The Transformation: Then and Now

“So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (New Living Translation, Gen. 1.27). William Blake, in his poem “The Divine Image”, uses multiple literary techniques, such as personification and repetition, to portray his idea that man and God share many of the same divine qualities. He later wrote the poem “A Divine Image”, which contrasts with the first by discussing the negative aspects of human beings. These negative characteristics are emphasized through the use of metaphors and, again, personification. Although the same rhyme scheme is used throughout both of the poems, the structure of each varies greatly adding to the opposing ideas set forth in the second poem. Through comparison of the two poems, a transformation from innocence to experience is revealed.

William Blake’s poem, “The Divine Image”, was first published in his book Songs of Innocence in 1789 during the industrial revolution in England. In his poem, Blake portrays the idea that through mercy, pity, peace, and love man can obtain a strong bond with God. One critic feels that when Blake refers to God, he is not referring to any specific religion, but to a God that is anywhere that the human heart has welcomed mercy, pity, peace, and love (Granger, “The Divine Image”). According to the poem, man prays to these obscure feelings when in distress then sends them his thanks when all is well. These traits combine to make up Blake’s idea of a God. He seems to suggest that there is little separation between God and his children because mercy, pity, peace, and love are also what make up man. The final two stanzas of this poem present the idea that every man prays to a God that consists of these traits ...

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...s due to the absence of God in the second poem. This occurrence seems to suggest a meaninglessness that arises when there is no God in man’s life. Without a God there is less purpose. The change in rhythm occurs in the second poem to suggest the idea that at this time the life of man has become a continuous cycle that remains unchanged. The rhyme in “A Divine Image” is an ABCB pattern for both stanzas. This is a similar pattern to the original poem, but omits the ABAB stanzas. Blake also chose to capitalize the word “Human” throughout the second poem, which suggests the self-importance felt by mankind at the time this poem was published. The structure, rhyme, and rhythm of this later poem contrasts remarkably with the original considering the amount of similarities the two share elsewhere, but the differences speak almost as loud as the words that compose the poem.