“A Poison Tree” (1794)“The Divine Image”

(1789)

WILLIAM BLAKE1757-1827

“You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.”

By: Alex Andresakis Shinhyuk Bang JianHui Li Kevin Phung Andrew Wong

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Biography Of William Blake

Date of Birth: November 28th, 1757Date of Death: August 12th, 1827 (Poverty)

EducationIn 1767 (12) he began study at Henry Pars Drawing Class in the Strand, and in 1771 (14) was apprenticed of engraving.

MarriageHe married Catherine Boucher.

Brother Blake’s brother Robert died. Blake claimed that the spirit of Robert came to him in a vision in the night, and revealed the technique of combining text and pictures on one engraved plate.

The Songs of InnocenceHe hand produced the Songs of Innocence using this new method in 1789 (32) with the help of his wife, having taught her to read and write. The text and illustrations were printed from copper plates, and the illustrations then finished by hand with watercolors.

Prophetic booksBlake had produced many of his ‘prophetic’ books : The Visions of the Daughters of Albion, America a Prophecy, The Songs of Experience and The First Book of Urizen.

A new generation of admirersAfter 1818 (61) his work found admirers amongst water-colourists of the next generation, particularly John Linnell and John Varley who encouraged him and commissioned works

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Historical/ Social Background

Divine Image: This poem has an historical background to it when it was written by William Blake. In

the time this was written, it was a religious period. So the poem was based off some religious principles like mercy, pity, peace and love. "The speaker states that all people pray to these in times of distress and thank them for blessings because they represent “God, our father dear.”(spark notes) If one obtained any one of those virtues, they could be considered divine.

Poison Tree: This poem has an historical background also located in a religious time. "Religious

dissent in England, which first appeared in 1662 when a group of English Puritans broke away from the Church of England, refusing to take communion in the Church or accept its doctrines and authority, took many forms."(book rags)This poem was written as a way to oppose the Church of England and its practices.

The Divine Image (1789)BY WILLIAM BLAKE

To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and LoveAll pray in their distress;

And to these virtues of delightReturn their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, 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 dwellThere God is dwelling too.

A Poison Tree (1794)BY WILLIAM BLAKE

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.

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. 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;

In the morning glad I see; My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

The Divine Image (1789)

To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and LoveAll pray in their distress;And to these virtues of delightReturn their thankfulness. For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and LoveIs God, our father dear,And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and LoveIs 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 dwellThere God is dwelling too.

We think that mercy, pity, peace and love are necessary for men to attain. They pray to God when in agony, but when they perfect one of these virtues, they pray again with thanks.

He repeats the line “mercy, pity, peace, and love” purposely to what those virtues represent, our God and his sons and daughters when all virtues are perfected.

Mercy is done with the decision made in our hearts, or our consciousness. Pity is what we express through our facial expression or our feelings. Love is great and doesn’t have a source, but it is something meant to be. And Peace is

All men and in all hardship, we pray in agony for help and our answer from God is to perfect all four virtues that men must attain.

All men must love men in other forms and every men has a divine in them as well. So all four virtues exist in every men.

Analysis: Rhyme scheme is abcd but in stanza 2, “LOVE” and “LOVE” rhymes together. The tone of this poetry is confidence with steady beat rhythm. This poetry has a symbolism which are the four virtues which is actually representation of God.

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A Poison Tree (1794)

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. 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. 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 veiled the pole; In the morning glad I see; My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Blake was angry with a friend of his, but it had settled down. But he was angry with his enemy and his anger did not settle. We think the enemy in this poem is temptation.

His anger grew stronger with fear and his sadness through day and night. He tried to get rid of it with deceiving smiles, but felt guilty of it.

His anger was still growing day and night. That is when he had temptations from his enemy. And his enemy knew he would fall for the temptation. The bright apple represents a golden apple in the Bible.

The temptation had tempted him, but he did not fall for it but to get past it and the temptation had gone away.

Analysis: Rhyme scheme is aabb ccdd. This poetry consists of 4 stanzas with 4 lines. The tone is fast and angry and the rhythm is mildly fast. The narrator is ambiguous. This poetry contains symbolism and one example would be the ENEMY which represents bad outcome or temptation.

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Comparison

The two poems don’t share an idea. In The Divine Image Blake describes God, “our father”, as a gentle being. This poem describes human love as something God gives by comparing love as the human form divine.

In A Poison Tree Blake talks about how wrath is dangerous if bottled up. In the poem Blake had a more dark style being happy that his foe had died.

Significance

A poison Tree: This poem express a way to protest the Anglican Church. This poem is heavily b

ased on the emotion of anger as a way to oppose the Anglican Church stifling of anger which he believed would only increase it. The significance of this poem to poetry is that uses allusions to bring out the meaning. This allusions are also biblical references as it was written at a deeply religious period. In reading this poem we learn the importance of allusion in poetry.

The Divine Image: This poem which his belief in the divinity of human nature. Mercy, Pity, Peace, an

d Love are divine attributes to which man may attain."(Songs). It states if one attains any of these attributes, they should become divine. The importance of this poem to poetry is its rhyme scheme. Its structure will help us use rhyme when we write poetry.

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The Wood Workshop: by Andrew Wong

The wood workshop,goes on without a doubt.Laboring with machines,

obviously not clean.

The wood workshop,never comes to a stop.

With the foreman being mean,with the workers in between.

The wood workshop,goes on without a flop.

With injuries unforeseen,workers obscene.

The wood workshop,always churning out props.

It's the daily routine,all around the clock.

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What Time Brings us: by Jacky

Time is invisibleBut it brings us a lot

It brings us birthBut it brings us death

It can bring happinessBut it can also bring sadness

It can bring you to uphillBut it can also bring you to down hill

It can bring you friendsBut it also brings enermy

It is unpredicableBut it is also misteries

Time is an advanture to our lifeJust like we flip the pages through the book

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Billionaire: By ShinHyuk Bang

Money, money I spendFor my money there is no endStacks of bills next to my bed

Bag of coins near my headI am a billionaire

Money, money I spendHave so much I lend

To the poor I sentCannot walk away from. Just can’t

I am a billionaire

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold. William Blake. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House, 2003.

Scott-Kilvert, Ian. British Writers. New York: Scribner, 1997.

Vinson, James, and D. L. Kirkpatrick. Poets. New York: St. Martin's, 1979.

Gordon, Todd. Wang, Bella ed. "Songs of Innocence and of Experience Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of "The Poison Tree"". GradeSaver, 31 May 2011 Web. 5 June 2013.