From Auguries of Innocence we read:
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
If you know this you know Blake, and you know Life.
Joy is related to Innocence and woe to experiene.
Innocence:
Everyone loves a baby; do you wonder why? Because there's no hate:
SONGS 25 Infant Joy I have no name I am but two days old.-- What shall I call thee? I happy am Joy is my name,-- Sweet joy befall thee! Pretty joy! Sweet joy but two days old, Sweet joy I call thee; Thou dost smile. I sing the while Sweet joy befall thee.
Experience:
Enion's Laments are highlights ot 4Z.
In The Four Zoas at Erdman page 326 we read: I have planted a false oath in the earth, it has brought forth a poison tree I have chosen the serpent for a councellor & the dog For a schoolmaster to my children I have blotted out from light & living the dove & nightingale And I have caused the earth worm to beg from door to door I have taught the thief a secret path into the house of the just I have taught pale artifice to spread his nets upon the morning My heavens are brass my earth is iron my moon a clod of clay My sun a pestilence burning at noon & a vapour of death in night What is the price of Experience do men buy it for a song Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No it is bought with the price Of all that a man hath his house his wife his children Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy And in the witherd field where the farmer plows for bread in vain It is an easy thing to triumph in the summers sun And in the vintage & to sing on the waggon loaded with corn It is an easy thing to talk of patience to the afflicted To speak the laws of prudence to the houseless wanderer To listen to the hungry ravens cry in wintry season When the red blood is filld with wine & with the marrow of lambs It is an easy thing to laugh at wrathful elements To hear the dog howl at the wintry door, the ox in the slaughter house moan To see a god on every wind & a blessing on every blast To hear sounds of love in the thunder storm that destroys our enemies house To rejoice in the blight that covers his field, & the sickness that cuts off his children While our olive & vine sing & laugh round our door & our children bring fruits & flowers Then the groan & the dolor are quite forgotten & the slave grinding at the mill And the captive in chains & the poor in the prison, & the soldier in the field When the shatterd bone hath laid him groaning among the happier dead It is an easy thing to rejoice in the tents of prosperity Thus could I sing & thus rejoice, but it is not so with me!
(Erdman 36-37)
Blake's Songs of Experience are the contraries of most of the Songs of Innocence:
SONGS 55 A DIVINE IMAGE [An early Song of Experience included in one late copy] Cruelty has a Human Heart And Jealousy a Human Face Terror, the Human Form Divine And Secrecy, the Human Dress The Human Dress, is forged Iron The Human Form, a fiery Forge. The Human Face, a Furnace seal'd The Human Heart, its hungry Gorge.
Rosenwald Library of Congress Gates of Paradise |
My Son! my Son! thou treatest me But as I have instructed thee 9 On the shadows of the Moon Climbing thro Nights highest noon 10 In Times Ocean falling drownd In Aged Ignorance profound 11 Holy & cold I clipd the Wings Of all Sublunary Things 12 And in depths of my Dungeons Closed the Father & the Sons(Erdman 268)
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