When Klopstock England defied,
Uprose William Blake in his pride;
For old Nobodaddy aloft
Farted and belch’d and cough’d;
Then swore a great oath that made Heaven quake,
And call’d aloud to English Blake.
Blake was giving his body ease,
At Lambeth beneath the poplar trees.
From his seat then started he
And turn’d him round three times three.
The moon at that sight blush’d scarlet red,
The stars threw down their cups and fled,
And all the devils that were in hell,
Answerèd with a ninefold yell.
Klopstock felt the intripled turn,
And all his bowels began to churn,
And his bowels turn’d round three times three,
And lock’d in his soul with a ninefold key; . . .
Then again old Nobodaddy swore
He ne’er had seen such a thing before,
Since Noah was shut in the ark,
Since Eve first chose her hellfire spark,
Since ’twas the fashion to go naked,
Since the old Anything was created . . .
And so feeling, he beg’d me to turn again
And ease poor Klopstock never fold pain
From pity then he reden’d round
And the ninefold Spell unwound.
If Blake would do this when he
What might he not do if he sat down to write ?