Auguries of Innocence Analysis

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour
The four lines of the poem are the ones that are most often quoted and remembered by literary
scholars, leaving the rest of the poem to wither away in complete anonymity, and they are an
important four lines: they open with the paradox of holding infinity in ‘the palm of your hand’,
that is holding something immeasurably big in a space that is almost immeasurably small. The
concept of infinity itself, mathematically, is an abstract idea too large to be withheld by the mind,
and therefore it cannot be held in the palm of the hand – this is how scholars argue the opening
of the poem. Should one look at it mathematically, Blake’s opening paradoxes – ‘infinity in the
palm of your hand / and Eternity in an hour’ – become understandable if only logically as
something that is technically achievable. Infinity is a stretch of time, an hour is also a stretch of
time, therefore the two can somehow corroborate together.

There is also the idea that Blake’s opening paradox is to give the world that he was writing about
the appropriate level of mystery and stunning wonder that nowadays is forgotten. Note also that
the first two lines specifically reference sight – more to the point, it references a sight so
common that most people would skim over it, however this is Blake’s aim – beauty, his idea is,
is found in common places. The very articles that we have witnessed a thousand times before can
still be transcendently beautiful, and allow us to connect to God. That is the ultimate goal of
Blake’s poetry: unity with the divine. It also stands as a testimony and a character witness to
Blake’s intelligence and forward thinking; although these concepts are not new, to put them in
poetry shows the true genius of Blake. He wanted to use his poetry to express his own personal
mythology: that mythology which was partly political, partly mythical, and partly divine, and to
express his own complicated worldview and feelings about the society that he was a part of.

A Robin Red breast in a Cage

Puts all Heaven in a Rage
A Dove house filld with Doves & Pigeons
Shudders Hell thr’ all its regions
There are several ideas conflicting here: the image of a robin red breast – a bird commonly
associated with Christmas and with a Christian holiday at that – in a cage ‘puts all Heaven in a
Rage’, writes Blake; is man, therefore, attempting to enslave nature? Or is it a symbol of the
caged humanity of man, which Rousseau famously put as ‘man is born free, and everywhere he
is in chains’. Given the events that were happening around Blake at the time – the French
Revolution, the American Revolution – it is far more likely to be a protest against slavery. Notice
as well that the second line – ‘A Dove house fill’d with Doves & Pigeons / Shudders Hell thr’ all
its regions’ – also references slavery. If one were to also apply Blake’s idea of philosophy and
religion to this poem, one could take the idea as humanity enslaving humanity, an act so
diabolical, that even the Devil finds it overwhelmingly evil.
One can also take into account that the doves and pigeons referenced are meant to stand for
children – those who are born into a world that they do not rightly understand, and are taken
advantage of by the very people who are supposed to help them, such as the Church, and the
master of the mill, or wherever they worked. Using two Christians birds – the robin red breast,
and the dove – also reminds the reader of Blake’s opinion on religion; he could very well be
drawing an allusion between Christianity and its oppressive nature through the symbols of the
cage and the dove house.

A dog starvd at his Masters Gate

Predicts the ruin of the State
A Horse misusd upon the Road
Calls to Heaven for Human blood
The loyalty of the dog ‘at his Masters Gate’ can mean a variety of things – here, it is referencing
the people that the state or the country has left down; the homeless, the soldiers, the poor, the
hungry, those without a job that have turned to crime to support their families. Given the high
rate of crime (again, remember that Blake was a contemporary of the French Revolution and the
American Revolution, two Revolutions born out of a disagreement with the dominating country).
Blake’s opinion here is that if the very few people who are within the country are not taken care
of, then the entire country is on the road to ruin – if there is a high population of starving, poor,
homeless, jobless, then there is something wrong with the country itself. This idea is not new,
however to put it blatantly into a poem would have been a shocking thing at the time, as there
was still that idea of social class and social status in England. If you were born poor, then you
would be poor until you died; if you were born rich, then you would be rich until you died.

The French Revolution disavowed these tenets and the poor rebelled against the rich. However,
this did not happen in England, a thing which was reportedly one of Blake’s biggest regrets.

The reference to the ‘Horse misusd’ can also be towards the mistreatment of the working man by
the oppressive mill owner or employer; both are working animals which, if treated fairly,
respond with loyalty. However, in Blake’s Auguries there is no fair treatment.

