20 In its thickest shade.
The Gods of the earth and sea, Sought thro' Nature to find this Tree, But their search was all in vain: There grows one in the Human Brain.
1790-92 1794
Infant Sorrow
My mother groand! my father wept. Into the dangerous world I leapt, Helpless, naked, piping loud; Like a fiend hid in a cloud.
5 Struggling in my father's hands, Striving against my swadling bands; Bound and weary I thought best To sulk upon my mother's breast.
1794
1. The matched contrary to 'The Divine Image' in represented as possible marks for exploitation, cru- Songs of Innocence. The virtues of the earlier elty, conflict, and hypocritical humility, poem, 'Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,' are now
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96 / WILLIAM BLAKE
A Poison Tree
I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow.
5 And I waterd it in fears, Night & morning with my tears; And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night,
10 Till it bore an apple bright. And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew that it was mine,
And into my garden stole, When the night had veild the pole; 15 In the morning glad I see My foe outstretchd beneath the tree.
1794
To Tirzah1 Whate'er is Born of Mortal Birth Must be consumed with the Earth To rise from Generation free; Then what have I to do with thee?2 5 The Sexes sprung from Shame & Pride, Blow'd0 in the morn, in evening died; But Mercy changd Death into Sleep; The Sexes rose to work & weep. blossomed 10Thou, Mother of my Mortal part, With cruelty didst mould my Heart, And with false self-deceiving tears Didst bind my Nostrils, Eyes, & Ears. 15Didst close my Tongue in senseless clay And me to Mortal Life betray. The Death of Jesus set me free; Then what have I to do with thee? ca. 1805
1. Tirzah was the capital of the northern kingdom as the mother?in the realm of material nature and of Israel and is conceived by Blake in opposition to 'Generation'?of the mortal body, with its restric- Jerusalem, capital of the southern kingdom of tive senses. Judah, whose tribes had been redeemed from cap-2. Echoing the words of Christ to his mother at tivity. In this poem, which was added to late ver-the marriage in Cana, John 2.4: 'Woman, what sions of Songs of Experience, Tirzah is represented have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.'
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THE BOOK OF THEL / 97
A Divine Image1
Cruelty has a Human Heart
And Jealousy a Human Face,
Terror, the Human Form Divine,
And Secrecy, the Human Dress.
5 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.0 maw, stomach
1790-91
Th e Boo k of The l Although Blake dated the etched poem 1789, its composition probably extended to 1791, so that he was working on it at the time he was writing the Songs of Innocence and some of the Songs of Experience. The Book of Thel treats the same two 'states'; now, however, Blake employs the narrative instead of the lyrical mode and embodies aspects of the developing myth that was fully enacted in his later prophetic books. And like the major prophecies, this poem is written in the fourteener, a long line of seven stresses.
The name Thel possibly derives from the Greek word for 'wish' or 'will' and may be intended to suggest the failure of desire, because of timidity, to fulfill itself. Thel is represented as a virgin dwelling in the Vales of Har, which seems equivalent to the sheltered state of pastoral peace and innocence in Blake's Songs of Innocence. Here, however, Thel feels useless and unfulfilled, and appeals for comfort, unavailingly, to various beings who are contented with their roles in Har. Finally, the Clay invites Thel to try the experiment of assuming embodied life. Part 4 (plate 6) expresses the brutal shock of the revelation to Thel of the experience of sexual desire?a revelation from which she flees in terror back to her sheltered, if unsatisfying, existence in Har.
Some commentators propose that Thel is an unborn soul who rejects the ordeal of an embodied life in the material world. Others propose that Thel is a human virgin who shrinks from experiencing a life of adult sexuality. It is possible, however, to read Blake's little myth as comprehending both these areas of significance. The reader does not need to know Blake's mythology inside and out to recognize the broad symbolic reach of this poem in ordinary human experience?the elemental failure of nerve to meet the challenge of life as it is, the timid incapacity to risk
