Personification of the Creative Imagination

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.

In Blake's mythology Los represents the imagination, and corresponds to the loving and forgiving Christ of the New Testament. (As opposed to Urizen who, according to Blake, is the vengeful and repressive God of the Old Testament). Los often appears as a blacksmith with the tools of his trade. Blake sees Los crafting objects from molten metal, as he himself forged his visions and inspirations into poetry and art.

In the Songs of Experience, 'The Tyger' is created with the blacksmith's implements of hammer, anvil, chain and furnace. 'The Tyger' is often interpreted as a symbol of man's irrepressible urge to create. Could it be Los then who 'framed' (made) the Tiger?

The name 'Los' may derive from the word 'loss', alluding to fallen man's having 'lost' Paradise. It may, however, be a reversal of the Latin word 'Sol' (sun), since Los is shown creating the sun on plate 73 of Jerusalem.

On the right of the picture is Enitharmon, Los's wife. To Blake, she represents misguided religion based on chastity and vengeance. Their offspring is Orc, the symbol of revolution.