Each outcry of the hunted Hare

A fibre from the Brain does tear
A Skylark wounded in the wing
A Cherubim does cease to sing
The Game Cock clipd & armd for fight
Does the Rising Sun affright
Every Wolfs & Lions howl
Raises from Hell a Human Soul
The wild deer, wandring here & there
Keeps the Human Soul from Care
The Lamb misusd breeds Public Strife
And yet forgives the Butchers knife
The Bat that flits at close of Eve
Has left the Brain that wont Believe
The Owl that calls upon the Night
Speaks the Unbelievers fright
Birds were considered signs of freedom, and thus to wound them – and to wound them in what
gives them their freedom – shows the chained nature of man. The next few lines go deeply into
the idea of terror: here all the animals are frightened, showing the confused and terrified nature
of man, and of the world at large. It can be taken as an expression of the world howling in
confusion at the unbalanced nature of the events – mainly, the French Revolution, and the
American Revolution.

The symbol of the lamb is also a Christian image; however, here, it is subverted. The image of
the land is historically used as an image of rebellion; however here, the lamb stands for the
subservient and brutal methods of organized religion. It is the people, who are easily terrified
into submission by organized religion.

He who shall hurt the little Wren

Shall never be belovd by Men
He who the Ox to wrath has movd
Shall never be by Woman lovd
The wanton Boy that kills the Fly
Shall feel the Spiders enmity
He who torments the Chafers Sprite
Weaves a Bower in endless Night
The Catterpiller on the Leaf
Repeats to thee thy Mothers grief
Kill not the Moth nor Butterfly
For the Last Judgment draweth nigh
He who shall train the Horse to War
Shall never pass the Polar Bar
Darkness comes to those who harm nature – here, it shifts constantly with the ideas of a
revolution against oppression; the figures who are harming nature stand as the same figures who
would harm humanity, the mill owner who beats his children, the father who drinks away his
money and leaves his family starving, the Church who takes and takes and never gives back.

The Beggars Dog & Widows Cat

Feed them & thou wilt grow fat
Help those in need, and they will help you.
The Gnat that sings his Summers Song
Poison gets from Slanders tongue
The poison of the Snake & Newt
Is the sweat of Envys Foot
The poison of the Honey Bee
Is the Artists Jealousy
The Princes Robes & Beggars Rags
Are Toadstools on the Misers Bags
A Truth thats told with bad intent
Beats all the Lies you can invent
It is right it should be so
The smallest sins can upset the delicate balance of nature; the ‘gnat that sings his Summer’s
song’, interrupted by slander ends up biting someone; ‘the poison of the Snake & Newts’ is
indicative of a larger issue, that of envy. All of these small things have ripples and ripples of dire
consequences.

Man was made for Joy & Woe

And when this we rightly know
Thro the World we safely go
Joy & Woe are woven fine
A Clothing for the soul divine
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine
Despite all the misery that exists, Blake does not want us to despair: every misery comes with a
parallel joy, ‘woven fine’ into the pattern of daily life.

The Babe is more than swadling Bands

Throughout all these Human Lands
Tools were made & Born were hands
Every Farmer Understands
Every Tear from Every Eye
Becomes a Babe in Eternity
Here, Blake wants to state that people are more than their positions in society – the ‘babe is more
than swaddling Bands’, the child is more than the blankets that he is wrapped in. Society moves
on, and everyone is important, and becomes a part of the eternity that we strive towards in the
end. Blake also wants to state that ‘every tear from every eye’ becomes a good thing in turn.

This is caught by Females bright

And returnd to its own delight
The Bleat the Bark Bellow & Roar
Are Waves that Beat on Heavens Shore
The Babe that weeps the Rod beneath
Writes Revenge in realms of Death
The noises of a distraught world continue, however Blake wants to show that these sounds are
not in vain: these sounds play out in history, they are an ocean of happening, and heaven exists to
put them all to rights. This is not to say that there is no retaliation on the earthly plain – as the
last two lines show, whoever does bad things on earth will be punished in the afterlife.

The Beggars Rags fluttering in Air

Does to Rags the Heavens tear
The Soldier armd with Sword & Gun
Palsied strikes the Summers Sun
The poor Mans Farthing is worth more
Than all the Gold on Africs Shore
One Mite wrung from the Labrers hands
Shall buy & sell the Misers Lands
Or if protected from on high
Does that whole Nation sell & buy
He who mocks the Infants Faith
Shall be mockd in Age & Death
He who shall teach the Child to Doubt
The rotting Grave shall neer get out
Here are more examples of men whose life will be set to rights in the Heaven: the beggar will
become rich, the soldier will be free from the tyranny of the empire, the poor man will find
money, and the man who ‘teach the Child to Doubt’ will die horribly.

He who respects the Infants faith

Triumphs over Hell & Death
This is parallel to the couplet that came before – the man who teaches children to believe will
never die.

