Enitharmon is a major female character in William Blake's mythology

William Blake's mythology

The prophetic books of the English poet and artist William Blake contain a rich invented mythology , in which Blake worked to encode his revolutionary spiritual and political ideas into a prophecy for a new age. This desire to recreate the cosmos is the heart of his work and his psychology...

, playing a main part in some of his prophetic books

William Blake's prophetic books

The prophetic books of the English poet and artist William Blake are a series of difficult and obscure poetic works. While Blake worked as a commercial illustrator, these books were ones that he produced, with his own engravings, as an extended and largely private project...

. She is, but not directly, an aspect of the male Urthona

Urthona

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Urthona is one of the four Zoas, who were created when Albion, the primordial man, was divided fourfold. Specifically, he is the Zoa of inspiration and creativity, and he is a blacksmith god. His female counterpart is Enitharmon...

, one of the Four Zoas. She is in fact the Emanation

Emanationism

Emanationism is an idea in the cosmology or cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems. Emanation, from the Latin emanare meaning "to flow from" or "to pour forth or out of", is the mode by which all things are derived from the First Reality, or Principle...

 of Los

Los (Blake)

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Los is the fallen form of Urthona, one of the four Zoas. He is referred to as the "eternal prophet" and creates the visionary city of Golgonooza. Los is regularly described as a smith, beating with his hammer on a forge, which is metaphorically...

, also male. There is a complex verbal nexus attached. The Zoa Tharmas

Tharmas

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Tharmas is one of the four Zoas, who were created when Albion, the primordial man, was divided fourfold. He represents sensation, and his female counterpart is Enion, who represents sexual urges. He is connected to the God the Father aspect of the...

 has emanation Enion

Enion

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Enion is an Emanation/mate of Tharmas, one of the four Zoas, who were created when Albion, the primordial man, was divided fourfold. She represents sexuality and sexual urges while Tharmas represents sensation. In her fallen aspect, she is a wailing...

, and Eni-tharm(as)-on is one derivation of her name. That should perhaps be read in the inverse direction though, as a construction of the Tharmas/Enion pair's names. Within Blake's myth, she represents female domination and sexual restraints that limit the artistic imagination. She, with Los, gives birth to various children, including Orc

Orc (Blake)

Orc is a proper name for one of the characters in the complex mythology of William Blake. Unlike the medieval sea beast, or Tolkien's humanoid monster, his Orc is a positive figure, the embodiment of creative passion and energy, and stands opposed to Urizen, the embodiment of tradition.In Blake's...

.

Background

It is possible that the character Enitharmon was based on Blake's wife, Catherine Blake

Catherine Blake

Catherine Blake was the wife of the poet, painter and engraver William Blake , and a vital presence and assistant throughout his life as an artist.-Life:...

. In a letter from Blake to his friend Thomas Butts Jr on 22 November 1802, he claimed that his place at Surrey had "Enitharmon's bower". S. Foster Damon

S. Foster Damon

S Foster Damon was an American academic, a specialist in William Blake, a critic and a poet. He was born in Newton, Massachusetts. He was one of the Harvard Aesthetes, and married Louise Wheelwright, sister of John Wheelwright who was another poet identified with that grouping...

 explained the name Enitharmon as a derivation or an elision of (z)enit(h)-harmon(y). This is to be read in the light of the mirrored name Los (Sol = Sun in Latin). He also suggested that the Greek anarithmon or 'numberless' as another possible starting point for the name. Urthona is 'earth-owner'. Enitharmon is not therefore a simplistic Earth Goddess, but is also not disconnected from that role. Her name can also be broken down to form the names of her two material parents, Enion and Tharmas.

Character

Enitharmon represents spiritual beauty and poetic inspiration. She is symbolised by the moon and she is characterised by Pity. With Los, she is connected to the North in that they were from Urthona, who dominates there. As poetic instinct, Enitharmon is represented as being born of the sexual problems that happen during puberty. She rules as the Queen of Heaven

Queen of Heaven

Queen of Heaven is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary by Christians, mainly of the Roman Catholic Church, and also, to some extent, in the Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox churches, to whom the title is a consequence of the Council of Ephesus in the fifth century, where the Virgin...

 in Blake's works. In Enitharmon's connection to Urthona, who is represented by the loins, she is a goddess that represents what cannot be found within nature. In a natural cycle within Blake's myth, there is a repeating image of an Old Woman, who is represented by Rahab

Rahab

Rahab, was, according to the Book of Joshua, a woman who lived in Jericho in the Promised Land and assisted the Israelites in capturing the city...

, Enitharmon, or Vala based on which part of the cycles are being discussed. Enitharmon represents what Los is trying to create, and he cannot have Enitharmon until he is able to complete his duty. In her connection to space, she represents the psychological aspects of unbound space upon the mind.

