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William Blake (1757–1827).  The Poetical Works.  1908.
 
Poems from the Rossetti MS.: Earlier Poems
To Nobodaddy
 
WHY 1 art thou silent and invisible,
Father of Jealousy?
Why dost thou hide thyself in clouds
From every searching eye?
 
Why darkness and obscurity        5
In all thy words and laws,
That none dare eat the fruit but from
The wily Serpent’s jaws?
Or is it because secrecy gains females’ loud applause?
 
Note 1. Nobodaddy, a ‘portmanteau word’ for ‘Nobody’s Daddy’, antithetical to ‘Father of All’, was Blake’s jocular nickname for Urizen, the Father of Jealousy. The same name occurs in ‘Lafayette’ and ‘When Klop-stock England defied’. 2 Father] Man MS. 1st rdg. del. 9 females’ loud] feminine MS. 1st rdg. del. This line is an afterthought, added in pencil. [back]
 
 
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