How does William Blake connect Urizen with reason in his prophetic works?

In the prophetic works of William Blake, the character Urizen serves as the personification of reason and law. Blake portrays him as a godlike figure who attempts to impose rigid, finite order upon the infinite human spirit, effectively acting as a tyrannical force that enslaves humanity through restrictive systems.12

Blake connects Urizen to reason by depicting him as a "grim scientist" or a "God of reason" who seeks to define the universe through measurement and limitation. This is famously illustrated in the frontispiece to Europe, a Prophecy, where Urizen is shown using a pair of golden compasses to map out the world. Blake suggests that this reliance on cold, rational calculation transforms the infinite into something finite and restrictive—symbolized by the serpent—thereby turning the human experience into a "mighty circle" of confinement.12

Ultimately, Blake positions Urizen’s rationalism as the antithesis of the human imagination, represented by the Zoa Los, and warns that failing to create one's own system of thought leads to being enslaved by the systems of others.2