The Divine Image Poem Analysis

A Divine Image vs. The Divine Image William Blake a recognized Romantic Poet received an education at the age fourteen in art at the Royal Academy (McCoy). Songs of Innocence, where A Divine Image and The Divine Image are written, was produced in his very own engraving shop (McCoy). However, in order to understand Blake’s poetry, understanding his beliefs is beneficial to understanding his literature as a whole. “[Blake] felt that the individual could regain wholeness only by freeing the intellect and achieving a visionary ecstasy” (McCoy). Although he didn’t practice in an organized religious group, he did contain a strong belief of God. The individual title of The Divine Image hints the reader at what a divine image should be. With the use of trochaic meter, metaphors, repetition, and an interrupted rhyme scheme, William Blake develops a poem that demonstrates the essence of all human beings. Trochaic meter is a line of four trochaic feet composed of long syllable (stressed/unstressed), followed by a short syllable (stressed/unstressed). William Blake used trochaic meter to contribute to the flow and rhythm throughout the poem. “The singsong quality of the …show more content…
All the literary devices contribute to the work of William Blake by pointing out the tragic flaws in man: cruelty, jealousy, terror, and secrecy. Repetition and alliteration are literary devices similar throughout the poem A Divine Image. Human is repeated in every line of the poem as a result ‘h’ is a familiar letter seen also in the lines. For example, “the human heart, its hungry gorge” and “cruelty has a human heart”. The repetition of “human” leads the reader to the consideration of man being a major part of the theme of the poem. Repetition and alliteration also contributes to the insistent sound in the poem causing a simple flow of thoughts from line to line and a harsh tone to the