FOUR ZOAS V / 59:1-16


 The shifting object of
 address that is charac-
 teristic of Demons'
 songs
















 Vala's arrows: phallic
 weapons wielded by a
female to inflict the "sec-
ret pain"--sexual divi-
sion, possibly castration


(or Luvah). This division involves chaining "fiery sons" within dark Ur-
thona's "breast" and "producing serpents" "within his ribs," precisely
where the heart is. The Demons' song of Night V thus identifies the
division of dark Urthona in the loins with a release of energy from within
his "breast."
 The confusion of heart with loins in Orc's birth is reflected in the
ambiguity and shifting identities of the characters being addressed in the
Demons' song. Early in their song the Demons ask: "Where is Sweet Vala
gloomy prophet where the lovely form / That drew the body of Man from
heaven into this dark Abyss" (59:1-2). Though their song begins as a
direct address to Luvah, the epithet "gloomy prophet" fuses Urizen's
"Gloomy" descent into the poem (12:8) with Los's role as the "Prophet" of
Night IV (49:18, 53:22). (This "gloom" is about to pervade the narrative
proper.) In the Demons' song, the action of drawing the body of Man
parallels Los and Enitharmon's drawing out of the Spectre and drinking up
the Man in Nights I-IV. The "Abyss" is the space onto which the Child's
eyes open at the trumpet's sound, and the space into which the heart
dropped in Night IV ("down sunk with fright / A red round globe, hot
burning deep deep down into the Abyss" [54:16-17]). The Demons now
project onto Vala sole responsibility for the composite actions involved in
drawing the body of Man into the Abyss. The Demons call forth Vala:
"shew thy soul Vala shew thy bow & quiver of secret fires" (59:4). Then-
though there is no indication that Vala appears-the Demons seem to
address her directly, as if she were present: "Draw thy bow Vala" (59:5).
This decisive shift in address is precisely the kind that pervades the earlier
Demons' Song of Night I, where the speakers seem, as they speak, to be
shifting their address from one character to another.
 This Demons'song in Night V completely represses the name of Thar-
 mas, the name of Los, and, except for one brief mention (58:24), the name
 of Urizen as well, and introduces a new set of images to replace those of
 previous accounts of Luvah/Vala and Los/Enitharmon. In the Demons'
 Song of Night I, only one fleeting reference was made to the "bow": "The
 bow string sang upon the hills! Luvah & Vala ride / Triumphant in the
 bloody sky" (15:7-8). Now the Demons in Night V bring to the surface
 information suppressed in the earlier account:
 Draw thy bow Vala from the depths of hell thy black bow draw
 And twang the bow string to our howlings let thine arrows black
 Sing in the Sky as once they sang upon the hills of Light
 When dark Urthona wept in torment of the secret pain
 He wept & he divided & he laid his gloomy head
 Down on the Rock of Eternity on darkness of the deep
 Torn by black storms & ceaseless torrents of consuming fire
 Within his breast his fiery sons chaind down & filld with cursings
 And breathing terrible blood & vengeance gnashing his teeth with
 pain