the very fabric of the state and the society of his realm. He left them in no doubt that he thought they had brought shame on him and shame on themselves. None of his daughters showed any remorse or shame and it seemed to him they attempted to find spurious reasons for their behaviour in a vain attempt to defend and justify it. William Blake’s ‘Visions of the Daughters of Albion’ is a poem that explores the theme of sexual freedom. The poem is a critique of the societal norms that restrict women’s sexual freedom and agency. Blake portrays the protagonist, Oothoon, as a victim of sexual oppression and violence. Oothoon is a virgin who is forced into sexual relations with a man named Bromion. Blake uses Oothoon’s story to highlight the double standards that exist in society when it comes to sexual freedom. Men are allowed to have multiple sexual partners, while women are expected to remain chaste until marriage. Blake’s poem challenges these norms and argues for the liberation of women’s sexuality. The theme of sexual freedom is a recurring motif in Blake’s work, and ‘Visions of the Daughters of Albion’ is a powerful example of his critique of sexual oppression. The Theme of Oppression

Overall, ‘Visions of the Daughters of Albion’ is a powerful exploration of the theme of oppression. Through his vivid imagery and powerful language, Blake forces us to confront the ways in which patriarchal structures can be both cruel and insidious, and to consider the ways in which we can work to dismantle them. The Theme of Innocence and Experience The sisters at this time did not know the land was uninhabited by humans. They assumed because of its fertility and the abundance of fruit, nuts and plants that there must be humans somewhere that ruled over it. Roaming inland they found no other people and rightly believed themselves to be the only humans, but their arrival and presence had been observed. No matter where they roamed they found no sign of human habitation which surprised them greatly. They explored the woods and valleys and climbed the hills and mountains but no trace could they find of other humans. From what they saw they believed the land could have supported many great civilisations but none could they find. Nevertheless, although they could see no sign of human life they were being secretly watched. A variant tale occurs in the Middle English prose Brut (Brie ed., The Brut or the Chronicles of England 1906–1908) of the 14th century, an English rendition of the Anglo-Norman Brut deriving from Wace. [d] [30] [31] In the Prolog of this chronicle, it was King "Dioclician" of "Surrey" (Syria [32]), who had 33 daughters, the eldest being called "Albyne". The princesses are all banished to Albion after plotting to murder their husbands, where they couple with the local demons; their offspring became a race of giants. The chronicle asserts that during the voyage Albyne entrusted the fate of the sisters to "Appolyn," which was the god of their faith. The Syrian king who was her father sounds much like a Roman emperor, [32] though Diocletian (3rd century) would be anachronistic, and Holinshed explains this as a bungling of the legend of Danaus and his fifty daughters who founded Argos. [33] Later treatment of the myth [ edit ]

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