William Blake's Religion Essay
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BookRags Essay.............................................................................................................1
William Blake's Religion......................................................................................1
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BookRags Essay
William Blake's Religion
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BookRags Essay
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William Blake's Religion Essay
William Blake lived during a time of intense social change; the American Revolution,
the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution. These massive changes in
society provided Blake with one of the most dramatic outlooks in the transformation
of the Western world, the change from a feudal and agricultural society to one in
which philosophers and political thinkers, such as Locke, championed the rights of
individuals. In accordance with political changes, there were religious changes as well.
Religion was another aspect of society that Blake opposed because of its organized
practice. The practices of organized religion conflicted with Blake's view and
adherence. Organized religion and the shadows it casts upon the natural world are
corollary topics that William Blake addresses in his writings. The issues that Blake
discussed during his lifetime are still applicable to modern day society. In this essay,
we will analyze Blake's relevance to the modern world, with special respect to his
focus of individual freedom within a religious context.
As the title of the Songs of Innocence implies, the views offered here about religion
are very innocent and naive. Throughout the book, Blake shows us the world through
children's eyes. The view of religion he gives us in Songs of Innocence is no different.
The god of this book is merciful, kind, and gentle. For instance in the poem "The
Chimney Sweeper" it is an angel who "open'd the coffins & set them all free." To the
children in the poem, the thought of heaven is a great comfort because while they may
have to undergo an enormous amount of agony here on earth, when the get to heaven,
all their pain will be forgotten. This innocent vision is also reflected in the artwork of
this plate. An angel is releasing the soot-covered boys from their "coffins of black,"
and they are dancing away as they are released. The sky above them is blue, not black,
and healthy, green vegetation, grows around the text. This nice, naive view of religion
is seen throughout the Songs of Innocence, for here in this childhood fantasy land, this
never-never land, God is merciful and kind, and will free these poor children from the
miserable reality of their lives.
William Blake's Religion Essay
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William Blake's Religion Essay
In "The Little Boy Lost," from Songs of Innocence, Blake presents a young child,
representing the innocent mind, getting lost in the dark forest. The illustration at the
top of the page shows the little boy being led by a light or spirit of some kind, the
"vapour" that Blake makes reference to. The boy cries out to his "father," a
metaphorically religious father, but the priest is moving too fast for the boy and leaves
him behind to wander through the world alone.
In the following plate, "The Little Boy Found," Blake reconciles the negative image of
the priest and religion that was presented in the previous work. It begins by telling the
tale of the boy who got lost by following the "wandering light," representative of the
church's blinding standards for religion. God hears the boy's cries and comes to his
rescue "like his father in white." This could be referring to God appearing as a human
in the image of his father. God leads the child back to his mother. The mother had
been looking for her child who had been led off track by the misconception of the
"mind forged manacles" of religion. The illustration at the top of the plate shows the
little boy and a female figure, with halos, walking through the forest hand in hand.
This is symbolic of the insight man acquires through the natural path of life and
religion. Blake is making a statement about naturalism and the devoutness of all things
that organized religion can hinder.
In the Songs of Experience, however, Blake shows us his other view of religion by
giving us the hell to compliment the heaven motif. The view of religion throughout
this book is skeptical, and extremely untrusting.
The poem, "A Little Boy Lost," in Songs of Experience, deals with a little boy who
gets lost in a different manner than the abovementioned youth, but also attacks
religion for stunting natural growth and development. Blake begins the poem by
stating that it is not possible to love another as much as yourself, and believing that, is
the highest of all human functions. This sets the stage for Blake's attack on religion's
ideas of hierarchy and condemnation of rational thought. The next stanza describes the
boy asking God, indicated by the capitalized "Father," how he could love him or
another human more than a little bird picking up crumbs. The boy states that he loves
William Blake's Religion Essay
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William Blake's Religion Essay
God in and as much as a little bird. This echoes the naturalist ideas supported in the
aforementioned poems. Blake seems to be saying that the proper way to worship and
commune with God is by loving all natural beings, human and non-human. The priest,
a symbol of organized religion that Blake so sharply critiques, overhears what the boy
is saying and is infuriated by the idea that a person could worship God through nature,
without ritual, politics, or human involvement, and that the boy dares to use his mind
to question what he has been taught. The priest makes the boy a victim, preaching
from his high pedestal of pretentiousness, and burns the boy, despite the cries of his
family. The boy's curiosity and natural thinking have been stunted, and his
imagination bound in iron chains, almost like the "mind forged manacles" Blake refers
to in "London." Blake closes the poem by asking if such things are done in England, if
young, vulnerable minds are repressed by a rigid, authoritarian, and narrow-minded
education and religious system.
