{"id":232,"date":"2021-02-12T13:18:11","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T13:18:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/?p=232"},"modified":"2021-02-12T13:18:11","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T13:18:11","slug":"imagination-and-reality-in-blakes-the-divine-image-and-the-human-abstract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/?p=232","title":{"rendered":"Imagination and Reality in Blake\u2019s \u201cThe Divine Image\u201d and \u201cThe Human Abstract\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While thoroughly educated in the common Christian beliefs of eighteenth-century England, William Blake gradually developed his own system of faith over the course of his life, through personal observation of the human condition as well as an extensive study in art (Greenblatt 124). Though his studies led him to a Universalist Unitarian perspective on religion, he often based his work on biblical references, adding striking contrasts to them, and embellishing their underlying significance. Some of the most salient comparisons that Blake creates through his art and poetry are found in his Songs of Innocence and of Experience, <\/em>a work he subtitles, \u201cShewing the two contrary states of the human soul\u201d (Greenblatt 127). Within this compilation of poems and sketches Blake exposes common biblical claims based merely on faith with a profound and dark understanding of reality, challenging readers to consider deeper meaning within their beliefs. In doing so, he presents complex questions about the unexplainable nature of the human soul, as well as the faith humanity seeks as a means of quieting them. Highlighting these ideas are Blake\u2019s poems \u201cThe Divine Image\u201d and \u201cThe Human Abstract.\u201d By juxtaposing these works, it is evident that Blake centers his argument on biblical scripture, but scrutinizes it with his observations of reality; not to negate the biblical scriptures, but to call readers to question the motivation and depth of their faith, rather than accepting it blindly. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blake\u2019s poem, \u201cThe Divine Image\u201d comes from his published work of compiled poems titled, Songs of Innocence. <\/em>The whole piece relates a perspective of the world through the lens of an untainted soul\u2014commonly attributed to the soul of a child, as children\u2019s souls generally are not tainted by the experiences of reality that come over time. Blake relates this state of the human soul very closely to religious purity and child-like faith, underscoring the innocence and purity related to belief in Christian principles. The speaker of this poem is an outside observer who possesses for themself this untainted soul. It can be understood even as the voice of a child, relaying all they have been taught through their few years on Earth, but not what they have personally experienced for themselves. The specific meaning of the poem centers on the biblical scripture \u201cThe Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation\u201d (Colossians 1:15). Lines 5 through 8 of the poem explain that \u201cMercy, Pity, Peace, and Love, is God,\u201d and that the compilation of these traits is also \u201cMan, his child and care,\u201d speaking of the Son of God. As the poem moves into the lines describing the human characteristics of God, it is clear that it speaks of Christ as God in human form, the \u201cDivine Image.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tone of the poem carries a naively instructive sensation, as the inexperienced soul attempts to teach all men, both grown and not grown, the truths of life that they themself have not yet begun to experience. This is particularly evident in lines 17-18, \u201cAnd all must love the human form, In heathen, Turk, or Jew.\u201d Here, the speaker assumes that all the listeners agree that the \u201chuman form\u201d is trustworthy, truthful, and worthy of love. In light of the aforementioned biblical text, it is evident that this \u201chuman form\u201d is Jesus Christ. As a child, brought up in a protected Christian environment, it is easy to make such a claim, as it is the whole truth that they know. However, to an individual who has been exposed to the many religions throughout the world, and particularly to those which shudder and violently respond to the name of Jesus Christ, it becomes clear that this speaker does not have experience within the world. This is the moment that Blake desires to capture and magnify\u2014that it takes an untainted soul to be able to imagine the \u201cinvisible God\u201d as this perfect image of \u201cMercy, Pity, Peace, and Love\u201d when evidence from the world presents a strikingly different picture, one which may have nothing to do with God at all, and entirely to do with humanity. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blake presents the opposing perspective of these character traits in his corresponding poem \u201cThe Human Abstract\u201d from his work titled, Songs of Experience. <\/em>The premise of this compilation centers on the worldview of an individual who has seen many years\u2014one who has experienced the fullness of the pain, loss, grief, and sorrow that the raw Earth holds and gives generously to its inhabitants. The speaker can be seen as a representation of the fully grown child from the previous work, with time and experience now on their side. Recalling the underlying meaning of the first poem, the biblical depiction of the Son of God being the visible human image of the invisible divine God, it is clear that Blake wishes to maintain the same biblical undertone in this corresponding poem, but also to question it through the lens of experience. In the first lines, the speaker declares, \u201cPity would be no more, if we did not make somebody Poor; and Mercy no more could be, If all were as happy as we\u201d (Blake 1-4). Here the experienced speaker proclaims that pity and mercy are only the result of injustice and brutality in the world, diminishing the power of such character traits by making them merely