In "Proverbs of
Hell," Blake constructs a set of parables in what appears to be a standard
moralistic style that prompts the reader to recognize "the inadequacy of
conventional moral categories" (148). Blake's instructions intend to
strike a kind of harmony between the age-old contraries of heaven and hell,
good and evil. Rather than running wild with his material and tripping right
into the satanic pits of hell, however, Blake leaves his reader with proverbs
that are self-contained and almost puritanical in their diction and imagery.
In Plate 9, three of
Blake’s lines exhibit his rigid purpose and thought-process especially well. He
begins, “The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction” (5). As
he does frequently, Blake anchors his message in natural forms (animals, in
this case). However, unlike in many of his works, the tiger in this instance is
not such a direct embodiment of the devil as it is in the poem, “The Tyger.”
Rather, the tiger is a natural vehicle for wrath, just as the horse in this
proverb is an unnatural vehicle for
direction and order. While the tiger is able to act in a biological manner
stemming from impulse and fury, the horse’s natural being is stifled by
instruction. This instruction may even be divine instruction. Blake conveys his
disdain of religious rigid order and tyranny using two beings that are
naturally symbolic.
The next line in Plate 9, “Expect
poison from the standing water” (6), is perhaps an even clearer depiction of
Blake’s entire purpose. Much of Blake’s work was designed to show that the
traditional conceptions of good and evil are invalid. Traditionally, evil “is
everything associated with the body and its desires and consists essentially of
energy” (148). In this proverb, Blake uses the image of water to show the
difference between states of matter
and states of being. In the
conventional sense, the term a state of
matter could fit nicely into the confines of “what is good”; a state of
natural matter is that which follows direction, that which is reasonable and
restrained. Water, a natural element, is a state of matter in the realm of
science. Blake uses a real-life parable about actual survival to make the
connection between standing water (as a state of matter) with poison and evil. With
Blake’s paradox in place, the reader then goes on to draw a parallel between
moving water and states of energy or states of being. Essentially, Blake posits
that to be a being, one must move, one must have energy.
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