The Divine Image

Copy G of The Divine Image held at the Yale Center for British Art and printed in 1789

"The Divine Image" is a poem by the English poet William Blake from his book Songs of Innocence (1789), not to be confused with "A Divine Image" from Songs of Experience (1794). It was later included in his joint collection Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794). In this poem (see Wikisource below) Blake pictures his view of an ideal world in which the four traditionally Christian virtues–Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love–are found in the human's heart and stand for God's support and comfort. Joy and gratitude are sentiments expressed through prayer for the caring and blessing of an infallible almighty God and are shared by all men on Earth encompassing a sense of equality and mutual respect. The title of the poem refers to the Book of Genesis Chapter 1 verse 26: 'And God said: Let us make man in our image'.(KJV)

Ralph Vaughan Williams set the poem to music in his 1958 song cycle Ten Blake Songs.

Summary

In The Divine Image, the figures of Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love are presented by Blake as the four virtues which are objects of prayer in moments of distress, God being praised for his lovely caring and blessing to comfort man. The four virtues are depicted by the author as essential not only in God, but also in man; as Mercy is found in the human heart and Pity in the human face. Similarly, abstract qualities like Peace and Love exist in the human form, becoming the divine form and body of man and resembling God's substantial virtues. Consequently, Blake not only introduces a similarity between the divine image of a benevolent God and the human form but also the concept of the creation of man after God's divine constituency. Regarded as inborn characteristics of humans by Blake, these essentially Christian virtues can be found in every man's soul on Earth, notwithstanding his origin or religious belief. When Blake refers to the prayer of a heathen, Jew or Turk, he exemplifies all humankind sharing God's virtues in an ideal world regardless the concept of Divinity men may have. However, his Song of Experience balances the ideals of pluralism with the image of God in humans marred by sin.

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Divine Image

A comparison of extant original copies of "The Divine Image" at the William Blake Archive

William Blake

Literary works

Early writings

Songs of Innocence
and of Experience

Songs of Innocence	Introduction The Shepherd The Ecchoing Green The Lamb The Little Black Boy The Blossom The Chimney Sweeper The Little Boy Lost The Little Boy Found Laughing Song A Cradle Song The Divine Image Holy Thursday Night Spring Nurse's Song Infant Joy A Dream On Another's Sorrow

Songs of Experience	Introduction Earth's Answer The Clod and the Pebble Holy Thursday The Little Girl Lost The Little Girl Found The Chimney Sweeper Nurse's Song The Sick Rose The Fly The Angel The Tyger My Pretty Rose Tree Ah! Sun-flower The Lilly The Garden of Love The Little Vagabond London The Human Abstract Infant Sorrow A Poison Tree A Little Boy Lost A Little Girl Lost To Tirzah The School Boy The Voice of the Ancient Bard A Divine Image (found only in Copy BB)

Prophetic
books

The continental prophecies	America a Prophecy Europe a Prophecy The Song of Los

Other	Tiriel The Book of Thel The Marriage of Heaven and Hell The French Revolution Visions of the Daughters of Albion The Book of Urizen The Book of Ahania The Book of Los The Four Zoas Milton Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion

The Pickering
Manuscript

Auguries of Innocence
The Mental Traveller
The Crystal Cabinet
Mary
The Smile
The Golden Net
The Land of Dreams
The Grey Monk
Long John Brown and Little Mary Bell
William Bond

The Rossetti
Manuscript

Never seek to tell thy love

Mythology

Ahania Albion Beulah Bromion Enion Enitharmon Fuzon Golgonooza Grodna Har Leutha Los Luvah Orc Palamabron Spectre Tharmas Thiriel Tiriel Urizen Urthona Utha Vala

Art

Paintings and prints	Relief etching Engravings for Original Stories from Real Life The Ancient of Days The Night of Enitharmon's Joy Newton Nebuchadnezzar Illustrations for Night-Thoughts Illustrations of The Grave The Four and Twenty Elders Casting their Crowns before the Divine Throne Illustrations of Paradise Lost A Vision of the Last Judgment Descriptive Catalogue The Great Red Dragon Paintings Pity The Ghost of a Flea Agony in the Garden Illustrations of On the Morning of Christ's Nativity The Wood of the Self-Murderers: The Harpies and the Suicides Illustrations of the Book of Job Illustrations of The Divine Comedy

Sketches	Visionary Heads

The Ancients	Edward Calvert John Linnell Samuel Palmer George Richmond Arthur Tatham Frederick Tatham

Criticism and scholarship

Scholars and critics	Peter Ackroyd Donald Ault Harold Bloom Nancy Bogen Jacob Bronowski S. Foster Damon David V. Erdman Northrop Frye Alexander Gilchrist Geoffrey Keynes Alicia Ostriker Kathleen Raine E. P. Thompson W. B. Yeats

Scholarly works	Life of William Blake Fearful Symmetry A Blake Dictionary: The Ideas and Symbols of William Blake Blake: Prophet Against Empire Witness Against the Beast

Archives and Collections	William Blake Archive

Related	Blake (1983 monologue) In Lambeth (1989 play)

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, November 02, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.