The artwork is actually a William Blake painting called the ghost of a flea. A lot of this album is heavily influenced by his poetry as well. The book of thel is a Blake poem. Jerusalem is based of another one of his poems Jerusalem ["And did those feet in ancient time"]. This is a portion of the poem And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon Englands mountains green: And was the holy Lamb of God, On Englands pleasant pastures seen! Bring me my Bow of burning gold: Bring me my arrows of desire: Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold! Bring me my Chariot of fire! Notice he uses these as lyrics. Also the Gates of Urizen is based of The First Book of Urizen. William Blake had his own mythology within his poetry and Urizen is like the god of law and reasoning. This actually is a concept or themed album. And William Blake is the theme, Bruce Dickinson was heavily influenced by the works of Blake. Kind of like Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. Rime Of The Ancient Mariner was poem by; my favorite, romantic era poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. That poem has actually been dubbed one of the greatest works of English ever written. Maiden just moved and deleted some stanzas, then set it to music, they didn't write any of those lyrics. Thats also why it was 13 mins long because it actually takes 20 - 25 to read the actual poem it was based off of. Maiden & Bruce Dickinson are heavily influenced by old books and poetry.
