In this poem Blake narrates multiple scenes that seem to have no connection between each other.The poem conveys several different things about the natural world where we live in. The poem is written with such great conciseness and precision, making it impossible not to empathize with all the protagonists and their inner struggle. In the first stanza, Blake says " To see a world in a grain of sand, and a heaven in a wild flower" Blake is telling us two things. First, if we consider the world like a grain of sand, it tells us that the world is not as big as we think it is. All around the world, people tend to have the same problems and the same unresolved issues in their life. From my point of view, Blake is reminding us that at the end of the day we are not so different. The second verse on the other hand, contains a contradiction. How could there be heaven in a wild flower? Blake is telling us that things are usually not perfect in our natural world, and also that everyone does not have the same opinion about things. Afterwards, Blake makes several animal images. In reality he is impersonating people through animals. The Robin redbreast symbolises a prisoner who is locked up. The dove house could be an image of a country where there is a conflict, since "Shudders hell thro’ all its regions". The dog that is starving, could be an image of a beggar slowly becoming weaker, since no one is taking care of him anymore. The horse on the other hand, shows human cruelty. The horse could be a human slave, that " calls to heaven for human blood". There are many other animal images, and they are all used to convey the same message: the downfall of the world, and all the suffering that comes into play. Blake was very religious, he wrote this poem to show how the natural world has changed overtime and how innocence has been lost in all living beings, and how we will all be 'judged" at the end of our life. The reason why this poem is so long, and is full of turn of events is because Blake tries to mimic living being's life. Full of challenges, ups and downs and difficulties. On line 53, Blake says that " A truth that's told with bad intent, beats all the lies you can invent" . Blake means that human beings tend to be selfish and insecure. If someone tells you something not because they want you to fix it, but just to point it out and feel better about themselves is worse then just telling a lie.
In my opinion, the most interesting part of the poem are the last verses. They are powerful and intense, and conclude the poem in a harsh yet strong way that leaves the reader lost in wonder. " We are led to believe a lie when we see not thro' the eye, which was born in a night to perish in a nigh," I personally think that this is the most beautiful verse of the poem. When I first read it, I immediately though of dictators or even just a president. "We are led to believe a lie" meaning that if someone imposes, their way of thinking, and this person is in power, people will tend to think like him. The best example would be Hitler in World War two, when Germany lost World War one, the entire country was devastated. People did not believe in anything anymore, so when Hitler came to power imposing his racist ideology, Germany's population blindly followed him, "Led to believe a lie, when we see not thro' the eye". "Which was born in a night to perish in a night" is fascinating too, because it illustrates how weak the ideologies really are. When Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy, everyone including my grandmother believed in him and thought of him as the "Savior of Italy". When the fascism collapsed, almost everyone turned against him. His body, after being kicked and shot, was hung upside down in a gas station, and the body was then stoned by civilians.This example is to demonstrate, how an ideology that was acclaimed and applauded one day, could "perish in a night". The last verse " God appears and God is light (...) to those who dwell in realms of day" is used to illustrate the final judgment. Suffering throughout your existence is worth it, because you will be saved. "But does a human form display" illustrates the idea that God is always with us no matter what. He is always around, and his presence is in all of us.
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