William Blake – pt 2

The Divine Image

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, & Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.

17 thoughts on “William Blake – pt 2”

  1. I know nothing of Blake, but cor blimey Claire, that’s a bit heavy for a Monday morning!

  4. Sheona, enlighten me, how is this appropriate and to what? I genuinely know nothing of Blake and can’t see any relevance to anything!

  5. Thinking of the discussion on the “I’m not dead” thread, cuprum, and comments that have been made about the so-called religion of peace, it seemed to, me at least, appropriate to be reminded of some of the Christian virtues. I do find it hard to believe that mercy, love and pity dwell in many adherents of Islam. The Koran doesn’t make a bit thing of such attributes. The fact that the poet was William Blake is not, I think, relevant here. But that’s just my opinion.

  6. Oh I see, thank you, I understand the link.

    Careful, the Islamists will stone you for having that opinion. Just like the Jews and christians used to do to non-believers. What it be slightly contentious of me to point out that those attributes are found a plenty in agnostics and atheists alike, and most probably, the vast majority of Muslims? (Bearsy and others will disagree with the latter part, and you the former, so I guess I’m in a minority there!)

    I have had a quick look at what the devil Wiki says about Blake, a little out of my league I suspect, but I feel a little better informed, so thank you. 🙂

  7. Why should agnostics and atheists not possess such virtues? They seem humanist to me; it’s just that Christianity was around before Humanism. Definitely not sure about the “vast majority of Muslims” though, cuprum. The fact that you think some of them would stone me suggests that there might be a shortage of mercy, pity, etc though obviously Islamists are not “true Muslims” and are in fact “very naughty boys” according to the usual apologists.

    I thought stoning was a punishment reserved for criminals under Jewish law. Judaism is not a proselytizing religion, so I wouldn’t have thought they worried about non-believers. I would be interested to know when and where Christians stoned non-believers. Do you mean the work of the Inquisition and their “auto da fe”?

  8. I think stoning was reserved for adulteresses in Judaism – and carried over to Islam. I’m not sure that it was ever used for non-believers by Judaism, Christianity or Islam.

    It’s not widely known that Judaism was a proselytising religion. It was exceedingly successful and it’s reckoned that by the first century AD, some 10% of the Roman Empire followed that faith. In the 4th C it became a capital offence to convert to that religion. There are some Jewish Rabbis who think that they should renew that mission.

    Christianity was the most intolerant of of all religions – with a creed that “if you aren’t with us you’re against us”. But they seem to have grown up over the last few centuries… and no longer consider that the admonition to “Be a Light Unto the World” means using bonfires of non-believers and dissenters as that illumination.

    Islam needs to grow up, too. And it won’t do that unless the rest of the world, of whatever creed or philosophy, makes it very clear that Islam’s attitude towards non-believers and women needs to change.

    The last verse of this poem is a good starting point…

  9. Thanks for the information, Boadicea. That is the point, isn’t it, that other religions have adapted to changing times and Islam is still stuck in the 8th century.

  10. Thank you for your comments/insight. Maybe it is a bit heavy…but I wanted to show the ‘other side’ of the darker, bleaker poem that I posted a few days ago. For every Blake that shows terror, cruelty, darkness – in the Songs of Experience – there is an equivalent; a polar opposite, in the Songs of Innocence. As in the other poem, you have constant repetition, personification of abstract nouns, simple rhyme and meter – but here used to opposite effect. Personally speaking, I find this one riddled with cliches,like a hymn. But as to which one is the ‘right one’; I think the answer is neither, since Blake believed that states of antithesis were not only natural, but essential to the human condition.

  12. Avec plaisir, Sheona. I have to confess that you have given me a completely different perspective on this, since I was so obsessed with the figurative language and the symbolism that I hadn’t seen the relevance to anything else. Ivory towers and all that 😉

  13. Sheona, “Christianity was around before Humanism.” With a capital ‘H’ perhaps, but the ideology of humnaism was ceratinly around long before.

  14. Sheona and Boa, thank you for the more accurate debate and points, I was really trying to be a little flippant and it didn’t work! All Iwas trying to point out was, IMVHO, all religions are the same. I chose the wrong way to say it! Stuck in 8th C or not, it makes the sames mistakes as other mainstream religions.
    As for Blake – not my cup of tea!

  16. I can’t keep that sort of thing up, Pseu. I wanted to get some of Plum Tart’s elegance and vim, but instead ended up like the thong with the luminous pose 😉

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