Clod and Pebbles

Clod and Pebbles

"Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a heaven in hell's despair."

So sung a little Clod of Clay,
Trodden with the cattle's feet,
But a Pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:

"Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another's loss of ease,
And builds a hell in heaven's despite."
WILLIAM BLAKE

Before entering......

before we enter into the poem i hope that some basic information about the works of Blake will throw some light on the understanding that we have about the poet.

Basically Blake has two main poetic collections. They are "Songs of Innocence", "Songs of Experience". These two collections are interconnected. In the first collection the poet sees everything with a child's heart. Almost he praises everything he sees, Love, religion, god, the king, and the country; all are praised. on the contrary in the second collection he almost blames everything. He thinks that when a man gets the experience from the world he becomes a bad person. He becomes corrupted through the experience he gets from the atmosphere around him.

Moreover! It is worth saying that most of the poems in the first collection have the counter poems in the second collection. For instance we can take the poem "Chimney Sweeper" In the "Songs of Innocence". This poem deals with a small boy who was sold to work as a "Chimney Sweeper". The boy doesn't blame his parents, Kings, religion and everything. He sees everything with a child's perspective or the poet sees everything with the child's heart. The counter poem in the "Songs of Experience" deals the things in a different view. In this poem the poet scolds everyone who come across.

With this view, If we enter into the poem "Clod and the Pebbles", we can understand that this poem deals with the two above mentioned perspectives; innocence and experience.