A fiend may set "reason up for judge / Of our most holy Mystery"
— Blake, William (1757-1827)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Lambeth
Publisher
The Author and Printer, W. Blake
Date
1794
Metaphor
A fiend may set "reason up for judge / Of our most holy Mystery"
Metaphor in Context
Nought loves another as itself
Nor venerates another so.
Nor is it possible to Thought
A greater than itself to know:
And Father, how can I love you,
Or any of my brothers more?
I love you like the little bird
That picks up crumbs around the door.
The Priest sat by and heard the child.
In trembling zeal he siez'd his hair:
He led him by his little coat:
And all admir'd the Priestly care.
And standing on the altar high,
Lo what a fiend is here! said he:
One who sets reason up for judge
Of our most holy Mystery.
The weeping child could not be heard.
The weeping parents wept in vain:
They strip'd him to his little shirt.
And bound him in an iron chain.
And burn'd him in a holy place,
Where many had been burn'd before:
The weeping parents wept in vain.
Are such things done on Albions shore.
Nor venerates another so.
Nor is it possible to Thought
A greater than itself to know:
And Father, how can I love you,
Or any of my brothers more?
I love you like the little bird
That picks up crumbs around the door.
The Priest sat by and heard the child.
In trembling zeal he siez'd his hair:
He led him by his little coat:
And all admir'd the Priestly care.
And standing on the altar high,
Lo what a fiend is here! said he:
One who sets reason up for judge
Of our most holy Mystery.
The weeping child could not be heard.
The weeping parents wept in vain:
They strip'd him to his little shirt.
And bound him in an iron chain.
And burn'd him in a holy place,
Where many had been burn'd before:
The weeping parents wept in vain.
Are such things done on Albions shore.
Categories
Provenance
Searching "reason" and "judge" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1794).
Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul (Lambeth: The Author & Printer W Blake, 1794).
Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul (Lambeth: The Author & Printer W Blake, 1794).
Date of Entry
09/01/2004
