Revolting with Satirical Seriousness

Blake is being satirical in his comments about Paine being “a better Christian than the Bishop [and being] either a Devil or an inspired Man” (460, 456). The poem The Little Black Boyrealigns the radical ideas proposed by Paine with the poet-artist’s Swedenborgian-Moravian view of Christianity and shows the contradictions and satire Blake demonstrates. In Blake’s engagement with his notes on Apology for the Bible, he states that, “Opinion is one Thing. Principle another. No Man can change his Principles Every Man changes his opinions.” (456). Within the poem, the little boy wants to change the mind of the slave owner to make him love him, but never does it seem he does change his principle although he believes God can change his opinion. Blake goes on to comment, “no man can take darkness for light.” (457). The color black literally means the absence of light; with Blake’s poem the little boy states that “[he] is black, but O! [his] soul is white,” tearing the notion resembled in the comments (16, (l.2)). When Paine states that, “Every citizen is a member of the sovereignty, and as such can acknowledge no personal subjection, and his obedience can be only to the laws,” it goes against what Blake raises in the poem when he allows the little black boy to be obedient to the slave master (25). This poem goes against the views and the mother is in a way looking for the justification of racial inequalities. Blake asserts, “there is a vast difference between an accident brought on by a mans own carelessness & a destruction from the designs of another,” where the little black boy was more than an accident brought on from rape and was “put on earth… to bear the beams of love; which goes along with Paine’s view that “Jesus could not do miracles where unbelief hinderd” since the mother taught her son to believe in God and learn about religion (Paine, 458) (Blake, 16 (ll.13-14), 457). Paine states that, “Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself, in all cases, as the ages and generations which preceded it” (25). The realignment of this idea is shown in Blake’s poem where it is stated, “My mother taught me beneath a tree…” (16, (l.5)). Blake contradicts what Paine has to say about how, “Men are born and always continue free and equal in respect to their rights” with his entire poem which is about in my opinion, how a slave woman was raped by her white master and produced a child where he couldn’t love the child due to his skin color; he revolted his child and because of this his mother taught him to rely on God and in turn go against Paine’s view that people should be obedient to laws only, and that Jesus only loves those who are believers (26). As found in Paine’s the Rights of Man, “man under the monarchical and hereditary systems of government” are found in a “wretched state… dragged from his home by one power, or driven by another, and impoverished by taxes more than by enemies” (Paine 25). I believe this to be wrong because I don’t believe the little boy in Blake’s poem is driven by power or revenge, he is driven by emotion and love.

-Alina Cantero

 

Blake, Moravianism, and Thomas Paine: Expanding on Anna’s Previous Argument

For this particular post, I want to elaborate on Anna’s post from last week. In it, she discusses Blake’s use of Moravian themes in the last Memorable Fancy. Anna’s post can be found here: https://williamblakeandenlightenmentmedia.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/blake-zinzendorf-nuns-et-al/

Anna claims that in this Memorable Fancy, “we see a typical motif of Blake’s work by connecting obedience to restricting individual creativity. Living under the unquestioned law is blind obedience, but acting from impulse and displaying this physical devotion is closer to God” (Watt). I believe that this idea of obedience as a restriction of creativity can be expanded further to include restricted liberty, as is found in Paine’s “The Rights of Man.” Paine claims that “man under the monarchical and hereditary systems of government” is found in a “wretched state… dragged from his home by one power, or driven by another, and impoverished by taxes more than by enemies” (25). Much as Anna argues that the last Memorable Fancy demonstrates Blake’s belief that “traditional laws are oppression,” here we see Paine’s argument of traditional monarchy as oppressive. Paine’s comment that “every citizen is a member of the sovereignty, and as such can acknowledge no personal subjugation, and his obedience can be only to the laws” surely resonated with Blake, as it is a Poetic Genius-esque way of thinking about lawmaking (25).

However, just as Anna addresses in her post, we must also consider Blake’s tone and use of satire in all of his works. In his marginal comments, he claims that Paine’s writings are the work of “either a Devil or an inspired man,” and that “Paine is a better Christian than the Bishop” (456, 460). Can we really interpret this as praise for Paine? Blake’s use of satire in all of his works, including the last Memorable Fancy, makes it impossible for us to know exactly what he believes and champions. We can assume that Blake was influenced by the Moravian church based on the imagery found in the last Memorable Fancy, but we cannot begin to presume that Blake subscribed to the beliefs and ideals of the Moravian church because of his heavy use of satire. Likewise, we know that Paine influenced Blake’s thinking, but we are left to wonder if Blake really saw him as an “inspired man” or merely as a Devil.

Satirizing Art, Religion, and Politics

Blake’s inscription, “Israel delivered from Egypt is Art delivered from Nature & Imitation,” is just one of many nonsensical phrases scrawled onto “The Laocoon.” When examined in the context of Reynolds’ Discourse of Art, it becomes clear that Blake is using “The Laocoon” to satirize Reynolds. In Discourse of Art, Reynolds claims “a mere copier of nature can never produce any thing great,” a sentiment clearly reflected in Blake’s graffiti upon “The Laocoon” (Reynolds, 41). This graffiti is accompanied by phrases such as “A Poet a Painter a Musician an Architect: the Man Or Woman who is not one of these is not a Christian” (Blake, 352). Since this statement cannot be considered true, it is safe to assume that none of the statements scribbled on “The Laocoon” should be taken seriously, once again hinting at a satirical message. Blake’s metaphorical comparison of art to religion hints that he is condemning more than just Reynolds’ message about art and artists, however. He is also hinting at art’s relationship to religion. In his reaction to Discourses on Art, Blake writes, “the Enquirey in England is not whether a Man has Talents & Genius? But whether is he Passive & Polite & a Virtuous Ass: & obedient to Noblemens Opinions in Art & Science” (463). From this statement, we can conclude that Blake believes that the link between religion/politics and art is not a natural one, but a forced one. His comparison of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt to art’s deliverance from nature and imitation makes sense—he is mocking Reynolds, but on a deeper level, he is mocking artists who are “obedient to Noblemens Opinions,” whether that is in regards to art, politics, or religion.