WILLIAM BLAKE
 |
Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun
|
Auguries of Innocence
[Selected Snippets]
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour. ...
A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage. ...
A dog starved at his master's gate
Predicts the ruin of the state. ...
The game-cock clipped and armed for fight
Does the rising sun affright. ...
He who shall hurt the little wren
Shall never be beloved by men. ...
Kill not the moth nor butterfly,
For the Last Judgment draweth nigh. ...
A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent. ...
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know
Through the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine. ...
The poor man's farthing is worth more
Than all the gold on Afric's shore.
One mite wrung from the labourer's hands
Shall buy and sell the miser's lands ...
He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave shall ne'er get out.
He who respects the infant's faith
Triumphs over hell and death.
The questioner who sits so sly
Shall never know how to reply.
He who replies to words of doubt
Doth put the light of knowledge out. ...
He who doubts from what he sees
Will ne'er believe, do what you please.
If the sun and moon should doubt,
They'd immediately go out. ...
Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born.
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.
Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.
God appears, and God is light
To those poor souls who dwell in night,
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.
~ William Blake (1757-1827)
 |
| Jacob's Ladder |
If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern.
ReplyDelete--William Blake
What an interesting man. The 60's rock group, The Doors, took their name from that poem.
That's another great quotation from Blake, Kurt.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea Jim Morrison ever had any interest in Blake.
It's very easy to see Blake as a "rebel" –– a man opposed to Tradition –– a figure destined to appeal primarily to Angry Young Men.
His pictorial art is certainly disturbing –– definitely eerie –– the stuff of nightmares. I used to dislike it, because it was disquieting -- and it haunted me. It was unforgettable.
Later, I came to appreciate it as work of true genius primarily because it was so haunting and evocative.
There is an implied "message" I had hoped the "snippets" from Auguries of Innocence would elicit from readers. One of the things I'm trying to do here is avoid telling everyone what they ought to see in the items posted.
It would be wonderful if we could generate enough interest here to get others to participate and share their insights, and even conjecture or wild guesses.
I'm fed up to the teeth with agenda-driven political BS. Even when "true facts" [Don't you love that silly term?] are employed the ritualistic exchange of insults and complaints gives a pathetically shallow understanding of what's really going on.
Everything we've ever needed to know is available in the Bible, Shakespeare and the other great poets, playwrights and novelists. I'm no sure about the philosophers. Trying to digest their undiluted work tends to feel too much like chipping away at a bloc of granite with one's incisors -- or trying to digest a plateful of steel filings.
BUT, "to each his own!"
What might be the running theme that unifies Auguries of Innocence and gives it drive and purpose?
Isolating "snippets" from the complete text does make it sound too much like a little series of didactic proverbs instead of the great, all-encompassing work it is, but the whole thing tends to be off-putting if you don't know it, so we tried to break it up so as to seem more "inviting."
~ FreeThinke
FT,
ReplyDeleteTHIS, based on William Blake's "The Typer," may not be your cup of musical tea and really isn't my cup either. Information about the group is HERE.
Wikipedia on "The Tyger"
FT,
ReplyDeleteI'm fed up to the teeth with agenda-driven political BS.
I am, too.
But it is an election year, so I'm slogging on with political posts -- most of the time, anyway.
I really should start taking some new photos and putting them on my photos web site. Gotta relieve the stress!
Hey! The artwork at this blog is outstanding. The text may be a little weird, but it really looks great.
ReplyDeleteDeirdre
The William Blake is, for me, right on target. Some, who do not see the depth of Blake, may interpret parts of his verse as fatalistic, thinking we are to suffer both joy and pain which is not what I believe he intended.
ReplyDeleteIt is just so with many, including me, our words are not always read or heard as we intend them to communicate, for our English vocabulary has learned certain words from a different event. (This confusion is minor compared with all the world's variety of tongues), but to those who have developed at least some connection between our limited conscious mind and infinitely larger subconscious, will see the intent behind the chosen words.
So here are two different ways I have chosen to spread enlightenment of truth as I presently perceive it. I hope it makes sense to you.
A Statement Of Human Nature
Our whole nature, which includes what we are aware of plus the infinitely larger subconscious, is to Love ALL PEOPLE, including self. Even though we don't see the whole, we have seen enough to know that it is there and that it is real.
This allows us to like or hate people’s behavior without losing sight of the love, unless we remain focused on the fragment, for behavior is rooted in our limited conscious, culturally-conditioned mind, while love underlies all and is universal.and at one with what many call God, The I Am, The Whole, The Infinite, and many other names including LOVE.
Whenever possible, connect with everyone (including self and all creatures) at that deep and permanent level we call Love (God).
Then never let those you are connected to distract you by their varied and temporary behavior. If you do, you are giving the control of your inner life to their outward behavior instead of to the depth of Divine Love, which is the foundation upholding all that is good.
Solomon (a very old friend of FT’s.)