Full Title: What impression do you receive from the Songs of Blake’s own religious beliefs?

Blake’s “Songs of Innocence and Experience” provide us with two – usually contrasting – views on an issue or theme. Religion has also been dealt with in this way. Typically, his Songs of Innocence reflect more of his own unorthodox views on religion, whilst those of Experience show his opinion of organised religion as it was in his life. Blake’s poems also use symbolism and imagery as a further means to convey his message.

“The Divine Image”, a Song of Innocence, relates the human characteristics of “Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love” to those that represent God himself. Therefore Blake suggests that wherever mankind shows these attributes, he is worshipping or honouring God’s name, “There God is dwelling too”. It is even suggested that the “human form” itself is “divine”. Blake seems to suggest that man can be Godlike himself, provided he shows the qualities of “Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love”. The capitalisation used in this line and frequent repetition emphasises its importance within the poem. The use of capitals also forms a similarity between the words themselves and the word God, implying that the words themselves are divine in nature. Blake’s urge of tolerance in the poem is extended with the line “All must love the human form / In heathen, turk or jew.” which would have seemed quite controversial at the time. Despite the Bible preaching a message of tolerance and neighbourly love, orthodox Christians of the time would probably have seen nothing to “love” in the heathen. Thus Blake portrays his own unorthodox views on religion in this unhidden way, saying that all men can achieve their own divinity by being merciful, peaceful and loving towards others.

“The Lamb”, another Song of Innocence supports these views that God created innocence and and in it lies holiness. Blake writes the poem from the perspective of a child, explaining to The Lamb who created it. Blake suggests that humanity, the Lamb and Jesus all bear the same name. “I a child & thou a lamb. / We are called by his name”. This emphasises Blake’s ideas that man is divine in his own way. Again, throughout the poem innocent vocabulary and a pastoral scene is created, “By the stream & o’er the mead”. This shows Blake’s infatuation with nature’s beauty and its links with the holy and divine, hinting that he may have some belief in nature worship and the holiness contained in innocence.

The idea of “Pity” is transformed in the poem “The Human Abstract”, a Song of Experience. The title of this poem tells us that Blake is attempting to summarise the human character. The opening lines of this poem suggest how false our sense of pity is and how it would not exist if “we did not make somebody Poor”. This echo of “The Divine Image” continues when Blake explains that mercy would also not exist “If all were as happy as we” and that loves are “selfish”. These ideas contradict the simple notions in his previous poem, questioning how worthy they are. This reinforces the Innocence shown in “The Divine Image”, contrasting with the Experience brought in by reflection in “The Human Abstract”. This causes us to question whether either of the poems represents Blake’s true ideas on religion, or whether he understands that an element of both experience and innocence is needed for an informed opinion.

The personification of “Cruelty” in “The Human Abstract” leads us to imagine humanity as a single cruel being. “He” then sits and cries false tears, produced by “holy fears”, which causes “Humility” to take root. This metaphor is continued as an image builds of false humility as a tree, casting it’s “dismal shade” over man. In this, Blake’s symbolism suggests that the tree under the shade of which we sit, is orthodox religion. The “Catterpiller” mentioned as feeding off of this tree is symbolic of priests and religious figures. The religious connotations of the image produced (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Genesis) are extended when the tree is said to “bear the fruit of Deceit”. Blake suggests that this deceit produced by the church is eaten and taken in by mankind. The symbolism continues as the “Raven” is said to have made its nest in the thickest part of the tree. Raven’s are traditionally feared creatures which Blake commonly associates with “Experience” and the darker elements of life. This reinforces Blake’s opinion that nothing borne from the tree can be of any innocent value or good.

The final stanza of “The Human Abstract” mentions the “Gods of the earth and sea”, a reference to mythology and nature God’s which the church of the time attempted to surpress. Blake goes on to suggest that the aforementioned tree, bearing deceit and formed of false humility grows in every “Human Brain”.

The illustrations Blake created for each poem clarify the images which his words summon. The figure seen emerging under the shade of the tree in “The Human Abstract” clearly represents a mythological God, probably Poseidon, “God[s] of the… sea”. However, interestingly, the colours used in the illustration are very bright and cheerful. Simple greens have been used for the floral parts of “The Divine Image”‘s illustration, contrasting with the dead brown used in the apparently decaying tree of “The Human Abstract”. This further emphasises which views Blake himself is most likely to agree with and hold.

In conclusion, through the poem “The Divine Image”, Blake has displayed a simplistic view that showing the divine virtues of “Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love” with lead you to heaven and happiness. This, and the idea of nature bearing links to divinity, is explored further in his poem “The Lamb”. In “The Human Abstract” Blake warns against the false showing of the attributes mentioned in “The Divine Image”, and how the orthodox church of the time may engineer society to induce them: by keeping “somebody Poor”, the feelings of pity can continue and by keeping others unhappy we can always feel merciful. The symbolism used in this piece emphasises his distaste of orthodox religion and heightens our sense that Blake values innocence and simplicity in worship.

_{Grade achieved: B}

_{Teacher’s comments: Very narrow sphere of reference, but still some incisive comments.}

_{References: “Songs of Innocence and of Experience” by William Blake.}