The Messages of William Blake about Heaven and Hell - Literature review Example

William Blake by 0 SECTION A These plates illustrate the messages of William Blake about Heaven and Hell. Specifically, Blake wants to reveal the message that heaven and hell, or good and evil, are actually complement each other. Moreover, through this, he criticizes conventional religion and its limitations. For example, in the second plate, Blake writes, “Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human Existence” (Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 2014). In fact, Blake clearly concludes in the text that “Good is the passive that obeys Reason [while] Evil is the active springing from Energy” (Blake, The Marriage, 2014). This and the aforementioned quote clearly mean two things: Good and Evil are different, but they rather complement each other in making up a meaningful whole, which translates to a meaningful human existence. Moreover, the second plate shows the image of a woman caught up in flames as well as two naked people kissing each other below the text. Somehow, this is rather illustrative of the glory and energy that Hell or Evil provides human existence. Swedenborg is also an essential element not only on the second plate but in the entire work of Blake as well as well as a great significance in the poet’s life. The second plate also mentions “Swedenborg,” particularly on the second plate in the lines “As a new heaven is begun, and it is now thirty-three years since its advent: the Eternal Hell revives. And lo! Swedenborg is the Angel sitting at the tomb” (Blake, The Marriage, 2014). This means that Swedenborg is actually someone whose writings, beliefs and philosophy may have become something that is actually either closely associated with the Devil or something somehow divorced from the teachings of the Christian Church. According to McCrossan and Lawrence (2007), Blake associated himself much with Swedenborg and his ideas, especially with the idea that 1757 – the year when Blake was born – was the year that Swedenborg said the Last Judgment occurred in the realms of the spiritual. Blake therefore borrowed the Christian mysticism of Swedenborg, his kaballah, as well as his occultist theories. In fact, even at the age of eight, Blake claimed visions of “a tree whose boughs were full of angels” but this must have been greatly inspired only by Swedenborg’s renowned ability to have extensive visions of the mystical (McCrossan & Lawrence, 2007). Thus, this could be the reason why Blake would sometimes mention Swedenborg’s name in his mystical and visionary works like The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. The third plate further supports the second. In this plate, one can see a man protecting a younger boy from the devil. However, somehow the section is entitled “The Voice of the Devil” because Blake presents three basic, well-known conventional ideas about the separation of the Body and Soul, and the separation of Good and Evil although he insists that Body and Soul, or Good and Evil, are complementary. The first three so-called sacred codes reveal the basic separation of Good/Soul and Evil/Body. Moreover, Blake here concludes to the degree to which Evil is condemned: “That God will torment Man in Eternity for following his Energies,” considering that “Energies” is equated with Evil (Blake, The Marriage, 2014). This must have been written to criticize the condemning nature of conventional Christian religion, which does not value the actual potential use of Evil. Moreover, Blake affirmatively states that the Contraries to the conventional statements on Good and Evil are also true. From this, he says that “Man has no Body distinct from his Soul,” which means that there is no separate soul from the body. Consequently, there is also therefore no separation between good and evil. Moreover, Blake emphasizes that “Energy is the only life” and that ultimately “Energy is Eternal Delight” (Blake, The Marriage, 2014). This actually does not only mean that Energy, which is equated as Evil, is in the same rank as Good, but that Evil itself – represented by Energy – is the “Eternal Delight” or the end result of all pleasure and the peak of all happiness. This means that the so-called Evil by the moralists actually turns out to be something which is similar to salvation. If the Christian meaning of salvation is Eternal Life with Christ and Eternal Happiness with God, then how different would it be from Blake’s “Eternal Delight,” which is the equivalent of Evil? Naturally, the point of Blake here is that both Good and Evil are just the same, and that Wisdom seems to be the recognition of the similarity between both. In the fourth and last plate, whose text corresponds to Blake’s Milton/Book The Second, clearly supports the theme of the previous texts, which is all about the unity between Good and Evil, and the great