William Blake
The Human Abstract
From 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 caterpillar 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 through nature to find this tree,
But their search was all in vain:
There grows one in the human Brain.
Feel free to do a comment and appreciation on this piece and share with me your thoughts on this...
3 Comments:
Yeah... yeah.. yeah.. me first me first!!! Ok wait, I got excited I forgot what's all this is about. hhmmm, yes, humans are a bunch of back stabbing, corrupted, unpure shitheads. I think that's about it. DAmn it I cant remember what's all this is about.
The Human Abstract
1st Stanza
? If there are no poor people there is no need/room for pity
? If everybody is happy there is no need for mercy
? Rational, beyond the surface,
? Calculating - like politicians, Logical Reasoning
2nd Stanza
? Instils fear like the use of nuclear weapons in modern society
? Flawed reasoning that mutual fear brings peace
? However the Peace that they get is tenuous, temporal, unstable, shaky
? Snare -Trap
? Extended metaphor -- Whole Stanza describes something, its characteristics, behaviour using a metaphor in this case it is a Hunter.
? Line 7 Hunter setting a trap(Sly, Scheming, Cunning)
? The Hunter is like a cowardly predator that preys on the weaker, the helpless defenceless, unwary, ignorant
? Therefore this makes Humans Cruel (Seen also in the Chimney Sweeper - the boss enslaves young children who are helpless and defenceless to make use of them and represses them. The Poison Tree - The persona waters his seeds of wrath (like a farmer) and it grows, "nutrients" provided for it by the persona's hatred.
? Secrecy of the motives makes the actions corrupted.
? Repression of others condemns you as a person as well as not treating the other party as a human.
? There must be openness in society not secrecy, and make others fear you
? Monarchy -- apprehensive, fearful and worried that the society will go against them, therefore they suppress the people and censor public views
? In Blake's times there were the secret police and there was a reign of terror for the people living in those times.
3rd Stanza
? Gardener -- Holy Fears -- Fear of the Clerical authority (e.g.: The Garden of Love " Thou Shalt Not") The society rigidly abide to the rules.
? Fear - Censored, violating social; conventions
? Tears - Fear, frustration, exasperation perhaps because they are unable to meet to the society's expectations and feel extremely tired
? The Victim feels that he is a Victim Of Consequences the tears may be of self-pity, Hypocritical Tears, manipulated by Society, upset with the present situation but does nothing to resolve the present situation.
? There is a Public Show of Morality, repentant but are doing actions contrary to the social conventions ( My Pretty Rose Tree - the Heart entertains other thoughts )
? There is a dichotomy within the inner outer self
? The Humility shown is not true, false pretence, false modesty Coyness (The Lily - ".. The rose puts forth a thorn…" therefore this is not a virtue (humility) but hypocrisy.
4th Stanza
? Roots-Humility ; Shade - dismal, spreads a canopy of darkness, gloomy and bleak
( shows that the persona's life is filled with moral darkness, spiritual darkness, moral
bankruptcy, labours cruel thoughts, spiritual poverty --- all these due to hypocrisy
? The persona is spiritually impoverished
? Mystery refers to the organised religion and morality
? The people are living the life of hypocrisy and falsity as dictated by the religion
? Fly/Caterpillar are parasites and in this case they are the priests( they are the epitome of the moral darkness, hypocrisy…… Human incarnations of these pests and parasites
? Raven-- the bearer of Bad News. Death in Faith or religion in this case of the priest as they are the agents of Death and they are morally Dead.
? Fruit of deceit -- Lie, Falsity, and secrecy attractive but evil inside
? Evil exists within man rather than the outside
WTH this analysis is the oldest file i have in my comp 13 oct 1999..
Close to 6 yrs ago MAN...
O_O
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