The State of Innocence The State of Innocence The State of Innocence was intended to be performed as an opera, with the libretto written in 1674, (first published in 1677) by John Dryden. It is basically a musical stage adaptation of John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost", a tribute to Milton rather than a satire of the poem. That Dryden was an admirer of Milton's is surprising as the two men were politically opposed. Milton was against the restoration of the British monarchy, while the royalist Dryden was created England’s first Poet Laureate by the restored Charles II. So great an admirer of Milton
William Blake's mythology other epic prophetic works, "Milton a Poem" and "Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion". The parts into which Albion is divided are the four Zoas: The Blake pantheon also includes feminine "emanations" that have separated from an integrated male being, as Eve separated from Adam: The fall of Albion and his division into the Zoas and their emanations are also the central themes of "Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion". Rintrah first appears in "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell", personifying revolutionary wrath. He is later grouped together with other spirits of rebellion in "The Vision of the