William Blake As A Mystic Poet

William Blake as a Mystic
Poet
William Blake was born in London, 1757. In his childhood he saw
some dreams about bright angels. He saw the earth and the air full
of angels in manhood. He claimed that he was prophet as he said
that God Himself bestowed him with guidance to write his
poetry .Osmond calls him ‘one of the greatest of English
mystics and, perhaps, the greatest poet among English
mystics.’ The Songs of Innocence, The Book of Thel, The
Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Gates of Paradise and The
Vision of the Daughters of Albion brought about his fair fame as a
mystic.
He is not a conventional mystic. The world of sense is not in his

bad book. He comes to grief about evil but does not shed tears.
Unlike other mystics he is not a melancholy poet and does not
keep himself from the joys of life. He says that in the world, in
which some people are born to enjoy sweet delight and some are
born to bear endless night, joy and grief are the part and parcel of
the life.
Blake sees the whole world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild
flower. He feels that infinity and eternity are the matters of
perception which can only be achieved within a hour. If one can
see infinity in anything can see the God. And this is the purpose of
his poetry. As he says:
‘To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes
Of-man inwards into the Worlds of
Thought, into eternity’
Blake has selected his symbols from bible. Shepherd is the symbol
of God, the child is the symbol of Christ, and lamb is the symbol of
innocence. Furthermore the child and the lamb represent two very
important stages of Christ’s life which
are Incarnation and Redemption. God came to earth in the
body of Jesus Christ. In the child we can see the existence of both
the God and human nature. In the age of Redemption Christ
sacrificed himself to save mankind from sin. In the lamb we can
see similar kind of sacrifice. He believes that there is great
similarity between the man and God. As he says: ‘God is Man
and exists in us and we in him…Imagination is the Divine
Body in every man.’ Blake also thinks that mystical union with
God is similar to that of an act of uniting two friends. The friend is
supposed to behave in a friendly manner through ignoring the evil
activities of the friend in past.
‘I am not a God afar off, I am a brother and friend;

Within your bosoms I reside, and you reside in me’
According to Blake’s perception the God is creator and saviour of

the mankind. He saves His child when the child is wet with dew of
materialism and brings him back to the world of innocence. In the
poem ‘The Lamb’ Christ comes in a child and asks questions from
a lamb that who has made him, who gives him the food, who has
bestowed upon him the innocence which is shown by his white
wool and voice? And at the end the child himself gives the answer
to the questions that the god has made them and they both are
called by His name. In the poem ‘The Divine Image’ he says that
man is manifestation of the God. As mercy, pity, peace and love
are the divine qualities but these are also present man. His heart is
made up of mercy, his face shows pity, love is human’s divine form
and his dress is peace.
‘For Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love,
Is God our Father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love,
Is man, His child and care.’
Blake believes that he is exceptional man who can see beyond this
world of illusions. He believes in external nature which cannot be
perceived by five senses. He considers the imagination is holy.
Blake through his mystical approach delineates a terrible portrait
of the evil which is responsible of oppression for the innocent with
their cruelty and hatred. In the poem ‘Night’ he depicts that the
Angels try to keep calm any creature which is weeping. And when
lions and wolfs kill some animals for their food they come to pine
for it. Angels deliver that killed animals to the eternal world where
the lion use to shed the tears of sympathy and it is so intimate with
the sheep and lambs and walks harmlessly.
In the poem ‘The Little Black Boy’, a black child tells a white child
who use to look down upon him because of his black colour that in
the world hereafter after having God’s blessing there will be no
hatred between them. The black boy does not think that God will
punish the white child.
‘When I from black and he from white cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy.’
Blake paints an ideal world in which there is nobody to cause harm

to other and everyone is fully conscious to him duty, as he says ‘So
if all do their duty, they need not harm’. In the poem ‘The
Divine Image’ he considers man as the manifestation of God, so
there is no place for hatred on the bases of colour and nation.
Black in his world of mysticism does not neglect animals. He gives

them the same freedom which he wishes for mankind. He believes
that if any horse is misused on the road will cause God’s anger and
it will be responsible of bloodshed of mankind. And if a dog dies at
its owner’s house then it will bring the whole state to ruin. He does
not bear any cruelty to animals. As he says :
‘A Robin Redbreast in a Cage
Pull all Heaven in a Rage.’
Blake does support theocracy and priest-craft is in his bad book.

According to him it was priest who added to the misery of the
world by distorting the picture the God. He is also angry with
kings when they make onslaught on some poor nation. He depicts
that the use of power is good for nothing. Only hermit’s prayer and
widow’s tear can free the world from fear.
Blake was not famous in his life because people considered him
that he was mad. But each the philosophy was described by him
was beyond ordinary perception and had great vitality. He
described deep and profound phenomenon of life which impressed
all the rest of critics. The sublimity of his perception influenced
other poets of romantic age, though he was not a press button for
romantic movement. His believe in God made him optimistic
about the life in this world, so readers were attracted to him poetry
after his death.
Unlike the conception of non-believing, that believe in God makes
one dull-minded and pessimistic, Blake is not suffering from such
kind of disorders. By dint of his profound vision depiction of love
for everyone, he holds glorious position among all English poets.
Reference:
· Songs of Innocence(1789).
· Songs of Experience.
· Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1973)
· The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.
· Madness and Mysticism in the Poetry of William Blake (Matthew

Landis • July 21st, 2003)
· A Comparative Study of Jalal-Ud-Din Rumi and William Blake as

Mystical Poets (Sardar Muhammad)
· Blake’s Mysticism and Symbolism with Special Reference to the

Lamb and the Tyger (Ashesava Mazumdar)

William Blake As A Mystic Poet

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

William Blake As A Mystic Poet

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

William Blake As A Mystic Poet

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

William Blake as a Mystic

He is not a conventional mystic. The world of sense is not in his

‘To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes

Of-man inwards into the Worlds of

Thought, into eternity’

‘I am not a God afar off, I am a brother and friend;

According to Blake’s perception the God is creator and saviour of

‘For Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love,

Is God our Father dear,

And Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love,

Is man, His child and care.’

‘When I from black and he from white cloud free,

And round the tent of God like lambs we joy.’

Blake paints an ideal world in which there is nobody to cause harm

Black in his world of mysticism does not neglect animals. He gives

‘A Robin Redbreast in a Cage

Pull all Heaven in a Rage.’

Blake does support theocracy and priest-craft is in his bad book.

· Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1973)

· The Marriage of Heaven and Hell.

· Madness and Mysticism in the Poetry of William Blake (Matthew

· A Comparative Study of Jalal-Ud-Din Rumi and William Blake as

· Blake’s Mysticism and Symbolism with Special Reference to the

You might also like