Critical Analysis of

Earth's Answer

破壳William Blake

William Blake, the greatest visionary poet in English, was born on November 28, 1757

Despite the challenges in our selection of poetry by William Blake, the poems share a number of common threads. One common characteristic, introduced in poems like “The Little Black Boy” and “The Chimney Sweeper” (from Songs of Innocence),is Blake’s tendency to use narrators other than himself. Although Blake is a confirmed caucasion, the speaker in these poems repeatedly refers to his black skin.

茁壮The whole poem is interpreted

as a metaphor for women oppression and the text outlines the unjust and cruel manner in which women are treated. The poem is narrated in first person by "Earth" and portrays men as dark, selfish, jealous and cruel and that men have imprisoned the Earth which is metaphorically representing women.

The poem consists of 5

stanzas , Each stanza consists of 5

lines .The rhyme

scheme is abaab.

Repetition of questions marks in stanza 4 Forces the reader to engage in the poem .

Does spring hide its joyWhen buds and blossoms grow?

Does the sower?Sow by night?

Or the ploughman in darkness plough?

Blooming is typical and expected of Spring, and Sowing and Plowing are essential for agricultural practices. Both of these rely heavily on Earth. This shows that Earth represents both humankind and nature. This means that when Earth is wronged by the Father, (who represents God), both Nature and Humankind must suffer the injuries.

Personification of the Earth makes it more significance could could be portraying as a female

Earth rais'd up her head, From the darkness dread & drear.

Light metaphorically represents beautyand creates imagery of a brighter more illuminated Erath

Her light fled: Stony dread!

And her locks cover'd with grey despair.

Personification again portrays the Earth in human form specially as she is given her hair locks , and it represents that Earth is ancient and she is dying .

I hear the Father of the ancient men

"I" narrates the person in 1st person making it more personal for the speaker which then engages the reader .

Selfish father of men !

use of exclamation mark displayes the emotion that Earth is feeling and creates the ominous atmosphere

This gives the idea that people are chained because of their own negative emotions

Break this heavy chain

Chain'd in night

Night is a metaphor for evil , as darkness is of then associated with evil

The overall theme of this is that Human are sufferring in the world due to the presence of negative feelings , jealousy and selfishness , which inhibit pure thought and oure Love .

Bondage : Terms of confinement echo through the poem – ‘Prison'd', ‘Ch

ain'd', ‘heavy chain', ‘bondage' and ‘bound'. This reflects Earth's perspective that she is confined to the darkness because God is cruel and selfishly fears what Earth might achieve if released from his control. There is no recognition that the darkness and bondage is a consequence of human actions. According to Christian understanding, it is human rebellion which has opened the way for death and decay.

Attitudes to the body and the life of the senses

This connects with Blake's opposition to John Locke. Blake believed that humans are essentially spiritual beings and that the body should be an expression of a person's spiritual nature. Yet, he believes that people do not believe this. They believe that their bodies are purely physical and that reality consists solely in what can be understood via the senses. In this way their senses trap them in a materialist approach to life and they are unable to experience themselves, including their bodies, as spiritual beings. This seems to be the entrapment against which Earth protests.

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