FROM AUGURIES OF INNOCENCE

By : William Blake
INTRODUCTION
William Blake, a poet, engraver, painter and a mystic was born in London in
1757. He became an engraver by profession. He is known as the first romantic poet
and his poetic skills appeared in 1783. This was followed by Songs of
Innocence(1789) and Songs of Experience(1794).
In this part of a longer poem, Blake writes about man’s cruelty and
prophesises various evils which would befall on him for being cruel even to the
smallest and the most insignificant creatures. The poet expresses protest against
the indifference of man towards the other forms of life around him. It also
conveys the poet’s warning against man’s cruelty even to the meanest creatures in
the kingdom of God.
A GOOD OUTLOOK
In the opening lines, the poet says that even the smallest grain of sand
symbolizes the whole of the universe, and in a beautiful wild flower can heaven be
witnessed. These lines show the poet’s reverence to every form of life and object
existing in a harmonious order in Nature. This gives an optimistic view and makes
us love everything around us for its own beauty.
CRUELTY AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
A Robin bird, if trapped in a cage rather than leaving it free shall evoke
the rage of the heaven. A dove house, full of doves and pigeons shudders the
hell.
A dog left starving at its master’s gate is said to predict the ruin of that
state. If a horse is ill treated upon the roads, it calls for human blood from
the heavens. The cry of a hunted hare makes a fiber from the brain to tear.
If a skylark is wounded in its wings, the angels shall stop their singing.
A game cock with metal spurs for fighting, frightens the rising sun. The howl of
a hunted wolf or a lion, awakens a human soul from hell. A lamb being tortured
evokes public sympathy, but when it is killed at the butcher’s shop, it is
forgiven.
The poet says that even the bat and the screeching owl have their own
significance in the scheme of nature. The screeching owl reveals the dread of the
unbeliever’s soul. A person who hurts the wren shall not be liked by any man and
he, who earns the wrath of the ox shall never be loved by any woman.
A boy who is capricious and kills the fly gains the enemity of the spider.
A person who torments the cockchafer can never rest in peace and weave a bower in
an endless night. The grief of a butterfly over the destruction of its
caterpillar is the same as that of a mother over her child.
CONCLUSION
The poet therefore warns in an imperative tone that those who disturb any
form of life will face the retribution in the preceding lines, on the day of
Judgement, which is coming closer. Hence the poet warns mankind against his
callous indifference towards nature in the name of modernization and says that
they would be punished for their act on that Judgement day which is coming closer.