Consider William Blakes presentation of love in the poem The Clod and the Pebble Essay Example for Free

Consider William Blakes presentation of wonder in the poem The tough and the Pebble Essay(b) Paying close attention to language and form, write a critical appreciation of the undermentioned poem, considering William Blakes presentation of lie with in the poem The orb and the Pebble.The Clod and the PebbleLove seeketh not it ego to pl salve,Nor for itself hath both care,But for an different gives its ease,And builds a Heaven in Hells despair.So sung a little Clod of Clay 5Trodden with the kines feet,But a Pebble of the brookWarbled out these metres meetLove seeketh only self to please,To bind another to its delight, 10Joys in anothers loss of ease,And builds a Hell in Heavens despite. The seeming(prenominal) cuteness of the poem The Clod and the Pebble perhaps masks a more morbid and deeply cynical opinion of love by the poet William Blake. Initially, the contrast between the lump and the pebbles talkes on love might gain ground a positive response to the clods optimism about how love can rescue us from even the most hellish position. The pebbles pessimism about love, on the other hand, is unpleasant and unsettling, but its also a more accurate reflection of the brutal nature of the worldly concern as it is interpret in the poem. Blakes presentation of love, then, is ambivalent. While the ideal that love is able to overcome any mount is appealing, it might not be a realistic assessment in the stage setting of the worlds cruelty.Blakes personification of the clod and the pebble captures two very different human recognises. We are told that the clod is trodden with the cattles feet. With the word trodden Blake captures the experience of continual hardship, and being repeatedly downtrodden, subjugated and abused. There is also tactual imagery of weight and pressure from the cattles feet, restricting the clod and forcing it into a new shape. In this way, the clod is described as though it experiences human suffering. It makes us think about someo ne who has had to deform flexible to fit the continual hardship of their circumstances reflected in the physical properties of a soft clod of clay. It is then pleasantly surprising that the clod sings about love in the most optimistic way.On the one hand, the clods optimism concerning love is deeply admirable, and the parallel structure used to present this speech alongside the pebbles emphasises that optimism in the most appealing way. The clod states that love builds a Heaven in Hells despair, man the pebble states that it builds a Hell in Heavens despite. The clod speaks from the context of a hellish world that entails pain and suffering, and endows love with the capacity to transcend such an experience and arrive at a heavenly existence of joy and happiness. The pebble, on the other hand, speaks from a comparatively heavenly existence and instead endows love with the capacity to corrupt that existence with the pain and suffering suggested by the word Hell. Our view that th e clod is admirably optimistic ten evolves into a feeling that we too want and even entrust that love will rescue and provide solace to this figure.Conversely, the parallel structure also helps to emphasise the pebbles pessimism. The clod declares that love seeketh not itself, while the pebble answers that love seeketh only self. The phrases not itself and only self make up a clear juxtaposition here of the two views of love. The first underscores it as essentially selfless, while the other underscores it as absolutely and solely selfish. Moreover, while the clod sings happily about how love for another gives its ease the pebble responds with how love joys in anothers loss of ease. The clods words suggest an action of willing self-sacrifice, while the pebbles words suggest a selfish acquisition that leaves another diminished. Of course, the pebbles view means that thither is no hope for the clod and that love in fact provides no Heaven.Furthemore, the pebbles assessment of love is deeply cynical and ugly. It is, however, true to both its own experience and that of the clod. The clod is trodden upon while the pebble is of the brook. We imagine a gentle and tranquil existence within the soft current of a stream. Traditionally, however, rivers also symbolise a journey from innocence to worldliness. The piddle represents the experience that flows over us during life, leaving us more aware. This experience has left the pebble implacable. We imagine someone who has become hardened from experience and this is reflected in the physical properties of the pebble. Now the water is forced to bend around the pebble, just as the clod must bend around the feet of the cattle. This is a depiction of the worlds boisterousness and cruelty, and we cannot help but appreciate that it is the pebbles assessment of love that more accurately reflects it.To conclude, perhaps the poem is as much about idealism and realism as it is about love. Love, after all, is subject to our tende ncy to be both idealistic and realistic. Ultimately though, it seems that the depiction of the world as harsh and brutal confirms a negative view of love as equally harsh and brutal. At the very least, the poem encourages us to be ambivalent of love and not suppose it to be a kind of saviour capable of transcending all.