Blake’s description of ancient man/God as “Angel & Spirit & Demon” personifies the complexities of the battle many people of the revolutions, both American and French, fought as they faced their oppressors. The strength to find the humanity for those who were inhumane and neglectful was hard for many people to muster up during the days of the French Revolution. Blake, though an Englishman, felt the crunch of this oppression after he had been arrested and tried for several injustices. Although he was later acquitted of these injustices, his sentiment toward the French revolution and against the English status quo grew fervently.
One would believe that, because of Blake’s background, All Religions Are One would be filled with disdain of his country and men. To the contrary, one is left wondering if Blake truly embraces the often idealistic speak of man as the Poetic Genius, or if he uses it to pounce on the heads of those that do.
I believe the latter, because the “wilderness” Blake/narrator cries from does not seem like a place of torment lacking resources, but a realm of thought outside the reality that is quite heavenly. He doesn’t speak with the voice of a mere mortal or extraordinary prophet, but with the voice of God himself. Thus, making the line, “So all religions: & as all similiars have one source, the true Man is the source, he being the Poetic Genius,” seem like homage to himself or his inner God.
This moment is a window into Blake’s view of man and how man is to be treated: if we are all “similiars” from one origin, then we should have similar-if not equal-rights. But being that Blake had suffered such cruelties by the hand of his government is reason to believe that he reserved the hope for “similar rights” for all men as a realm for the “innocence” of the naiveté.
I believe All Religions Are One is Blake’s written understanding that it is humans' simplest nature, regardless of religious subscription, to believe that good, bright or dim, overshadows evil; and it is also human nature to make the choice between the two. It is the uncertainty of those choices and the human will that creates an imbalance in others to believe a friend to be a possible foe, and offer the idea of suppression in the midst of revolution. The description of uncertainty so pure is the reason All Religions Are One is a new love of mine.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Chrishon,
Good job on your first blog posting, especially considering the challenging poet and text you chose to discuss. I think your observations are most compelling when you base them in specific quoted examples from the text. Please try to do more of that in subsequent posts, and rely a bit less on generalizations on and paraphrases of the text you are discussing. With all of these poets, but especially with Blake, to put his writing in your own words is to move away from his ideas and to provide a shaky basis for your analysis.
Good first start, though, and I look forward to reading your next postings!
In my opinion, I think you did a good job in your analysis of such a complex and complicated poet as William Blake. Even though I did not focus on this poem of Blake, "All Religions are One", you have made some very important observantions. You had stated that if we are all "similiars" from one origin, then we should have similar-if not equal- rights. I do agree with you to an extent that we are born similar but I think that our experiences have shaped and mold us into different individuals. Yes, Blake had suffered such cruelties by the hand of his government because he is always going against the status quo of his time. He was very controversal, not to say that this bad, which at times allows him to end up on the wrong side of the fence.
I look forward to reading your other blogs.
In your post, I liked how you incorporated Blake's life and times along with his poem "All Religions are One". It made the text less daunting to be able to understand where Blake was coming from. I also agreed with your views that as all people are from the same origins, we should all have equal-rights.
I found your analysis extremely thorough! It helped me reach a better understanding of this text, and I'm very appreciative of that. I found it very difficult to interpret, so you were a great help. :)
Post a Comment