Thoughts
(I also posted this in my myspace blog, and just copied and pasted... the formatting's a bit off, but I just got reprimanded for not having posted to this thing in so long.)
A couple of days ago, I was in my English class, and we were discussing some writing by William Blake. I don't know if any of you know who that is, but if you've ever heard of the "Innocence and Experience" poems... It's that guy. In class, however, we spent most of the time looking at this one:
01 THE Chimney Sweeper
02 A little black thing among the snow:
03 Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe!
04 Where are thy father & mother? say?
05 They are both gone up to the church to pray.
06 Because I was happy upon the heath,
07 And smil'd among the winters snow:
08 They clothed me in the clothes of death,
09 And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
10 And because I am happy, & dance & sing.
11 They think they have done me no injury;
12 And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King
13 Who make up a heaven of our misery.
During the time period in which Blake wrote this poem, it was quite common to have children working as chimney sweepers. It worked, since they were small and could climb up into the chimneys to work. The cry "weep, weep" can be interpreted as a child's cry for work or, "sweep, sweep", but can also be taken as it's written. Who doesn't love ambiguity in poetry?
Children who worked as chimney sweeps generally didn't live to be much older than ten years old. There were no child labor laws at the time and there were plenty of poor people who had children, so, as I said, it was pretty common. I'm sure people didn't like it, so there were texts like this one that would pop up, but this poem was also a criticism of the church.
Blake was not a fan of institutionalized religion. In this poem, the child's parents are in church while he is outside in the snow. The parents are more concerned with their own appearance of piety and morality than they are with the welfare of their child.
The question would be, then, what is true piety? Is going to church each Sunday what makes a good Christian? Blake doesn't seem to think so. In fact, he openly challenges the church in several other of his "Experience" poems.
Check out the contrast between these two poems here: "The Divine Image" from Songs of Innocence, and "The Human Abstract" from Songs of Experience.
The Divine Image(Songs of Innocence)
To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
All pray in their distress;
An 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 dime
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 & Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.
The Human Abstract(Songs of Experience)
Pity would be no more,
If we did not make somebody Poor:
And Mercy no more could be,
If all were as happy as we;
And mutual fear brings peace;
Till the selfish loves increase.
Then Cruelty knits a snare,
And spreads his baits with care.
He sits down with holy fears,
And waters the ground with tears:
Then Humility takes its root
Underneath his foot.
Soon spreads the dismal shade
Of Mystery over his head;
And the Catterpiller and Fly,
Feed on the Mystery.
And it bears the fruit of Deceit,
Ruddy and sweet to eat;
And the Raven his nest has made
In its thickest shade.
The Gods of the earth and sea,
Sought thro' Nature to find this Tree
But their search was all in vain:
There grows one in the Human Brain
In the first poem, Blake attributes the virtues of Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love to the human form and gives God glory for creating humans in His own image.
The second poem also attributes these virtues to humans, but also implies that humans only have these characteristics through the suffering of others. It also says that humans have traits of Cruelty, Mystery, and Deceit. According to the poem, they also have Humility, but only because they have "holy fears." According to the poem, the characteristics of mankind are all there because of selfishness and self-absorption.
If there were no suffering, there could be no pity, nor could there be mercy. There could be no good without evil. Blake questions the core values of Christianity and of Western civilization in general. Reading these texts has raised a lot of questions for me, as well.
What is the true nature of good, and conversely, what is the nature of evil? If good can't exist without evil, then how can good truly be "good"? In John Milton's epic poem, "Paradise Lost", he describes the eviction of Satan from Heaven, the creation of the world, and the story of Adam and Eve's fall from grace and from Eden. The character of God is present in this poem as well, but with God being perfect, his presence in the poem is very bland. The antagonists of the poem, then, are Adam and Eve. However, the character of Satan appears as a kind of tragic hero.
A tragic hero, in literature, always has a tragic flaw which is something which makes the character seem attractive but also is the cause for the character's "fall from grace." Lucifer was one of God's best angels, but he was cocky and so he got kicked out. Then God created man in his own image and Lucifer, in an attempt to hurt God, changed man, so that God would have no choice but to evict man from Eden as well.
Much later, Jesus comes along so that man can be forgiven. But why can't God forgive Satan? Is it because Satan has become congruous with Evil? Is it because there must be evil for good to exist?
