Poems of the Week: Two Poems of William Blake
Poems and Analysis
A Divine Image
By William Blake
Cruelty has a Human Heart
And Jealousy a Human Face
Terror the Human Form Divine
And Secrecy, the Human Dress
The Human Dress, is forged Iron
The Human Form, a fiery Forge.
The Human Face, a Furnace seal’d
The Human Heart, its hungry Gorge.
The Divine Image
By William Blake
To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.
For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is God, our father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is Man, his child and care.
For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.
Then every man, of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine,
Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.
And all must love the human form,
In heathen, Turk, or Jew;
Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.
2. Analysis
In both “A Divine Image” and “The Divine Image,” Blake analyzes the relationship between God and Man. How God is pure, but Man is adulterated.
The titles reflect this difference as Blake writes, “A Divine Image,” where Man is the subject of the poem and “The Divine Image,” where God is the subject. ‘A’ implies abundance. ‘The’ implies a special anomaly. Although, of course, there still is the question of the origin of power. Does it come from the consent of those you govern, or is it an inherent right? Is God the master or a manipulator — the greatest con man in history? The titles answer that we are projections of a great image, made for the entertainment, experimentation, and joy of God.
In “A Divine Image,” Blake is personifying the mortal emotions that God has granted humans in the first stanza. The reader’s first impression is that humans are made from a motley of hamartias (fatal flaws), but in the second stanza, whether or not these are flaws is ambiguous.
Each flaw line of the first stanza correlates with a remarkability in the second stanza. Observe the picture above; each color in the top stanza is matched with the corresponding line in the bottom stanza.
In essence, Blake says that humans resort to good things, and we also take respite in them. Because God is good, what he produces is good, and we are the products of God. But we also have choice, and can choose how to wield that power. We act with cruelty when we are hurt just like a man kills a deer when he is starving; we conceal our own regrets by looking for the regrets of others; we dress ourselves in hot iron to guard against possible attacks; and, simply, we hide. Sometimes honesty is the best way to verbalize what pain feels like. The worst kind of valediction to blissfulness.
The central idea that the reader is left with in “A Divine Image” is that humans are strong, and strength is a matter of interpretation — whether it is seen internally or externally, and whether there is intention behind action. This leads into “The Divine Image,” and the first few lines:
To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.
Again, people resort to the same ideals where they take a respite. They have the choice, at the very least. And when they choose to do what God deems as good and meet strife with mercy and love, they will feel gratitude in return.
For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is God, our father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
Is Man, his child and care.For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.
Humans are the delegates of God. Most try to represent what they believe they were sent to do (or, if you’re not religious, I’ll reiterate that most simply try to live a happy life). We dress and communicate in certain ways to project an image of ourselves, and whether that image is merciful or loving, or stoic and mean. But even during times of lack of fortitude, faith, kindness, or generosity, we are still cloaked in God’s image, hidden in his glory. An image never with the burden of being the image.
Author’s Note (Comment Below What You Think)
Is religion just a reflection of government? An act to create spiritual mobility when there is a lack of social mobility? Themes of corruption and distrust in humanity in religion have strong ties to authority/government, and the fact that the two are so historically intertwined (specifically in European history, questioned once again in Blake’s era of Romantic thought) make me believe that the separation of state and church is philosophically impossible.
