Today’s second artwork in the Folding Mirror poetry from ‘Romantic’ art series is an interpretation of William Blake’s Sabrina’s Silvery Flood, which was created in the 1820s.

Poem Introduction and Explanation

The poem divides the sketch into left and right, either side of the flooding water.

The left half is interpreted as being mostly natural and the right man-made.

The left side of the painting is the top half of the poem, and the right side the bottom half of the poem.

The top half of the poem works from the top of the left half of the painting down to the bottom, while the bottom half works from the bottom of the right half of the painting up to the top, before ending in the flooding water.

The words per line either side of the seven word middle are identical
(4-3-3-5-2-2-3-7-3-2-2-5-3-3-4), but the line length and punctuation don’t match exactly.

The Poem

Blake’s River Border Country (Sabrina’s Silvery Flood 1821/circa 1830)

Blanket of the world
covering darkened hill
overlooking nature’s spill.
Tree rising into the horizon
sheltering ewes
suckling lambs
as nature intended.

Two halves of land, a reflecting image.

One has constructed
wooden barn
working farm.
Roof reaching up on high
obscuring sunset sky
beyond flooding lake
now a moving snake

The Painting

A Romantic Sketch

Copied from the Tate Gallery.