I need help developing the meaning behind William Blake's "The Divine Image."
PLEASE don't post the sparknotes summary and commentary. I've already read it. Didn't help.
I need to know the broader social implications of the poem, not just it's religious meaning. (Like, a political reading of the poem)
To Mercy, Pit, Peace, and Love,
All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness
For Mercy, Pit, Peace, and Love,
Is God, our Father dear;
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
Is Man, his child and care.
For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity, a human face;
And Love, the human form divine,,
And Peace, the human dress.
Then every man of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine:
Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.
And all must love the human form,
In heathen, Turk, or Jew.
Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.
Couple of things I've seen in the poem:
-shows God made in man's image, rather than the Bible's typical idea that man is in his image
- Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love IS God (not like God or are God)
- Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love IS man, his child and care (not sure what his child and care means..) but this ultimately equates man to God due to the transitive property
- Peace=Human dress.. not real important compared to others?
- Lacking "Peace" in the second to last line
- has a hymn like form
Dunno where to go from here.
PLEASE don't post the sparknotes summary and commentary. I've already read it. Didn't help.
I need to know the broader social implications of the poem, not just it's religious meaning. (Like, a political reading of the poem)
To Mercy, Pit, Peace, and Love,
All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness
For Mercy, Pit, Peace, and Love,
Is God, our Father dear;
And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
Is Man, his child and care.
For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity, a human face;
And Love, the human form divine,,
And Peace, the human dress.
Then every man of every clime,
That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine:
Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.
And all must love the human form,
In heathen, Turk, or Jew.
Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell
There God is dwelling too.
Couple of things I've seen in the poem:
-shows God made in man's image, rather than the Bible's typical idea that man is in his image
- Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love IS God (not like God or are God)
- Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love IS man, his child and care (not sure what his child and care means..) but this ultimately equates man to God due to the transitive property
- Peace=Human dress.. not real important compared to others?
- Lacking "Peace" in the second to last line
- has a hymn like form
Dunno where to go from here.