In both "The Little Boy Lost" and "The Little Boy Found" of Songs of Innocence and
"A Little Boy Lost" in Songs of Experience, William Blake criticizes organized
religion for misleading and repressing young minds. He supports finding God and
religion through the natural divinity of all living things. The harsh reaction of
organized religion to this idea is illustrated in the latter, "A Little Boy Lost," in which
the youth is actually burned for his rebellious thinking. The first set of poems tells of
the boy's lack of success in a religious system that did not seem to truly care about the
boy, and left him struggling. It then describes his introduction to God in the forest,
who brought him back to his mother, the earth, which showed him proper worship of
God through nature, not regimented ceremonial instruction. The second poem captures
organized religion's harsh reaction to this untraditional and rebellious thinking, and
destroys the boy for trying to reach outside of the accepted normal teachings.
Together, the poems show an evolution from Blake's dissatisfaction with organized
religion to an outright denunciation of its practices.
Another good example of Blake's critique of organized religion, is in "The Chimney
Sweeper," in Songs of Experience. The boy in the poem does not expect a merciful
angel to save him, but rather, he blames God, the church, and the King, for the misery,
William Blake's Religion Essay
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William Blake's Religion Essay
which he is forced to endure. At one point, he makes it clear that because he was
happy that his parents sold him into misery, and because he smiled and sang, "they
think they have done me no injury." The boy does not even seem to believe in heaven,
or at least he doesn't have the sweet, innocent, view that is portrayed in "The Chimney
Sweeper" from Songs of Innocence. In fact, he even says that it is God, the church,
and the king, which includes his parents and the rest of society, who "make up a
heaven of our misery."
Once again, the illustrations on the plate help to "illustrate" Blake's point. The boy is
seen walking through the blackened streets of London carrying his bag of soot.
Everything in the picture is gray and black, with hints of blue symbolizing the
diminished innocence and emulating Blake's dark attitude towards religion in the
poem. Another interesting detail is the look on the boy's face. He appears to be
smirking while looking up towards the heavens, which would insinuate a sarcastic
sense of gratitude. He is in effect grateful for "nothing."
Blake's dreary and contemptuous view of religion is reflected throughout Songs of
Experience, as the adults shatter the visions of those childhood memories. The
dream-like ideals are crushed by a harsher reality and the survivors are left with the
scars. He brings up the question of evil's existence, to quote "The Tyger," from Songs
of Experience: "Did he who make the lamb make thee"" In this example, the main
theme of religion is the question of how the sweet and gentle God of Innocence,
created or allowed the creation of the miseries that abound in Experience.
"The Tyger" is also another plate that is interesting to analyze in its art content. We
know that it is from the Songs of Experience, yet Blake makes the choice of using soft
pastel to accent this plate. The tiger is being compared to a lamb, which is white and
symbolically a pure and tranquil animal, so one would expect that Blake would depict
the tiger as the fearless, aggressive and intimidating creature it is. The passivity of the
animal is thus portrayed and it contrasts the language of the poem. In this sense, the
language is not only poetical, but the imagery as well.
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William Blake's Religion Essay
Blake also attacked conventional religion in other works beside the Songs. In The
Marriage of Heaven and Hell, in the "Proverbs of Hell," he wrote: "Prisons are built
with stones of Law, Brothels with bricks of Religion." The implication made here is
showing the sexual promiscuity of religion. We are familiar with this topic in modern
times. There have been many reports involving priests and acts of sexual abuse.