If anyone knows how to answer these questions, take a shot at it.
Now there's a tornado warning, so I have to go.
A couple of days ago, I was in my English class, and we were discussing some writing by William Blake. I don't know if any of you know who that is, but if you've ever heard of the "Innocence and Experience" poems... It's that guy. In class, however, we spent most of the time looking at this one:
01 THE Chimney Sweeper
02 A little black thing among the snow:
03 Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe!
04 Where are thy father & mother? say?
05 They are both gone up to the church to pray.
06 Because I was happy upon the heath,
07 And smil'd among the winters snow:
08 They clothed me in the clothes of death,
09 And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
10 And because I am happy, & dance & sing.
11 They think they have done me no injury;
12 And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King
13 Who make up a heaven of our misery.
During the time period in which Blake wrote this poem, it was quite common to have children working as chimney sweepers. It worked, since they were small and could climb up into the chimneys to work. The cry "weep, weep" can be interpreted as a child's cry for work or, "sweep, sweep", but can also be taken as it's written. Who doesn't love ambiguity in poetry?
Children who worked as chimney sweeps generally didn't live to be much older than ten years old. There were no child labor laws at the time and there were plenty of poor people who had children, so, as I said, it was pretty common. I'm sure people didn't like it, so there were texts like this one that would pop up, but this poem was also a criticism of the church.
Blake was not a fan of institutionalized religion. In this poem, the child's parents are in church while he is outside in the snow. The parents are more concerned with their own appearance of piety and morality than they are with the welfare of their child.
The question would be, then, what is true piety? Is going to church each Sunday what makes a good Christian? Blake doesn't seem to think so. In fact, he openly challenges the church in several other of his "Experience" poems.
Check out the contrast between these two poems here: "The Divine Image" from Songs of Innocence, and "The Human Abstract" from Songs of Experience.
The Divine Image(Songs of Innocence)
To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love
All pray in their distress;
An 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 dime
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 & Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.
The Human Abstract(Songs of Experience)
Pity would be no more,
If we did not make somebody Poor:
And Mercy no more could be,
If all were as happy as we;
And mutual fear brings peace;
Till the selfish loves increase.
Then Cruelty knits a snare,
And spreads his baits with care.
He sits down with holy fears,
And waters the ground with tears:
Then Humility takes its root
Underneath his foot.
Soon spreads the dismal shade
Of Mystery over his head;
And the Catterpiller and Fly,
Feed on the Mystery.
And it bears the fruit of Deceit,
Ruddy and sweet to eat;
And the Raven his nest has made
In its thickest shade.
The Gods of the earth and sea,
Sought thro' Nature to find this Tree
But their search was all in vain:
There grows one in the Human Brain
In the first poem, Blake attributes the virtues of Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love to the human form and gives God glory for creating humans in His own image.
The second poem also attributes these virtues to humans, but also implies that humans only have these characteristics through the suffering of others. It also says that humans have traits of Cruelty, Mystery, and Deceit. According to the poem, they also have Humility, but only because they have "holy fears." According to the poem, the characteristics of mankind are all there because of selfishness and self-absorption.
If there were no suffering, there could be no pity, nor could there be mercy. There could be no good without evil. Blake questions the core values of Christianity and of Western civilization in general. Reading these texts has raised a lot of questions for me, as well.
What is the true nature of good, and conversely, what is the nature of evil? If good can't exist without evil, then how can good truly be "good"? In John Milton's epic poem, "Paradise Lost", he describes the eviction of Satan from Heaven, the creation of the world, and the story of Adam and Eve's fall from grace and from Eden. The character of God is present in this poem as well, but with God being perfect, his presence in the poem is very bland. The antagonists of the poem, then, are Adam and Eve. However, the character of Satan appears as a kind of tragic hero.
A tragic hero, in literature, always has a tragic flaw which is something which makes the character seem attractive but also is the cause for the character's "fall from grace." Lucifer was one of God's best angels, but he was cocky and so he got kicked out. Then God created man in his own image and Lucifer, in an attempt to hurt God, changed man, so that God would have no choice but to evict man from Eden as well.
Much later, Jesus comes along so that man can be forgiven. But why can't God forgive Satan? Is it because Satan has become congruous with Evil? Is it because there must be evil for good to exist?
If anyone knows how to answer these questions, take a shot at it.
Now there's a tornado warning, so I have to go.