Aged Ignorance (For the Sexes, 1968)

Title

Aged Ignorance (For the Sexes, 1968)

Student Commentary:

This image from the For the Sexes version of The Gates of Paradise (1968 facsimile) is revised from the For Children version with the addition of an explanation, “Perceptive Organs closed their Objects close.” The harmful effect of “aged ignorance” is illustrated, as in the earlier version, by an image of an elderly male figure sitting at the base of a tree. He wears a long white robe and spectacles, but his eyes are closed. He holds a large pair of scissors, which he is using in an attempt to clip the wings of an angel standing in front of him. The angel’s hands are stretched out, either in sorrow or as protection from the harsh rays of the sun.

Links:

Detailed View of Image at the William Blake Archive

About this Book

Source

William Blake@Union Digital Collection