Analysis Of William Blake's Essay 'Without Contraries'

To understand William Blake’s statement ‘Without Contraries is no progression’ one might look at the origin of it, which can be found on the third plate in ‘The Marriage of Heaven and Hell’ and continues with a list of examples: “Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence. From these contraries spring what religious call Good & Evil. Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy. Good is Heaven, Evil is Hell” With further knowledge of what Blake meant by his statement, it is not difficult to understand that there is both Good and Evil in every Human Soul, as one would not exist without the other. Free will was given to humans by God for them to decide what part to act on and thereby distinguishing humans from any other living creature. This is demonstrated even in the earliest stories of the bible; the story of Adam and Eve, where Adam is the passively obeying God’s reason while Eve is his active counterpart and eats the forbidden fruit. However, Blake is not complimenting all Good and blaming all Evil. He draws attention to this in his …show more content…
‘Infant Joy’ shows the jubilant feeling that comes with the birth of a new human. The mother’s only thoughts are about the first years of innocence and happiness her child will hopefully enjoy. Parents do not want to think about what comes after those carefree years or that other children might not be in a position to enjoy their childhood so freely. This is the passive obedience to reason that equals Blake’s definition of Good. Blake, who lived from 1757 to 1827, was heavily influenced by the fact that slavery was still permitted in the British Empire at this point time, as well as exploitation of children. He perceived the innocence of childhood as