This picture, the 100th and final plate from Jerusalem, shows Los (the middle figure) in the pose of the Apollo Belvedere. He is holding a hammer in his right hand, and a pair of tongs in his left. This gives a context to Theotormon’s contribution to the poem’s discussion of the senses. At the end of Oothoon’s enquiry into these different “forms and...joys” (3.6), she says “And then tell me the thoughts of man, that have been hid of old” (3.13). The suggestion is that the indoctrination of the “infinite brain” obscures human intuitions, which are potentially available, just as the diverse intuitions she details are part of the other creatures’ embodiments (2:32). Yet Theotormon takes this question both literally and personally: Crucial to the overall message of Visions of the Daughters of Albion is the overarching metaphoric association of gender-based oppression with slavery. As discussed below, slavery was a hotly contested issue within the Romantic period, and appeared as a literary tool in a variety of works. In Visions, Blake associates slavery with the condition of contemporary British women, in announcing from the very beginning: “ENSLA’D, the Daughters of Albion weep” (Blake 218). From the outset of this work, the association of gender oppression with slavery is made. As the illustrations in Blake’s works are equally, if not sometimes more, important than the text presented, it is important to note that on the corresponding image, Plate 4 (see figure 1), “ENSLAV’D” is highly emphasized; besides “Visions,” it is the first thing you notice about this plate’s illustration, highlighting its importance to the narrative.

Wogan-Browne, Jocelyn (2011), Leyser, Conrad; Smith, Lesley (eds.), "Mother or Stepmother to History? Joan de Mohun and Her Chronicle", Motherhood, Religion, and Society in Medieval Europe, 400–1400, Ashgate Publishing, p.306, ISBN 978-1409431459Figure 3. Plate 1. Blake, William. Visions of the Daughters of Albion. 1793. Relief etching. British Museum, London. William Blake: [ ] Ankarsjo, Magnus. William Blake and Gender. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2006. Print. Mellor, Anne K. Romanticism and Gender. New York: Routledge, 1993. Print. Aristotle or Pseudo-Aristotle (1955). "On the Cosmos, 393b12". On Sophistical Refutations. On Coming-to-be and Passing Away. On the Cosmos. Translated by Forster, Edward Seymour; Furley, David J. William Heinemann, Harvard University Press. pp.360–361. at the Open Library Project. DjVu William Blake's poems Milton and Jerusalem feature Albion as an archetypal giant representing humanity. [ citation needed]

Uncomfortable with the implications of Blake as champion of an illusive “sovereignty of the individual” (Bracher 164), more recent criticism began to move away from Visions’ exploration of perception. Nancy Moore Goslee in 1990 registers unease with “the way Blake’s representations of freedom from enlightenment metaphysics merge with symbols of a more conventional enslavement by gender” (102). Goslee argues that the epistemological sections compromise the more “revolutionary claims of race and gender,” by “suggest[ing] that private, metaphysical vision brings about social change” (104). David Blake and Elliot Gruner criticize “[t]he metaphysical registers of Blake’s polemic…[which] divert attention away from the suffering which initiates the poem” and are therefore a “retreat from these original social concerns” (26). As we will see, such suspicions can be read as a reaction to the imposition of models of transcendence and idealism onto the poem by earlier critics, founded in a separation from, and often denigration of, the material and the body. Ironically, by avoiding discussion of modes of perception in the poem we miss out on Blake’s dissection of the forces which made those sections appear distasteful or reactive to begin with. So they reconciled themselves to their new homeland and fate. They ate the fruits, the nuts and the plants and drank from the cool clear spring waters that abounded. With the passing of time they discovered the best ways to harvest the good store of the land and they learnt the seasons that were best for different purposes. Although they did not go hungry they began to see the movement of the birds, animals and fish that were most plentiful throughout the land and they began to yearn for the taste of meat.

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William Blake’s “Visions of the Daughters of Albion” was not well-received during its time of publication in 1793. The poem’s themes of female empowerment and sexual liberation were considered scandalous and controversial. However, as time passed, the poem gained recognition for its bold and progressive ideas. It became a significant work in the feminist movement and was praised for its critique of the patriarchal society. Today, “Visions of the Daughters of Albion” is considered one of Blake’s most influential works and continues to inspire artists and writers alike. Its legacy as a groundbreaking piece of feminist literature remains strong, and its message of liberation and equality continues to resonate with readers. Interpretations and Criticisms The central narrative is of the female character Oothoon, called the "soft soul of America", and of her sexual experience. S. Foster Damon ( A Blake Dictionary) suggested that Blake had been influenced by Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, published in 1792. Welch, Denis M. "Essence, Gender, Race: William Blake's Visions of the Daughters of Albion." Studies in Romanticism 49.1 (2010): 105-131. Print. So it was that these twenty nine women who could have been great queens instead found themselves cast adrift in the vastness of the sea with no food or water, powerless, helpless and bereft of all society but their own. All they could do was put themselves in the hands of the gods and accept whatever fate would bring them.