Description of the design for Blake's drawing, The Sun in His Wrath, and quotation from Milton's Il Penseroso : autograph manuscript : [England], [ca. 1816-1820]

Accompanies no. 10 of 12 watercolor designs for Milton's early poems L'Allegro and Il Penseroso that contrast the cheerful man with the melancholic, thoughtful one. Blake created them on commission for Thomas Butts about 1816-1820. The two series were separated in 1903 and were not reunited until 1949, when they were acquired by the Library. Each of the watercolors in this series is accompanied by Blake's transcription of the relevant portion of the poem as well as his notes on his design.
10 lines of text written in ink on the recto of a sheet of laid paper accompanying the watercolor, The Sun in His Wrath (1949.4:10, cataloged separately). Lines 1-4 are quoted from Milton's "Il Penseroso," lines 131-34.
Transcription: "10 And when the Sun begins to fling / His flaring Beams me Goddess bring / To arched walks of twilight Groves / And Shadows brown that Sylvan loves / Milton led by Melancholy into the Groves / away from the Suns flaring Beams who is / seen in the Heavens throwing his darts & / & flames of fire The Spirits of the Trees / on each side are seen under the domina / tion of Insects raised by the Suns heat"