The French Revolution (poem) according to Blake, were stuck in a problematic feudal system that was represented by the Bastille, a prison that kept enemies of the state. As the work continues, he demands that the Bastille be removed and he explains how the American Revolution provoked the French Revolution. The dates spanned in the first book is from May 1789 until July 1789. Although Blake relies on history, he includes characters that are his own, but none of them are characters that he used in his mythological works. The work deals with the symbolism of the Bastille, which the seven towers of the
French emigration (1789–1815) In Alsace, minorities such as the Jews and Protestants were pro-revolution, while the Catholic majority was not. Despite these facts, as Zosa Szajkowski states in the text "Jews and the French Revolutions of 1789, 1830, and 1848" it was still a widely held belief that "the Jews wanted to bring about a counter-revolution with all its destruction and death". Thus, the Jews were continuously unfairly suspected of fraud, although rarely ever convicted for it. Also, their correspondence in Hebrew with those living outside France was restricted. August Mauger, the leader of the terror in Nancy, refused to give Jews passports.