Vala (Blake)

In the mythological writings of William Blake, Vala is an Emanation/mate of Luvah, one of the four Zoas, who were created when Albion, the primordial man, was divided fourfold. She represents nature while Luvah represents emotions. Originally with Luvah, she joins with Albion and begets the Zoa Urizen. In her fallen aspect, she is the wandering figure known as the Shadowy Female. After the Final Judgment, she is reunited with Luvah but placed under the dominion of the restored Urizen.

## Character

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Vala represents Nature and is an Emanation of the Zoa Luvah. Through him, she is connected to the East. Her name is derived from Voluspa, which is an earth spirit from the Edda.[1] Luvah is connected to the heart aspect of the body and Vala is what the heart loves, which is nature and vegetative based creation. Sometimes she is connected to the image of the Old Woman within Blake's Orc cycle. As such, she is related to Rahab and Enitharmon.[2]

In the beginning, Vala joined with Albion, the Eternal Man, and he impregnated her with Urizen, the first created form. In that act, Vala was split from Luvah and Albion became fallen. Immediately after, she hid because of her disconnection with Luvah. In response, Luvah attacked Albion by giving him boils and removed Albion's ability to sense. This leads to Luvah's fall. Once fallen, he steals Urizen's chariot, and the two ride the chariot across the sky. However, this leads to the two being divided, as Luvah recognizes that Vala is become more material, and Urizen pits them against each other. This leads to Luvah's imprisonment within a furnace and his being melted down by Vala, turned into a fire, to form the material universe.[3] During these events, Urizen causes both Los and Enitharmon to fall and be separated by offering them the ability to judge and condemn Vala and Luvah.[4]

She is recreated within Enitharmon's heart and becomes the material being known as the Shadowy Female. When she meets with Tharmas in this form, he tells her that she and her sinning caused the fall of the others. She tries to convince Urizen to restore Luvah, and is left to melancholy. He uses her to destroy Jesus who took upon the mantel of Luvah. After realizing that it was Jesus, Vala and confronts him over the matter. Urizen, in turn, becomes the Dragon found in the Book of Revelation. During the Final Judgment, Urizen lets go over his feud with Vala and Luvah, which restores him to his former glory. After Albion is regenerated, Luvah and Vala are made servants of the restored Urizen.[5]

Albion and Vala are deeply connected in Blake's myth. Originally, Albion was also with Jerusalem, but he abandons her after she claims that both Vala and Albion are too obsessed with the idea of sin. Jerusalem's fall provokes Vala to claim that she is the triumphant beauty and embraces materialism along with statements that women are dominant. Los rejects these claims and defends mankind. Although she has entered into a fallen state, from her line Jesus would be born. In the fallen state, she promotes revenge, jealousy and justice during war. When she is redeemed after the Final Judgment, she is joined with Albion as his bride. This allows for a union between mankind and the divine.[6]

## Appearances

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Vala originates in Vala, or The Four Zoas, which was originally named after her. As a secondary figure in the work, she is responsible for Albion's fall. However, she is alluded to in the early America a Prophecy in her relationship with Orc. In Blake's Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion, she is transformed into a binary with Jerusalem with her representing nature and Jerusalem representing freedom. Together, they are two wives of Albion, and they originally formed one whole known as Britannia. Jerusalem is Albion's Emanation, and she is made into the wife of Jesus with Vala being Albion's.[7]

## Notes

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1. ^ Damon 1988 p. 428
2. ^ Bloom 1993 pp. 32, 60
3. ^ Damon 1988 pp. 428–429
4. ^ Bloom 1993 p. 84
5. ^ Damon 1988 p. 429
6. ^ Damon 1988 pp. 429–431
7. ^ Damon 1988 pp. 428–431

## References

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* Bloom, Harold. The Visionary Company. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1993.
* Damon, S. Foster. A Blake Dictionary. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1988.

* v
* t
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William Blake

Literary works

| Early writings|

* Poetical Sketches
* An Island in the Moon
* All Religions are One
* There is No Natural Religion

|

Songs of Innocence
and of Experience|

| Songs of Innocence|

* The Shepherd
* The Ecchoing Green
* The Lamb
* The Little Black Boy
* The Blossom
* The Chimney Sweeper
* The Little Boy Lost
* The Little Boy Found
* Laughing Song
* A Cradle Song
* The Divine Image
* Holy Thursday
* Night
* Spring
* Nurse's Song
* Infant Joy
* A Dream
* On Another's Sorrow

|

Songs of Experience|

* Introduction
* Earth's Answer
* The Clod and the Pebble
* Holy Thursday
* The Little Girl Lost
* The Little Girl Found
* The Chimney Sweeper
* Nurse's Song
* The Sick Rose
* The Fly
* The Angel
* The Tyger
* My Pretty Rose Tree
* Ah! Sun-flower
* The Lilly
* The Garden of Love
* The Little Vagabond
* London
* The Human Abstract
* Infant Sorrow
* A Poison Tree
* A Little Boy Lost
* A Little Girl Lost
* To Tirzah
* The School Boy
* The Voice of the Ancient Bard
* A Divine Image (found only in Copy BB)

Prophetic
books|

| The continental
prophecies|

* America a Prophecy
* Europe a Prophecy
* The Song of Los

|

Other|

* Tiriel
* The Book of Thel
* The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
* The French Revolution
* Visions of the Daughters of Albion
* The Book of Urizen
* The Book of Ahania
* The Book of Los
* The Four Zoas
* Milton
* Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion

The Pickering Manuscript|

* "Auguries of Innocence"
* "The Mental Traveller"

The Rossetti Manuscript|

"Never pain to tell thy love"

Mythology

* Ahania
* Albion
* Beulah
* Bromion
* Enion
* Enitharmon
* Fuzon
* Golgonooza
* Grodna
* Har
* Leutha
* Los
* Luvah
* Orc
* Palamabron
* Spectre
* Tharmas
* Thiriel
* Tiriel
* Urizen
* Urthona
* Utha
* Vala

Art

| Paintings
and prints|

* Relief etching
* Engravings for Original Stories from Real Life
* The Ancient of Days
* Europe Supported by Africa and America
* The Night of Enitharmon's Joy
* Newton
* Nebuchadnezzar
* Illustrations for Night-Thoughts
* Illustrations of The Grave
* The Four and Twenty Elders Casting their Crowns before the Divine Throne
* Illustrations of Paradise Lost
* A Vision of the Last Judgement
* Descriptive Catalogue
* The Great Red Dragon paintings
* Pity
* The Ghost of a Flea
* Agony in the Garden
* Illustrations of On the Morning of Christ's Nativity
* The Wood of the Self-Murderers: The Harpies and the Suicides
* Illustrations of the Book of Job

|

Sketches|

* Visionary Heads

Scholarship, in popular culture, and more

| Scholarly works|

* Life of William Blake
* The Works of William Blake: Poetic, Symbolic and Critical
* Fearful Symmetry
* Blake: Prophet Against Empire
* Witness Against the Beast

|

Musical|

* Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings (1943)
* Ten Blake Songs (1958)
* Songs and Proverbs of William Blake (1965)
* The Lamb (1982)
* Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1998)

Related|

* William Blake in popular culture
* William Blake Archive
* Blake (1983 monologue)
* In Lambeth (1989 play)
* Catherine Blake (wife)
* Ancients

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