The Divine Image: Poet & Context

William Blake’s Context:

Poem, The Divine Image is a part of William Blake’s collection of poems in Songs of Innocence. Blake not only wrote the poems but illustrated the plates that the verses were printed on. His craftsmanship in printmaking and illuminating these texts underlines the fact that he was not just a poet but a visionary spiritual artist.
Blake lived and wrote during the Romantic Era. The Romantic poets gave importance to nature, feelings, and the power of imagination over reason and system. Blake differed from the other Romantics by taking these ideas to extreme limits, often landing him in the space of the prophetic and mystical.
Values expressed in The Divine Image – such as love, empathy, and social equality – reflect the ideas circulated by The French Revolution, which began in 1789 and heavily influenced Blake’s writing. Blake was a keen supporter of these revolutionary principles.

Blake’s Attitude to Formal Christianity:

Blake had a complex relationship with the Church, as reflected in The Divine Image. While he strongly disagreed with the dogma and institutionalised religion, he actively sought and acknowledged the divine in day-to-day human existence.
Blake was critical of the Church’s doctrines which support the view that people ‘naturally’ sin. He believed in the inherent potential for goodness in every individual - a critical aspect of the Human Divine represented in this poem.

The Poem in The Collection’s Context:

The Divine Image celebrates the Divine qualities that reside within humanity. However, it’s counterpart in Songs of Experience, A Divine Image, reflects Blake’s disillusionment by depicting the negative elements such as Cruelty, Jealousy, Terror and Secrecy within human beings.
The poem is an example of Blake’s revulsion against any system (religious, political, social) that suppresses the inherent divinity within individuals – a theme running through the entire Songs of Innocence and Experience collection.

Please, consult specific notes on comparative poems for detailed correlations.