Auguries of Innocence by William Blake

Auguries of Innocence can be seen as a one-poem example of Blake’s longer poetic volumes, Songs of
Innocence and Songs of Experience. It uses the same tenets used in Songs of Innocence and Songs of
Experience – that is, the construction of both an innocent, child-like narrative, and a mature, adult
narrative – but puts them together in one poem to show the hypocrisy and the chaos of Blake’s
contemporary life.
William Blake was an unknown among his contemporaries. Considered at times a genius, and at times a
complete madman, he is only seen as a great poet, and indeed a great artist, posthumously; in 2002,
Blake was placed at number 38 in a list of the 100 Greatest Britons, and today he is considered one of
the most important figures of the Romantic movement.
His work was beyond comment: mythological, philosophical, and mystical, he eschewed and derided all
forms of organized religion, but worshipped the Bible; in fact, one of his influences was Milton, and
Milton’s Paradise Lost, and the discerning reader can find quite a few influences to Paradise Lost in
more than one of Blake’s works. The French and American revolutions – which, at the time, were
glorified and romanticized quite heavily – also served as an influence to Blake. He was so enamored, in
fact, by the idea of the American Revolution that he wrote what later became known as the ‘prophetic
book’ – a series of interrelated poetic works that drew upon his own mythology, which attempted to
make sense of the current political and spiritual mire of the time. This particular book was called
‘America, a Prophecy’, and it was published in 1793 on eighteen different plates. Only fourteen copies
are in circulation today.

If one follow Blake’s mind through the several stages of his poetic development it is
impossible to regard him as a naïf, a wild man, a wild pet for the supercultivated.
The strangeness is evaporated, the peculiarity is seen to be the peculiarity of all
great poetry: something which is found (not everywhere) in Homer and Æschylus
and Dante and Villon, and profound and concealed in the work of Shakespeare—
and also in another form in Montaigne and in Spinoza. It is merely a peculiar
honesty, which, in a world too frightened to be honest, is peculiarly terrifying. It is
an honesty against which the whole world conspires, because it is unpleasant.
Blake’s poetry has the unpleasantness of great poetry. Nothing that can be called
morbid or abnormal or perverse, none of the things which exemplify the sickness of
an epoch or a fashion, have this quality; only those things which, by some
extraordinary labour of simplification, exhibit the essential sickness or strength of
the human soul. And this honesty never exists without great technical
accomplishment. The question about Blake the man is the question of the
circumstances that concurred to permit this honesty in his work, and what
circumstances define its limitations. The favouring conditions probably include
these two: that, being early apprenticed to a manual occupation, he was not
compelled to acquire any other education in literature than he wanted, or to acquire
it for any other reason than that he wanted it; and that, being a humble engraver, he
had no journalistic-social career open to him.
– T.S. Elliot on William Blake.
One of the tenets of his mythology was this: the manipulation of religion for the means of the Catholic
church; the misconstruing of religious values such as mercy, piety, love, and faith by the money-hungry
bishops and nuns of the Church of England; the destruction of innocence by the journey into adult hood;
the power of human creativity and freedom; and the spiritual unity with the divine, which he thought of
as this: ‘mercy has a human heart, while pity is revealed in the human face’.

Auguries of Innocence Summary

The poet’s argument is that the natural world is in a state of constant cycle; the world, which is reborn
and remade throughout nature, symbolizes the innocence of man that is forgotten and pushed aside as
man advances closer to adulthood. It explores the value and limitations of the human perspective as
opposed to the cycle of nature, which grows ever older and more experienced, and yet also, in some
cases, remains untouched and unblemished. Throughout the poem, Blake’s anger at the corruption
within his country, and within humanity, is almost palpable; this is a trait indicative of Blake’s personal
style, which, while heavily symbolic, is also heavily critical and powerful.

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 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
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.

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
Theyd 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.

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.
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
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
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.

Historical Background
Auguries of Innocence is a collection of conflicting situations written as a kind of prophetic judgement.
It pits the innocent against the mature, the rich against the poor, the elite against the underprivileged, and
invites the audience to recognize the fragile beauty and balance found within nature. The rough rhyme
scheme and uneven length of the poem adds to its sense of passion and fury, as it reads much like a plea
from the poet to the reader.