Unlike the other Emanations, she is not a shade of a divine form, but serves as a material wife of Los as well as his Emanation. Blake's early myth describes how she was born after Los gave a material form to Urizen

Urizen

In the complex mythology of William Blake, Urizen is the embodiment of conventional reason and law. He is usually depicted as a bearded old man; he sometimes bears architect's tools, to create and constrain the universe; or nets, with which he ensnares people in webs of law and conventional culture...

, and she was born as the first female. In his later myth, the sight of Enitharmon's birth caused Urthona to fall and be born from Enion

Enion

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Enion is an Emanation/mate of Tharmas, one of the four Zoas, who were created when Albion, the primordial man, was divided fourfold. She represents sexuality and sexual urges while Tharmas represents sensation. In her fallen aspect, she is a wailing...

. In that version, both Los and Enitharmon spring from Enion. After her birth, Enitharmon declares that women will rule the world, with Man being given Love and Women being given Pride. This would create within men a fear of female dominance that would in turn bring them under control of the females. In her sexual system, there are four parts: Manathu-Varcyon (desire), Antamon (sperm), Theotormon (frustration), and finally Sotha (war). These are represented by sexual desire being contained to Ethinthus (body), which leads to Leutha (guilt), followed by Oothoon (frustration) and ends with Thiralatha (erotic dreams). In the last stage, war is the ultimate result of sexual repression. This war is connected to general war and to energy as a whole. Sex is supposed to lead to imagination and love. Love is supposed to leave one to a higher state, and the perversion of sexuality, in Blake's view, leads to destruction.

The Female Will is born from an object of affection refusing to give up its independence, and the concept represents what prohibits an individual from being able to have true vision. Under Eitharmon's rule, representing the rule of the Female Will, leads to Los and Enitharmon entering into a constant state of strife with each other. However, the conflict also leads to Los pursuing her and the two procreating. Urizen is able to take advantage of the struggling between the two by tempting them with the ability to judge Luvah

Luvah

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Luvah is one of the four Zoas, who were created when Albion, the primordial man, was divided fourfold. He represents love, passion, and rebellious energy. His Emanation is Vala; his fallen form is Orc. Throughout Blake's mythological system, he is...

 and Vala. This causes both of them to lose the last bit of their innocence. Their union was thereafter filled with both envy and jealousy. Their union also causes Enion to lament over the fallen state that began from this. She is married to Los, and through their marriage Orc, the representation of revolution, is born. This symbolises the relationship between art and revolution. Los, however, grows jealous of Orc and chains him to a mountain. Enitharmon tries to intervene but Los is unable to release Orc. Following Orc, Enitharmon gives birth to many children. Of these, Satan, John Milton

John Milton

John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...

, and Mary

Mary (mother of Jesus)

Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...

 are described as her children.

Appearances

Enitharmon appears in Europe a Prophecy

Europe a Prophecy

Europe a Prophecy is a 1794 prophetic book by English poet and illustrator William Blake. It is engraved on 18 plates, and survives in just nine known copies. It followed America a Prophecy of 1793.-Background:...

, which compares her rule in regards to the fall of Christian culture. Through her, oracles and the Olympian gods are brought back. The bulk of the work is devoted to Enitharmon's domination of the material world and puts forth various sexual rules through religion. Blake describes how these rules are errors found in orthodox Christianity. The Book of Urizen

The Book of Urizen

The Book of Urizen is one of the major prophetic books of the English writer William Blake, illustrated by Blake's own plates. It was originally published as The First Book of Urizen in 1794. Later editions dropped the "First". The book takes its name from the character Urizen in Blake's mythology,...

describes how Los's pity, Enitharmon, separated from him and became the first female after Los created a form for Urizen. In Vala, or The Four Zoas

Vala, or The Four Zoas

Vala, or The Four Zoas refers to one of the incompleted prophetic books by English poet William Blake, begun in 1797. The titular main characters of the book are The Four Zoas: , who were created by the fall of Albion in Blake's mythology. It consists of nine books, referred to as "nights"...

, she is similar to eve and she is the tempter of Los/Adam. The work also describes the connection of poetic instinct and sexuality, along with pointing out how she and her daughters are able to create various things, such as a body for various Spectres to be created. Milton a Poem describes how Enitharmon gave birth to many children, which included Milton himself. In the work, she is described as being connected to Space while Los is connected to Time. In Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion, she is connected to poetry, and she realizes that she must eventually vanish in the end. Enitharmon is described as having a Looking Glass, which reflects the Eternal world in the Material world. This image appears in the 99th illustration of Blake's to the works of Dante. The design shows the Queen of Heaven, who represents feminine rule and the glass is of materialism. She also appears as an illustration in "The Marriage of heaven and Hell".