I just read "The Argument", part of William Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Now, I know a little bit of background on this, but this is my thoughts, views, and how I personally interpret this poem. When I read it for the first time, I seriously had no clue what was going on, but now that I have read it multiple times, I see that the entire piece is full of contradiction after contradiction. In the first stanza alone, there are quite a few illogicalities. "Once meek, and in a perilous path, The just man kept his course along The vale of death" (line 3-5). In this, meek (humble) contradicts the "perilous path" and "The vale of death." Why in the world would a meek man be in a perilous path in the first place, let alone keep the path on his way to death?!
There are actually two different contradictions in the next three lines. "Roses are planted where thorns grow, And on the barren heath Sing honey bees" (lines 6-8). The first is when Blake says "Roses are planted where thorns grow..." Roses and thorns contradict each other because normally, roses are thought of a nice, lovely plant, and thorns a dark, ugly plant. Hardly ever would they mix or be grown in the same place. The second is when Blake states "And on barren heath Sing the honey bees." Any bee in its right mind would NEVER go to a "barren heath" (a bare bush or plant), because they need the nectar that good, healthy plants give them.
Throughout the rest of the poem there are more contradictions such as: "And a river and a spring On every cliff and tomb", "on bleached bones red clay brought forth", and many more at that. Overall, I thought that the poem was very good and very well written. It kept me wondering the whole time and thinking about the words and context. All the contradictions seemed kind of funny to me, but after reading the poem, I can see that Blake was making a point. From the background that i already have, I know that the contradictions in this poem were to show that in order to have good, good must first turn into evil, and influence it to become good. If any of you have not read this poem yet, I would strongly recommend it to anyone!
There are actually two different contradictions in the next three lines. "Roses are planted where thorns grow, And on the barren heath Sing honey bees" (lines 6-8). The first is when Blake says "Roses are planted where thorns grow..." Roses and thorns contradict each other because normally, roses are thought of a nice, lovely plant, and thorns a dark, ugly plant. Hardly ever would they mix or be grown in the same place. The second is when Blake states "And on barren heath Sing the honey bees." Any bee in its right mind would NEVER go to a "barren heath" (a bare bush or plant), because they need the nectar that good, healthy plants give them.
Throughout the rest of the poem there are more contradictions such as: "And a river and a spring On every cliff and tomb", "on bleached bones red clay brought forth", and many more at that. Overall, I thought that the poem was very good and very well written. It kept me wondering the whole time and thinking about the words and context. All the contradictions seemed kind of funny to me, but after reading the poem, I can see that Blake was making a point. From the background that i already have, I know that the contradictions in this poem were to show that in order to have good, good must first turn into evil, and influence it to become good. If any of you have not read this poem yet, I would strongly recommend it to anyone!
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