The Book of Thel has 125 lines, each containing 14 syllables, plus a four-line preface, or epigraph, with lines that alternate between 10 and seven syllables. The poem is Blake’s prophetic vision of Thel, a shepherdess; a third-person narrator recounts Thel’s conversations with symbolic creatures and a mysterious voice.

Thel’s Motto (Plate 1)

In Blake’s illuminated manuscript, an entire engraved page is dedicated to Thel’s Motto—its four lines stand alone as a kind of preface, or epigraph, for the Book. These lines alternate between 10 and seven syllables, and the seven-syllable lines rhyme. The Motto poses a series of questions: First, should the reader ask an eagle or a mole about the “pit” (Motto 1). This pit foreshadows where Thel’s journey takes her: a secret underground place occupied by the dead. The burrowing mole is more familiar with the place Thel visited, like the worm she talks to, rather than a bird of prey, like the eagle.

The second set of questions Thel asks in her Motto are about the qualities of wisdom and love. She wonders if these can be contained in a rod or bowl made of precious metals: silver and gold, respectively.