significance of Evil. In the fourth and last plate, the unity of the Contraries is once more emphasized, especially through the lines “There is a place where Contraries are equally true” and that it is called “Beulah” (Blake, Milton, 2014). This statement somehow does not literally mean that there is a geographical place like Beulah but that there is a realm in nature where the Contraries are paradoxically true, or a place where logic and reason are defied, and where both Good and Evil can actually be as real and morally right as each other. Moreover, it is also stated by Blake in several separate lines that there are just so many negative things in life that one has to embrace such as the “awful Family,” “the great Wars of Eternity,” and the terrible joy (Blake, Milton, 2014). Thus, these terrible things must actually all exist in reality. Moreover, if one were to base things on the dominion of Evil, then it would mean that actually Evil is necessary and significant. If the fourth plate were to complement the previous other three, then it would therefore mean that Good can never exist by itself and that it can never do without Evil. Lastly, one should observe the different versions of the covers of the plates in other URLs, and one should be able to find out that the illustrations are somehow very similar to each to other but only occurs in varying degrees of vividness of ink such as the section of “The Voice of the Devil,” with very dark ink in http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=mhh.f.illbk.04&java=no but a very light one used in http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=mhh.c.illbk.04&java=no. There are also varying degrees of shade and color in the covers of “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” in http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=mhh.i.illbk.01&java=no, http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=mhh.g.illbk.01&java=no and http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=mhh.d.illbk.01&java=no (“The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” 2014). However, in all three links, there are similar illustrations and there is a great emphasis on the burning flames located on the lower left side of the picture. Overall, with the similarities of the illustrations and texts and the variations in the texture, colors and shades, the fact remains that Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell has always remained the same and was never textually altered by other authors. It was perhaps, however, sold at different times and accommodated various types of readers who preferred varying shades of texts and illustrations. 2.0 SECTION B: What Evidence, if any, is there in his poetry that William Blake was a Christian? Some of Blake’s works show Christian elements. For example, in the “Introduction” part of Songs of Innocence, Blake writes “Pipe a song about a Lamb!/So I piped with merry [cheer],” what Blake means by “Lamb” could actually be Jesus Christ, who is considered by the Christian Church as the Lamb of God (“William Blake,” 2014). These particular lines actually somehow alludes to Christmas for there is “merry [cheer]” and there is a call to “pipe a song,” which is common among the shepherds of the ancient times. Moreover, in another instance in the Songs of Experience, Blake writes “Hear the voice of the Bard!/Who Present, Past and Future sees:/Whose ears have heard/The Holy Word/That walk’d among the ancient trees” (“William Blake,” 2014). The mention of “The Holy Word” in the stanza signifies the word of God. The lines of the poem somehow suggest that Blake takes on the role of the prophet and begins implying a sense of biblical authority to his readers in order for them to listen to him speak of spiritual matters. In another poem of Blake’s, “The Lamb,” the poet also makes subtle references to Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. Particularly, in the lines “For he calls himself a Lamb/He is meek & he is mild/He became a little child/I a child & thou a lamb” (Blake, “The Lamb,” 2014). The lines actually reveal the gentleness and meekness that Jesus Christ displayed as the Christian God and Savior. Moreover, what Blake wants to say here is that Jesus Christ lived the life of humility and that He was like a child in His ways and example. In the same way, the poem is a call for the Christian value of humility and is similar to the call for meekness in the Beatitudes of Christ, or the Sermon on the Mount, as stated in the Gospel of Matthew: “Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth” (Mt. 5:5, “The Sermon on the Mount,” 2014). From the Sermon on the Mount, or the Beatitudes, one can see the greatness of God’s kingdom that awaits whoever is meek and humble in his life. Blake also makes references to Christianity in his poem “The Tyger.” However, in this poem, Blake, as a good Christian, somehow wonders what kind of God could create such violence and terror. His curiosity and wonder shows in the lines: “When the stars threw down their spears/And water’d heaven with their tears/Did he smile his work to see?/Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” (Blake, “The Tyger,” 2014). The lines imply that Blake has previously had the idea of a loving and merciful God who commands peace, but the poet somehow wonders why God allows his creatures to cause violence and pain. Perhaps, Blake here is trying to comprehend the wisdom behind the Free Will that God has given all His creatures. The first two lines – “When the stars threw down their spears/And water’d heaven with their tears” – somehow signify some kind of violence that the tiger has in its nature (Blake, “The Tyger,” 2014). This is the reason why Blake then asks, “Did he smile his work to see?/Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” (Blake, “The Tyger,” 2014). This means that the poet is now wondering whether the God who made the Lamb that was so gentle is the same God who has made the tiger and the violence that comes with its nature. Perhaps, then Blake here is still learning, as all human beings do, whether God is a Creator of both Good and Evil. What he therefore does not realize here is something that he realizes in “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” as Blake now comprehends that there is actually nothing that binds the Contraries. After all, both Good and Evil are necessary, and that both the Lamb and the Tiger are complementary. Thus, through such references, one can see how William Blake demonstrates Christian principles. In Blake’s poem, “Holy Thursday,” he also mentions and implies various references to Christianity, specifically to Catholicism. Blake states, “’Twas on a Holy Thursday their innocent faces clean…Till into the high dome of Pauls they like Thames waters flow” (“William Blake,” 2014). These two lines somehow show a parade or procession of children who are going to hear mass at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. As Blake mentions “Holy Thursday,” he therefore implies that what the children are doing is merely their obligation to the Catholic religion, especially in their observance of the Lenten season. In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, somehow Blake illustrates that God is in all things. Particularly in the section “The Proverbs of Hell,” Blake emphasizes this rather pantheistic yet still truly Christian way of embracing all things: “The pride of the peacock is the glory of God/The lust of the goat is the bounty of God/The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God/The nakedness of woman is the work of God” (Blake, The Marriage, 2014). This means that as Jesus Christ embraced the lepers, the thief Zacchaeus, the prostitute Mary Magdalene, and the two thieves beside Him on the Cross, we should therefore also embrace those who commit the capital sins of pride, lust, wrath and nakedness. Perhaps, Blake saw the kindness of Jesus Christ in embracing whoever is unclean in order to spiritually transform them. Perhaps too, although Blake despised organized religion like Christianity or Catholicism, he believes that God Himself is pure and He is present in everything, both in the seemingly Good and in the seemingly Evil (Blake, The Marriage, 2014). Lastly, in “The First Book of Urizen,” Blake emphasizes the immutability and the eternal nature of the laws of God. The poet says, “And their children wept, & built/Tombs in the desolate places/And form’d laws of prudence, and call’d them/The eternal laws of God” (Blake, “The First Book of Urizen,” 2014). From these lines, one can see that Blake defines the laws of God as eternal and pure, as they are made by “children” or ones with pure hearts and intentions. The eternal nature of the laws of God is actually something that perhaps cannot be comprehended by the common man, and that perhaps the closest that Blake has got to is the idea that such eternal nature accepts the truth of the Contraries. REFERENCES Blake, W. (2014). “The First Book of Urizen.” Blake Archive, viewed 21 May 2014, Blake, W. (2014). “The Lamb.” Poets.org, viewed 20 May 2014, Blake, W. (2014). “The Tyger.” Harvard University, viewed 21 May 2014, Blake, W. (2014). The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Levity.com, viewed 18 May 2014, Blake, W. Milton/Book The Second. (2014). Wikisource, viewed 20 May 2014, Matthew. (2014). “The Sermon on the Mount.” Biblegateway, viewed 21 May 2014, McCrossan, F. & Lawrence, J. F. (2007). “William Blake: Glances on His Engagement with the Theosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg.” Swedenborgian Studies, viewed 20 May 2014, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.” (2014). Blake Archive, viewed 20 May 2014, “William Blake.” (2014). Poetry Foundation, viewed 20 May 2014, Read More