“The Divine Image” Introduction

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“The Divine Image” Summary

“The Divine Image” Themes

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  The Divinity and Unity of Humankind

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Divine Image”

• Lines 1-4

  To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
  All pray in their distress:
  And to these virtues of delight
  Return their thankfulness.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
  Is God, our father dear:
  And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
  Is Man, his child and care.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  For Mercy has a human heart,
  Pity, a human face:
  And Love, the human form divine,
  And Peace, the human dress.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  Then every man of every clime,
  That prays in his distress,
  Prays to the human form divine,
  Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  And all must love the human form,
  In heathen, Turk, or Jew.
  Where Mercy, Love, & Pity dwell,
  There God is dwelling too.

  

  

  

  

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“The Divine Image” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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“The Divine Image” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Mercy
• Pity
• Distress
• Dress
• Clime
• Heathen, Turk, or Jew

• • See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Divine Image”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Divine Image” Speaker

“The Divine Image” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Divine Image”

More “The Divine Image” Resources

• External Resources

  • Blake's Beliefs — Read noted scholar Kathleen Raine on Blake's ideas about how humanity relates to the divine.

  • Blake's Influence — Read novelist Philip Pullman's appreciation of Blake.

  • Songs of Innocence and Experience — Learn more about the Songs of Innocence and Experience, the famous collection this poem comes from—and see this poem in its original form as a hand-engraved, beautifully illustrated print.

  • The Poem as a Song — Listen to this poem set to music by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.

  • The Blake Archive — Visit the Blake Archive to learn more about Blake's life and work, and to see images of his visionary art.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to the poem read aloud (complete with a creepy animation of Blake's face).

• LitCharts on Other Poems by William Blake

  • A Dream

  • Ah! Sun-flower

  • A Poison Tree

  • Earth's Answer

  • Holy Thursday (Songs of Experience)

  • Holy Thursday (Songs of Innocence)

  • Infant Joy

  • Infant Sorrow

  • Introduction (Songs of Innocence)

  • London

  • Nurse's Song (Songs of Experience)

  • Nurse's Song (Songs of Innocence)

  • The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Experience)

  • The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)

  • The Clod and the Pebble

  • The Ecchoing Green

  • The Fly

  • The Garden of Love

  • The Human Abstract

  • The Lamb

  • The Little Black Boy

  • The Little Vagabond

  • The School Boy

  • The Sick Rose

  • The Tyger

  • To Autumn

  • To the Evening Star