As I have written before, the great William Blake magnificently employed signs beyond mere words in his poetry. His powerful illustrations of verse add much additional meaning to his work. As I have noted before, his symbols such as words are greatly supplemented by other types of signs such as the iconic signs of his drawings. He applied these same principles in reverse in his great illustrations of the verse of other poets such as Thomas Gray and Edward Young. Such illustrated verse injects blocks of symbols within Blake's icons, and it can be fascinating to replace these blocks of others' symbols with additional iconic expressions by Blake himself. Blake's illustrations repeat common themes and can build on each other in such fascinating exercises. I think Blake would enjoy seeing others doing this with with his icons, and I would enjoy seeing how others might attempt the endless possibilities of such substitutions. For example, in the illustration above I have replaced Gray's verses about the "Stern Rugged Nurse" with one of Blake's illustrations of Urizen, the severe god of reason who traps the imagination with his compasses and strict categories. The compass in fact is an awful symbol for Blake. It's no accident that the "Stern Rugged Nurse" has one in her hand just like Urizen.