Religion preaches sex for reasons of procreation, but when the people in charge of
relaying God's word are not abiding, the whole notion becomes invalid. Moreso, the
idea of religion being something to abide by and live your life in accordance with
becomes worthless and illogical. Another proverb that demonstrates a similar idea is,
"As the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his
curse on the fairest joys." This proverb is making religion out to be an institution that
deprives happiness and frivolity, while giving nothing in return. Blake makes it a point
to pinpoint priests in particular. I think that he feels betrayed by humans who unlike
him, have made the conscious decision to devote their lives to something, but are
blinded by the hypocrisy involved.
Rather than accepting a traditional religion from an organized church, Blake designed
his own mythology, which appears to be based on the Bible and Greek mythology and
nature. Blake's religion was based on that of joy of man and nature, which he believed
glorified God. However, Blake cautioned his reading audience from deceiving
themselves with their own personal ideas. In "The Little Black Boy" from Songs of
Innocence, describes a young black male, who is just becoming aware of the societal
differences between himself and an English child. He uses his mother's legends, which
he takes to be truths, to explain the possible solution for him and the English boy to
live in unison and feel affection for one another.
In looking at the `big picture," we have the example of Blake's disapproval of the
changes that happened during his lifetime, as is evident in his poem "London," from
Songs of Experience. "London," which many consider the essence of the "experience"
that Blake is describing, describes the woes that the Industrial revolution imposed
upon men who were used to the cultivation of their land, not machinery. The narrator
in "London" describes both the Thames and the city streets as "chartered," or in other
William Blake's Religion Essay
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William Blake's Religion Essay
words, they are controlled by commercial and mercantile interests. The reference to
the "mind forged manacles" further reiterates that even normal human processes are
affected by this industrialization. People in Blake's time were not happy with the
changes occurring as is evident with their "Marks of weakness, marks of woe." Blake
does not suggest that this is something felt by a small population, but by every man, as
he discusses the "every cry of every Man." Even the infants feel the depression and
suppression as is heard in "every Infant's cry of fear." Blake connects the institution of
marriage with death when he refers to the "marriage hearse" and describes it as
"blighted with plague." He also talks about "the hapless Soldiers sigh" and the
"youthful Harlot's curse." Blake also touches on a topic that we already examined at
length, the "blackening churches" and palaces running with blood. "London" shows
that Blake did not completely approve of the measures taken to promote the causes he
longed to advance. The reference to the soldiers and blood may in fact be a reference
to the storming of the Bastille and the executions of the French nobility during the
French Revolution.
"London" and many of Blake's other works dealing with a similar theme, particularly
those from Songs of Experience, strike an accord with those who are living in a
society where the cost of living compared with income is steadily increasing. People
who are living in our society where AIDS and other fatal diseases are becoming more
and more common can relate to the misery, weariness and hopelessness felt by the
people during Blake's time. In our society, people have also become increasingly
disillusioned and untrusting of the reliability of politicians. Blake's works resonate for
a society, which deals with the exponentially growing population problems and issues
of high mortality rates. His work also strikes a chord with a nation that has to deal
with the increase of violent crime, poverty, and destitution. We have become a nation
accustomed to the "marks of woe" from passers-by.
Blake relates to modern day's conception of religion in his emphasis upon science as a
tool of understanding. Blake lived through the Industrial Revolution and we are living
in the Information Revolution, meaning the internet and other such technological
advances. Blake lived in a time when greedy upper class capitalists exploited the
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William Blake's Religion Essay
working class for personal profit and we are living in a time where the nuclear family,
with the one working parent and the one stay at home parent, is almost becoming
obsolete. Both parents need to work in order to keep up with the increasing living
expenses. Blake was around during the time of deism, a faith that denied any direct
experience with God, in which the minds of the more intellectual people were
fascinated. In our modern times, many people have denounced religion in search of a
more tangible resource. William Blake's personal beliefs in defining the individuals
search for freedom offers as much in context today, as it did back then. The new
question of whether or not Blake's contribution will be enough to save our television,
internet and cellular phone pop culture, is another question altogether.
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