William Blake as Mystic Poet. | Mysticism in “Songs of Innocence and of Experience”.
Mysticism is like measuring the unfathomable ocean of uncertainty overwhelmed with the tides of inner turmoil. The mystic, armed with gleaming spirit and divine breaths, embarks on the journey of unfolding the celestial truths hidden behind the curtains of finite and infinite. In this spiritual expedition, the mystic harbours in the soul to navigate the garden of wisdom with the oars of illuminated imagination and complex emotions. In this garden, the flowers of enlightenment bloom with the crystal clear colour of reality and their fragrance indicates the throne of eternity, out of time and space.
In “Songs of Innocence and of Experience”, William Blake choreographed the spectrum of mysticism with the brushes of rhyme and rhythm. He created the harmony between the intellect and the heart with a luminous range of spiritual colours. He illuminated the dark chambers of audiences’ souls with his mystical rainbow of love.
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, Infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.”
(William Blake, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”)
William Blake as Mystic Poet.
Suppose we cast a bird’s eye view on the history of English Literature. In that case, we will find William Blake (1757–1827) prominent among literary giants and tycoons in the Romantic Age. Whenever you read between the lines of Blake’s poetic rhythm, you will find the empathy-bleeding heart for humanity and the mercy-embedded intellect.
“Piper, sit thee down and write
In a book that all may read’
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.”
Shining Stars of Joy in Mystical Universe of Blake’s Poetry.
William Blake with the help of the gleam of visionary flame, indicates the galaxies of intuition. Here stars are shimmering with the light of innocence.
Innocent Smiles of Mystical Joy in Blake’s Poetry.
In the poem “Infant’s Joy” William Blake drives us with the robes of simplicity and makes us dance in the meadow of innocence. In the theatre of the audiences’ imaginations, William Blake appears as an Angel of blissfulness and narrates a two-day-old baby wrapped in a quilt of joy and happiness. His name is Joy and he expects life to be the heaven of happiness.
“Joy is my name.’
Sweet joy befall thee!
Pretty joy!
Sweet joy, but two days old.
Sweet joy, I call thee”
Spring as a Catalyst for Mystical Joy.
In “Songs of Innocence and of Experience” William Blake emerges as a pilgrim navigating the spiritual orbits around the holy shrine of joy. In the joyous notes of “Spring”, he delineates the beauty of the pilgrimage with an artistic spirit. The melodious music of the flute is overwhelmed by the enchanting chirping of the nightingale. The readers along with the delighted bird, happy boys and girls, sing:
“Sound the flute!
Now it’s mute.
Birds delight
Day and night;
Nightingale
In the dale,
Lark in sky,
Merrily,
Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the year.
Little boy,
Full of joy’
Little girl,
Sweet and small;”
Manifestation of Mystical Joy with Rising Sun.
William Blake feels that the hearts frozen in desperation and sorrow can embrace the divine luminosity in the sunbath of the rising sun. The poem “The Echoing Green” presents a happy sky because of the merriment of skylarks, thrush and other birds gliding with cheerful spirits. The sentimental chirping of saintly birds makes the breeze perfumed with passionate energies. Now the Old John sitting under the Old Oak, tears up the blanket of despair with a joyous simile and tries to resurrect the cheerful avatar of innocent childhood. The beauty of nature has pushed him behind the boundaries of time and space into a zealous and energetic childhood.
“Such, such were the joys
When we all, girls and boys,
In our youth-time were seen
On the Echoing Green”
Blake, as a Mystic Poet Dances In Green Woods.
The metaphysical imagination of William Blake sings mirthful verses in “Laughing Song” for readers trapped in enigmas and complexities of the forest of existence. The giggling echo of the flowing stream of life absorbs the gloomy shadows of the green woods and gives a courageous calm to the eclipsed hearts of the readers. The branches of the woods become violins in harmony with the exciting melody of the grasshopper and try to choreograph the dance of the readers in the meadow of reality. They try to join the song of Mary, Susan and Emily.
“When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,
When Mary and Susan and Emily,
With their sweet round mouths sing ‘Ha, He, He!’
When the painted birds laugh in the shade,”
Depiction of Innocence Proves Blake as a Mystic Poet.
William Blake is equipped with a sword of love and a shield of innocence to guard his apex of sainthood. He takes care of the fragrance of the flowers of wisdom from uncleaned souls and fruits of love from the cruelty of the material world. He presents children as the ambassadors of innocence because seraphs of chastity and cherubs of nobility secure their souls.
“Once a dream did weave a shade
O’er my Angel-guarded bed,
That an Emmet lost its way
Where on grass methought I lay.”
Brutal Kissing to Innocence with Wand of Church-Authority.
In the poem “Holy Thursday (1)”, William Blake plays a musical hymn of heartache on the cello of mysticism with the sticks of spiritual innocence and wounded spirit with grief. The audience becomes the chorus with the tearful note of the hymn. They can see behind the religious cloaks of the church staff having wands to direct the spick and span faces of flowers of London. The mystical eye of William Blake sees the vigorous flow of the river Thames in the joyful march of the children. It seems that the harmonious thunders created by the song-storms of the children are forcing the heavens to kneel before their holy innocence. The mighty wind created by innocent hands conquers the strict behaviour of grey-headed beadles and the dullness of the wise guardians of the poor.
“To Heaven the voice of song,
Or like harmonious thunderings
The seats of Heaven among.
Beneath them sit the aged men,
Wise guardians of the poor.”
Nursing the Warriors of Innocence in the Battle against the Gods Materialistic World.
In the battle between the Divine and Satan, benevolence and selfishness, the innocent warriors of mysticism get wounded. The pythons of dark valleys of worldly desires and remorseless predators of lust can create a sinister thirst in their hearts. The darkness of lustful night makes the venom of these pythons more poisonous and the teeth of these predators more sharpened. So the nurse, in “Nurse’s Song” is calling the children back to the shelter because she is anticipating the decay of innocent hearts trapped in ostentations of materialistic longings.
“Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down,
And the dews of night arise;
Come, come, leave off play, and let us away
Till the morning appears in the skies.”
Innocence Cures the Souls Stabbed with the Dagger of Falsehood.
In the grand cinema of mysticism, William Blake started a show named “Little Boy Lost” and “Little Boy Found”. The protagonist is a spiritual voyager who has lost his sacred path towards the divine. His feet are trapped in the disgusting mud of worldly comforts. The cursed villains of lustful instincts have ruptured his magnificent robe of innocence. He is weep in the pain of snake bites. The poison of materialistic entertainment has inhibited all the spiritual functions in his heart and mind. In this moment of agony, God appears and returns the innocence to His child. He gets his child back to the mother.
“He kissed the child, and by the hand led,
And to his mother brought,
Who in sorrow pale, thro’ the lonely dale,
Her little boy weeping sought.”
