William Blake (1757-1827) was an English artist and poet whose works “The Divine Image” and “A Divine Image” were created during the Romantics Era. The political, cultural and historical events of this era molded the focus and perception of human nature in his poems towards God and religion. The titles are inherently influenced by teachings of the Bible, which state “so God created man in the divine image, in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.” (New International Version, Genesis 1.27) Blake’s songs were written to shed light on the two opposing states of the human soul, primarily as one of innocence that believes man was created in the physical and virtuous image of God, “For Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love/Is God,
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Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.” Blake uses almost direct contradiction line by line in the two poems as he writes, “For Mercy has a human heart, /Pity a human face, /And Love, the human form divine, /And Peace, the human dress,” in “The Divine Image” and changes it in “A Divine Image” to “Cruelty has a human heart, /And Jealousy a human face; /Terror the human form divine, /And Secrecy the human dress.” (Larrabee, 305-308) With these opposites characterizing God, “The Divine Image” portrays the loving God of the Christian New Testament shown in verses such as “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3.16) Whereas, the God of “experience” which could here be replaced with the word “sin” is of the Old Testament and can be found in verses such as “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God,” (Exodus 34.14). The very titles of the two poems starting with the different articles “A” and “The” conger a different relationship between God and Man with “A” implying an indirect relationship that is generic, distant and cold and “The” implying a benevolent and personal
Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate, are necessary to human existence.” Blake uses almost direct contradiction line by line in the two poems as he writes, “For Mercy has a human heart, /Pity a human face, /And Love, the human form divine, /And Peace, the human dress,” in “The Divine Image” and changes it in “A Divine Image” to “Cruelty has a human heart, /And Jealousy a human face; /Terror the human form divine, /And Secrecy the human dress.” (Larrabee, 305-308) With these opposites characterizing God, “The Divine Image” portrays the loving God of the Christian New Testament shown in verses such as “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3.16) Whereas, the God of “experience” which could here be replaced with the word “sin” is of the Old Testament and can be found in verses such as “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God,” (Exodus 34.14). The very titles of the two poems starting with the different articles “A” and “The” conger a different relationship between God and Man with “A” implying an indirect relationship that is generic, distant and cold and “The” implying a benevolent and personal