He embrac'd her, she wept, she refus'd
The division of Los/Enitharmon leads to fallen sexuality where the desire to become one again (in a sexual embrace) is counterbalanced by a will to remain separate. The desire to become one is repressed and transformed into the "cruel delight" of refusal (19.12). The design on Plate 19 depicts this scene.
Man begetting his likeness / On his own divided image.
The sexual act in the fallen world is not creative, but rather a narcissistic reproduction of the self. Stevenson notes: "After the fall there is no new creation; only repetition. In eternity, love is a complete blending of loving persons: but this is the self-love of Los for himself in Enitharmon--not love, but in-turned desire" (262n).
a worm
The worm that grows into a "serpent" (19.26) and finally into "an infant form" (19.35) not only suggests the transformations of the fetus, but also the sexual act that begets the child. The serpent also alludes to the temptation of Eve (Genesis 3: 1-7).
a man Child
The child is Orc.
paralytic stroke
Just as Los suffers a stroke when he finished binding Urizen (13.35-36), so the Eternals are frozen and unable to act when they see the birth of Orc.
Human shadow
The child is a human shadow because it is "Formed entirely in the fallen world, and unable to partake of infinity. It is a 'shadow' of true infinite humanity, but shows that the fallen world is self-perpetuating" (Stevenson 263n).
Delving earth
This image suggests the way that Orc is tied to the earth, delving through the earth like a worm or a snake.
the Child with fierce flames / Issu'd from Enitharmon
The birth or Orc in "fierce flames" is depicted on Plate 20.
closed the tent
The Eternals close the tent, isolating the fallen world from Eternity.
springs of sorrow
In the fallen world, life will be full of sorrow. The infant is baptized into this sorrow immediately upon his birth. This passage also alludes to the punishment of Eve; Jehovah tells her:
I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception;
in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;
and thy desire shall be to thy husband,
and he shall rule over thee. (Genesis 3: 16).
A tight'ning girdle grew
Jealous of Orc, Los feels a tightening in his chest. The emotions pent up in Los are manifest as a girdle around his chest. Stevenson suggests: "Jealousy inevitably follows the division of the soul into more than two entities" (263). See Plate 21 for a depiction of the girdle around Los's breast.
He burst the girdle in twain
Los breaks through his jealousy, but as soon as one girdle breaks, another grows in its place.
The girdle was form'd by day / By night was burst in twain
When Los is separated from Enitharmon, leaving her with Orc during the day, the girdle grows. It is burst at night when he is rejoined with her--that it is burst "In sobbings" (20.10 and 20.13) suggests the sexual union of the two.
an iron Chain / In each other link by link lock'd
Each girdle that is broken becomes a link in an iron chain that ties Los to Enitharmon and Orc. His emotions are locked into his jealousy of Orc. See Plate 21 for a depiction of the chain hanging from the girdle around Los's breast.
top of a mountain
Jehovah commands Abraham to take his son Isaac "into the land of Mori'ah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of" (Genesis 22: 2). Los takes the place of Abraham and Orc of Isaac. Orc is sacrificed to Urizen, the God of this fallen world.
chain'd his young limbs to the rock
In addition to an allusion to Abraham and Isaac, there is an allusion to Prometheus here. Prometheus was chained to the cliffs of Mount Atlas by Zeus as a punishment for having given humans fire.
Chain of Jealousy
The name given the chain and the description of how it is formed suggest emotional forces are at work in Los's sacrifice of Orc that are repressed in the biblical story of Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. Jealousy inevitably follows the divisions and separations resulting from the fall/creation of this world. In this episode, we can see Blake anticipating what Freud will later call the Oedipus complex.
The dead
Urizen and his children, who are in their stony sleep.
awake to life
Orc's cries and energy awaken the dead and bring life to the fallen world. Worrall (139) suggests that this paragraph alludes to John 5: 23: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live."
Explor's his dens
Ironically, the world that has been created according to Urizen's abstract laws must now be explored by him as an unknown land. He is unaware that the world is a mirror of himself. See Plate 23 for a depiction of Urizen exploring his world.
a line & a plummet
Urizen makes the instruments--line, plummet, and dividing rule--to measure his world and divide it according to an abstract geometrical grid that ignores the organic and living shapes.
scales
Urizen continues to make the scientific and mathematical instruments--scales, weights, quadrant, and compasses--that he will use to measure and navigate in the abyss created out of himself.
planted a garden of fruits
Urizen plants a life giving garden; however it is the garden of Eden, a garden of forbidden fruits, of desire and the denial of desire.
fires of Prophecy
Of Los's use of the "fires of Prophecy" to keep Enitharmon from seeing Orc and Urizen, Stevenson notes: "It is strange to B[lake] connecting prophecy with jealousy" (264). However, by creating a Beulah in this fallen world for Enitharmon, Los is creating a fallen vision of Eternity. This passage also reminds us that prophecy is distorted in this fallen world; its vehicle, the shrunken tongue and its fallen language, distorts the words of Eternity.
an enormous race
In addition to the children of Urizen, the fallen world will be populated by the children of Los and Enitharmon, a race energized by the fires of prophecy.