SOURCE: "The Completed Symbol," in William Blake: His Philosophy and Symbols, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1924, pp. 154-67.

An American educator, poet, and critic, Damon wrote several books on Blake's poetry, including William Blake: His Philosophy and Symbols, a scholarly study that is considered one of the major works in Blake criticism. In the following excerpt taken from that book, Damon explicates The Four Zoas, presenting the poem as "the first and greatest complete expression of [Blake 's vision of the universe."]

He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of thefire, and they have no hurt: and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.

—Daniel iii. 25.

In the years that followed the Lambeth booklets [published 1790-1800], Blake learned a bitter truth: no one cared anything about his visions. As an engraver, he had won a modest place in the...