I've been sitting on this one for a while now. Don't have much to say, since its visual design is primitive, and all words. I'm intrigued by the proto-hypertextual nature of the plate. Where does one go with the "key" except back to the original image? That's where it performs as hypertext.
What of the text?
"Serpent reasonings." "Two-horned reasoning." "Rational truth root of evil and good." Typical distrust of reason. Some symbols we see in later Blake texts: the veil, the mandrake root, the hermaphrodite. Typical mistrust of women. Absolutely bizarre, but logical in Blake's world. At least I don't have to say that it defies reason that Blake meant this plate to be included in a emblem book for children--because this plate was added to that, as part of "For the Sexes"; it was not included in the original set.
I wish I had the time to actually take the plate and add some links to it, to make it truly hypertexual. But I'll have to leave that for another time.
One more plate of words, and then a last bizarre image...
Posted by jeb at November 22, 2005 10:06 PM | TrackBack