William Blake's All Religions Are One

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.

My name is Chrishon Sims, and I am a M.A.T candidate at Mercer University in Atlanta. I am taking this course to fulfill a teaching certification requirement before I graduate next year, and I want to brush up on my literature knowledge.

I am very excited to participate in this online course, because I want to see how challenging it will be for me. Hopefully, this class will be exciting and intriguing. I hope to meet new people who like literature as much as I do.