byproducts of wickedness. The speaker continues his discourse, turning each of the four perfect traits into distorted, yet realistic versions of those seen in the first poem. He writes, \u201cA mutual fear brings peace until the selfish loves increase\u201d (5-6). In this context, the reader can comprehend that this \u201cpeace\u201d and these \u201cloves\u201d are not genuine peace or love, but merely the best that the world has to offer from the perspective of this speaker\u2019s experience and reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tone of this poem holds the sensation of a wary warning as the speaker subtly relays their negative observations and experiences with these divine traits in their own personal life. It becomes clear at this point that to a tainted soul, it is very difficult to look at humanity and imagine the perfect image of God in human form. Imagination in general, as well as the blind faith of these happy traits, is nearly unattainable. The disappointment and understanding of imperfection in the ideology of \u201cMercy, Pity, Peace, and Love\u201d is what leads the speaker to offer such strong diction within the poem. In lines 13 through 14, they present an image of a growing tree of “Cruelty,” which \u201cSoon spreads the dismal shade of Mystery over his head.\u201d Here, the words \u201cdismal\u201d and \u201cshade\u201d add to the overall sensation of the poem, the dark cloud of painful experiences and soul-wrenching questions which are unanswerable to the speaker. The tree that sprouted from Cruelty, flourishes into Mystery, which speaks to the inexplicable reality of the pain within the world. It is a mystery only fathomable by those who have walked beneath its shade, and it is from this state of mind, this state of the human soul, that faith in this \u201cDivine Image\u201d becomes very difficult to maintain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the speaker continues describing these traits in light of reality, they reveal that the origin for this wickedness and goodness is not the Earth or God, but rather the human mind. By making such a claim, they elevate humanity to a position above that of God, as in this manner, the divine attributes are the mere result of human activity and thought. In this light, no longer do these attributes of the invisible God originate in God, but are simply the result of the \u201cHuman Brain,\u201d all the wicked acts of mankind, which allow for mercy, pity, peace, and love to exist (Blake 24). This is a critical aspect of the comparison: the first poem, forged by an untainted soul, creates a picture of a perfect God with the traits \u201cMercy, Pity, Peace, and Love\u201d based on imagination and faith; whereas the second poem, forged by a tainted soul, uses the same traits to create a horrible picture of humanity based on experience. This juxtaposition does not negate the referenced scripture in \u201cThe Divine Image,\u201d but it scrutinizes it through the tests of reality and personal experience, asking the question, \u201cIf God is good (composed of mercy, pity, peace, and love), then why is there so much pain in the world?\u201d Only someone who has experienced this pain could genuinely ask this question and have the empirical means to search it out. Similarly, only someone who has genuinely asked this question could have the empirical means to defend a remaining faith in God or a loss of faith that once was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For these reasons, it appears that Blake creates this juxtaposition in his work Songs of Innocence and of Experience, <\/em>although, it does not appear that Blake wishes to impose one perspective over another upon his readers, but merely to inform, to present his own observations and allow the matter to partake in dispute within the readers\u2019 own minds. While the texts represent two polar extremes, there is room for more opinions within the spectrum of interpretation. One reader may imagine with ease and unquestioning faith in the invisible, divine, and good attributes of God despite their own experiences, and another may scoff at the notion of placing trust in an invisible, unimaginable power that, from their perspective has only caused immense harm on Earth. The only objective that Blake appears to insert into these textual examples is the call for the readers to search their motives and the ground for their faith or their lack of it. In doing so, he presents a much larger world of options and a deeper realm of belief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

February 21, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blake, William. \u201cThe Divine Image\u201d and \u201cThe Human Abstract.\u201d The Norton Anthology of<\/em> English Literature: The Romantic Period. 10th<\/sup> Ed.<\/em>, Vol. D<\/em>. Edited by Stephen Greenblatt. W.W. Norton and Company. New York, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greenblatt, Stephen. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period. 10th<\/sup><\/em> Ed.<\/em>, Vol. D<\/em>. W.W. Norton and Company. New York, 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bible Gateway. Colossians 1:15<\/em>. New International Version, Biblica, Inc., 2011.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While thoroughly educated in the common Christian beliefs of eighteenth-century England, William Blake gradually developed his own system of faith over the course of his life, through personal observation of the human condition as well as an extensive study in art (Greenblatt 124). Though his studies led him to a Universalist Unitarian perspective on religion,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[66,68,67,69,70,65],"class_list":["post-232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-critical-analyses","tag-romantic-poetry","tag-songs-of-experience","tag-songs-of-innocence","tag-the-divine-image","tag-the-human-abstract","tag-william-blake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions\/235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bexroden.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}