Art & Theology - William Blake's "Proverbs of Hell"

Proverbs of Hell is an amazing look at the ideas of a man who believed that Man is basically good. As I mentioned in the intro post below, Religion was a major opponent to the Romantic movement of which William Blake was a major contributor. This piece, "Proverbs of Hell," is just a part of one of Blake's larger works, "Marriage of Heaven and Hell." This was a collection of poetry and prose pieces describing his views on the traditional concepts of Heaven and Hell as well as comments on Religion in general. To be short: Blake was very anti-religion. To be clear: Blake believed in God or at least a god, but he hated religion. Throughout Blake's poetry and prose, including "Proverbs of Hell," one can clearly see his belief in and appreciation for a loving, merciful God, but his disdain for hateful, restrictive religious people. Is it wrong to hate religion? No. I, myself, am not a big fan of what religion has become. In fact, I have taught on the dangers of religion many times. However, Blake speaks against many of the clear lessons of Scripture and the teachings of Jesus himself. This is where Blake and I part ways. Blake was not a Christian, but God chose him to spread His truth anyway.

I urge you to look up this entire piece and read it. It will smack you around. There are some very clear Humanistic ideas here like "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom", "No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings", and "He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence." There are also some proverbs here that go against classic Christian thinking as well as scripture like "As the plow follows words, so God rewards prayers." He's saying that just as much as the plow listens to our requests for it to move, that is how much God cares for our prayers. However, there are also some very wise statements here that transcend both humanism and religion.

"The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship." I'm sure there are many ways one can take this statement, but what I see him saying here is that a bird and a spider naturally know to make a nest to live in and a web to catch their food. Who taught them that? In the same way, humanity seeks out other people to share life with. To take it a step further, man seeks out someone or something to fill a deeper need than humanity can fulfill. People disappoint. People leave. People die. So people who rely on people are constantly left disappointed. People who rely on God for fulfillment are never left alone.

He also deals with very simple truth that man often forgets. "If others had not been foolish, we should be so." Rather than giving credit to the many geniuses and great leaders throughout history for the many great advancements of humanity, he gives it to the foolish. He credits their mistakes and failed ideas as the reason for man's accomplishments. If we hadn't had examples of what not to do, we would have persisted in those mistakes rather than trying to become better. Interesting idea.

He also recognizes the complexity of both man and nature. "One thought, fills immensity." "To create a little flower is the labour of ages."

He even credits the creator for the beauty of this world as well as taking a shot at the behavior police also known as the religious.
"The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.
The lust of the goat is the bounty of God.
The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God.
The nakedness of woman is the work of God."

I could easily spend months studying and writing about this piece. It is full of ideas to argue for and against. I love looking at the wisdom of man and filtering out that which is false and focusing on the truth that God has infused into culture. The whole world gives praise to God. Even those that think they are praising man or themselves are used for God's glory. I urge you to seek out God's truth in odd places.
Keep coming back to this blog to find more examples of God's truth in unlikely places.