Auguries of Innocence

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1863

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

The highly rhythmic poem largely follows an AABB rhyme scheme with exceptions at the beginning and toward the end. The first four lines contain an alternate rhyme scheme, that is, ABAB: “To see a World in a Grain of Sand / And a Heaven in a Wild Flower / Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand / And Eternity in an hour.” The second deviation occurs in Lines 121-24, which all contain the same end rhyme and thus follow an AAAA rhyme pattern. Moreover, the end rhymes become increasingly similar in the last section of the poem, with lines often ending on “delight,” “Night” and “Light.” While the poem is mostly organized as couplets or pairs of rhyming lines, the first stanza follows the form of a ballad.

The poem’s meter is not very regular, though Blake mostly uses the iamb—a stressed sound following an unstressed sound—as his basic foot. The most common meter is the iambic tetrameter, containing four (tetra) pairs of iambs, as in Lines 31-32 (emphases denote stressed syllables): “He who | the Ox | to wrath | has mov'd | Shall nev | er be | by Wo | man lov'd.” The 132-line poem contains no stanzaic breaks, flowing as a series of prophetic pronouncements. The absence of breaks and a very consistent metrical structure ensure the poem reads like an urgent revelation or sermon. At times, the poet undercuts the thundering declamatory style with moments of songlike quietude.

The opening four lines follows balladic convention, as discussed, while Lines 121 onward enter the realm of incantation and echo. These stylistic deviations help undercut the monotony of the couplet structure. Blake also often fashions words to fit in his rhyme and meter, an example being “mov’d” and “lov’d” in Lines 31-32. To ensure stresses fall where the poet intends, the words are shortened. Rhymes are not always exact, as in Lines 45-46: “The Gnat that sings his Summers Song / Poison gets from Slanders tongue.” Here, “song” and “tongue” are not exactly the same sounds, creating near-rhymes instead.

Alliteration

The poet uses alliteration—the repetition of the initial consonant sounds of closely placed words—through the poem to enhance its speak-aloud, rhythmic quality, as well as deepen its symbolism. An early example of alliteration is found in Lines 5-6, where “A Robin Red breast in a cage/ Puts all Heaven in a Rage” (emphasis added). The stressed “r” sound adds music as well as menace. These lines also contain an instance of consonance, where non-initial consonant sounds are repeated. In “redbreast,” the “r” sound recurs mid-word.

Another instance of alliteration occurs in lines 71-72: “The Bleat, the Bark, Bellow, and Roar / Are Waves that Beat on Heaven's Shore." Here, the repeated “b” sound adds to the theme of all occurrences being connected. While the bleat, bark, and bellow—animal sounds denoting their suffering—may seem insignificant, unrelated phenomenon, the poet emphasizes that they actually comprise a gigantic wave crashing on the shores of Heaven.

Repetition

The poem also contains several instances of repetition, the literary device where words and phrases are repeated, either close to each other, or spread out. Repeated words, phrases, and sentences are a hallmark of prophetic sermons, reflecting the speaker’s passion and state of divine madness. Lest the state of revelation leave them, the speaker must drive home his urgent message, hence the use of repeated, emphatic words.

The most prominent instance of repetition in the poem occurs in Lines 120-24 (emphasis added):

Every Night & every Morn

Some to Misery are Born

Every Morn and every Night

Some are Born to sweet delight

Some are Born to Endless Night.

Almost all the words and phrases in this passage are repeated, creating an eerie sing-song emphasis, which complements the unsettling imagery of people born to suffer in endless night.

“Night” is also repeated at various other points in the poem, as part of the poem’s day-night and light-dark imagery. In Line 127, the speaker describes the ignorant as those who only understand that “Which was Born in a Night to perish in a Night,” while in Line 130, the ignorant are “those poor Souls who dwell in Night.” Similarly, words like “light” (Line 128, 129, and others) are repeated to denote the light of consciousness and awareness. Another example of repetition is seen in Line 7: “A Dove house filld with Doves & Pigeons.” In Christian iconography, the dove symbolizes the holy spirit. By emphasizing the image of the dove trapped in an overcrowded birdcage, the poet shows that the suffering of the bird and the holy spirit are linked.

Paradox

One of the poem’s central tenets is that the world is filled with paradox, yet the paradox is not discordant. Instead, paradox is actually both sides of the coin seen at the same time. In other words, paradox represents the whole, rather than the partial, truth of existence.

The poem begins with an image of paradox, where a “World” can be seen in a “Grain of Sand” (Line 1). The paradox here is that a tiny grain can contain an immense world. In the same vein, infinity can be held in the palm of one’s hand (Line 3) and eternity can be found in an hour (Line 4). Note how the poet juxtaposes abstract, unfathomably large (infinity and eternity) quantities with concrete small units (a hand, an hour).

Thus, he makes it clear that the nature of existence is paradoxical: human lives are measurable and finite, but existence itself is immeasurable. The Blakean twist here is that immeasurable existence can actually be experienced in finite human lives. Thus, the paradox is not antithetical or irreconcilable.

Another instance of paradox can be found in Lines 79-82:

The poor Mans Farthing is worth more

Than all the Gold on Africs Shore

One Mite wrung from the Labrers hands

Shall buy & sell the Misers Lands.

Here, the poor man’s penny is paradoxically more than all the gold found in Africa, while a laborer’s small earnings can buy out the lands of money-hoarders. Again, small quantities are juxtaposed with immense amounts; the paradox here is reconciled by the poem’s tenets that the poor man and laborer represent the whole truth and innocence, while gold and misers represent corruption and limited perception. Seen through the eyes of wisdom, the truth is that the value of the farthing and mite can bankrupt material wealth.

Religious Allusions

Blake also uses many symbols and allusions from Christian theology in “Auguries of Innocence.” In Line 7, the “Dove” is the symbol of the Holy Spirit from Christian iconography, while in Line 23, the sacrificial Lamb symbolizes Jesus Christ. In Blake’s poems and illustrations, the Lamb—a common Christian symbol for Christ—represents the benign aspect of God, while the Tiger represents God’s fierceness.

The poet alludes to the Last Judgment in Line 40, the day (according to the Bible) when all souls who have ever lived will be perfectly judged by Christ. In the poem, the souls who have been kind to animals—representing innocent beings—will receive the reward of Heaven, while the cruel will be condemned to a literal or figurative Hell.

Another Biblical allusion can be seen in Line 127, when limited human perception is described as temporary, something “Born in a Night to Perish in a Night.” In the Book of Jonah in the Old Testament in the Bible, God tells the prophet Jonah not to mourn a plant as it “came up in a night, and perished in a night” (Jonah 4:10, King James Version).