“America a Prophecy” By William Blake

“America a Prophecy” by William Blake is the first of the continental prophecies from his “Lambeth Books” written in 1793. It describes the encouragement of rebellion in the Americas by the birth child of “Los” and “Enitharmon”, “Orc”. In the poem, the king of England is a witness to this rebellion. But “Orc” has a counterpart that is has to get through. “Urizen”, who is like Jehovah, Zeus and other leaders of god, is the creator of religion. “Urizen” is represented as white, colorlessness, atheism and the unknown where on the other hand, “Orc”, is the representation of revolution, blood, rage and passion. Even though they are very different, they are interconnected because “Orc” is the new force in the life cycle and “Urizen” is the old version of “Orc” in the end of the life cycle. Although there is goal of rebellion, there is no actual freedom at the end of the poem.

"America a Prophecy" has a very close connection to the other continental prophecies but it has more to do with “Visions of the Daughters of Albion” by William Blake. In this poem, “Oothoon”, a female character is in love with “Theotormon”, who represents the chaste man filled with righteousness, and is raped by another male character named “Bromion”. After “Oothoon” is raped, neither “Theotormon” or “Bromion” wants her anymore due to the expectations of society. The poem represents “Oothoon” as she is trapped by a philosophical system created by John Locke and no one can hear her pleas other than the daughters of “Albion”.  This is almost a mirror image of how the king of England is scared when “Orc” is spreading its rebellion among the Americas.

William Blake had many expectations about the American Revolution and described it in a prophetic way within his poem. Blake was very disappointed when he had seen no sensual liberation in the Americas and believed that Americans would start treating George Washington as a God. Due to how the French treated Napoleon Bonaparte and the English treated King George III. The belief of an apocalyptic state was still in Blake’s mind but he no longer believed that “Orc” man, the leader of the revolution, would be the agent who caused the apocalypse. But would instead believe that God could only exist in men.