The Childs Toys & the Old Mans Reasons

Are the Fruits of the Two seasons
The Questioner who sits so sly
Shall never know how to Reply
He who replies to words of Doubt
Doth put the Light of Knowledge out
These lines recall Solomon’s laments in Ecclesiastes Chapter 3:
Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:"

Ecclesiastes 3:2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to reap"

Blake doesn’t believe that “reason” is superior, as a child’s play is a natural expression of the
same understanding in different terms, appropriate to that life stage.

Rather than containing a proverb or metaphor, this line is an outright insult, or at least a very
strong opinion. Blake never had a taste for questioners, who always challenged things without
ever trying to find an answer. He even called them idiots in his poem Milton:

To cast off the idiot Questioner who is always questioning,

But never capable of answering, who sits with a sly grin
Silent plotting when to question like a thief in a cave:"

Blake writes here about the importance of thinking, of trying to understand the world around
you, of making up your own philosophy rather than following the perceived status quo. This did
not mean that understanding everything meant that you could destroy others’ beliefs.

The Strongest Poison ever known

Came from Caesars Laurel Crown
Nought can Deform the Human Race
Like to the Armours iron brace
When Gold & Gems adorn the Plow
To peaceful Arts shall Envy Bow
Blake shows the horrors of war in this part of the poem – power is ‘the strongest poison ever
known’, and ultimately ruins the people who get it. Arts, on the other hand, help to strengthen
society; a society built on peace can never truly be destroyed. The ancient Romans crowned
victorious conquerors; Julius Caesar being one of the most famous. Blake believes that power is
the ultimate poison.

A Riddle or the Crickets Cry

Is to Doubt a fit Reply
The Emmets Inch & Eagles Mile
Make Lame Philosophy to smile
He who Doubts from what he sees
Will neer Believe do what you Please
If the Sun & Moon should Doubt
They d immediately Go out
To be in a Passion you Good may Do
But no Good if a Passion is in you
Does doubting everything do good? Blake does not believe so. One must have a system of belief;
one cannot get through life without it, and he shows that everyone, from the philosopher, to the
layman, has a system of belief; even nature itself believes in greater things. This might be a dig
at the scientific ideas of the French Revolution, where there was no greater thought than the
destruction of religion. “Emmet” is an archaic name for an ant. Emmets are small and close to
the ground, whereas eagles soar miles above. Blake believes that in comparison, philosophy is
lame; maybe because philosophers think rather than do (though Blake himself was a
philosopher). Lame Philosophy may be smiling upon realizing the limitations in life.

The Whore & Gambler by the State

Licencd build that Nations Fate
The Harlots cry from Street to Street
Shall weave Old Englands winding Sheet
The Winners Shout the Losers Curse
Dance before dead Englands Hearse
Blake wasn’t forgiving with all people – he despised prostitution and gambling, and saw them as
the downfall of the nation. Here, Blake thinks that the small corruptions will ultimately ruin
England itself. By allowing prostitution and gambling, one is setting up the irreversible fate of
England.

“Harlot” is an archaic term for “prostitute”. A “winding sheet” is a sheet wrapped around a dead
body before burial. Even the littlest cry of despair can kill a nation.

“Cry” refers to calling out, not to weeping. The allusion is to syphilis, an endemic cause of
illness, insanity and death until the discovery of penicillin. Blake blames not the harlot, but her
exploiters, who have cynically perverted true love

Every Night & every Morn

Some to Misery are Born
Every Morn and every Night
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to Endless Night
This is a harsh philosopohy, indicating that it is a matter of chance that some are fortunate and
some suffer. However, Blake emphasises ‘sweet delight’ by repeating it, as if it there is more joy
in life than suffering. And then, at the end of the poem, he asserts that God will appear to those
born to misery.

Nothing is set in stone. Although one day you may be unhappy, the next you might be happy.
Blake therefore does not want the reader to despair; there is a better life ahead.
We are led to Believe a Lie
When we see not Thro the Eye
Which was Born in a Night to perish in a Night
When the Soul Slept in Beams of Light
God Appears & God is Light
To those poor Souls who dwell in Night
But does a Human Form Display
To those who Dwell in Realms of day
This may mean that those who have good fortune — or ‘Dwell in Realms of day’ — will not see
God, but only perceive an ordinary human.

An alternative meaning is that God in the form of Christ appears to the fortunate in order to
redeem them.

As one student commented; ‘this poem is a bit weird.’ For all its imaginative originality and
worthy morality, many will agree with another student who thought that ‘Blake got a bit carried
away’!

Blake’s ultimate few lines are a reiteration of the belief in God, which saves: we are born in a
dark place, and we might die in that dark place, however at the end of our lives, we will come to
terms with God, and things will be made better.