The Joy of Dying : Free at Last

 

Free at last,
Free at last,
Thank God Almighty
I'm free at last!

Albion Rose

This plate was once part of the Large Book of Designs which William Blake printed in 1796 for the miniature painter Ozias Humphrey. The design possibly dates back to a pencil drawing of 1780 (Victoria and Albert Museum), the date inscribed on the plate for Albion Rose. Blake executed the same subject in about 1804 as a black and white etching and engraving, to which he added the inscription 'Albion rose from where he labourd at the Mill with Slaves / Giving himself for the Nations he danc'd the dance of Eternal Death'. The inscription recalls lines from Blake's illuminated book, Milton, a Poem, begun in 1803, and from Milton's own work, Samson Agonistes (1671).

The figure of Albion, a personification of humanity and of Britain, is freeing himself from the shackles of materialism.

Source: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/albion-rose/9gH8FkV-uW3zjQ?hl=en

In the first state of the plate, the figure may represent mankind transformed and energized by the French Revolution. In the second state, the inscription identifies him as Albion, Blake's representative of humanity in his later poetry, in a Christ-like act of self-sacrifice that lifts him above the creatures of darkness. The date, "inv 1780," memorializes Blake's invention, and first execution, of the figure in a pencil drawing datable to that year (Butlin 73). Embossed vertical lines in this sketch indicate that Blake counterproofed it onto the copperplate of Albion rose. The date may also have a biographical significance because 1780 was Blake's first full year as an independent artist after his release from apprenticeship under the engraver James Basire. A further personal connection between the final state of Albion rose and Blake's life is suggested by his letter to William Hayley of 23 Oct. 1804 in which he states that he had been "a slave bound in a mill among beasts and devils" but now is "again enlightened with the light [he] enjoyed in [his] youth" (Erdman page 756).

Source: https://blakearchive.org/work/esvii