Welcome to Poem of the Day – The Invocation by William Blake.
William Blake, one of the most iconic and visionary poets of the Romantic period, composed The Invocation as part of his larger work Songs of Experience (1794). This brief yet powerful poem exemplifies Blake’s distinctive use of symbolic imagery, spiritual inquiry, and thematic exploration of innocence and experience. Through The Invocation, Blake invites the reader into his world of mysticism and profound philosophical reflection, blending his artistic genius with his unique vision of human existence. This essay will provide a detailed analysis of The Invocation, focusing on its themes, language, structure, and the philosophical implications it carries.
The Invocation
Daughters of Beulah! Muses who inspire the Poet’s Song,
Record the journey of immortal Milton thro’ your realms
Of terror and mild moony lustre, in soft Sexual delusions
Of varièd beauty, to delight the wanderer, and repose
His burning thirst and freezing hunger! Come into my hand,
By your mild power descending down the nerves of my right arm
From out the portals of my Brain, where by your ministry
The Eternal Great Humanity Divine planted His Paradise,
And in it caus’d the Spectres of the Dead to take sweet form
In likeness of Himself. Tell also of the False Tongue, vegetated
Beneath your land of Shadows, of its sacrifices and
Its offerings; even till Jesus, the image of the Invisible God,
Became its prey; a curse, an offering, and an atonement
For Death Eternal, in the Heavens of Albion, and before the Gates
Of Jerusalem his Emanation, in the Heavens beneath Beulah!
The Invocation Explanation
The Invocation is one of the opening poems of Songs of Experience, a collection that contrasts with Blake’s earlier work, Songs of Innocence. While Songs of Innocence explores the purity, simplicity, and joy of life, Songs of Experience takes a darker, more complex view of human existence. In The Invocation, Blake confronts issues of spiritual and moral awakening, calling upon divine inspiration to guide the poet’s work. The poem can be seen as an appeal to the imagination and the divine, seeking understanding and revelation in a world marked by suffering, complexity, and contradiction.
The poem is an invocation—a call for divine guidance or intervention—and in the case of Blake, the poet’s invocation is directed towards a higher power, likely one that represents the creative and spiritual forces of the universe. In this light, The Invocation is not merely a personal plea, but a collective appeal to the power that governs the world of imagination, revelation, and the soul.
The Structure and Form of The Invocation
Blake’s The Invocation consists of four short stanzas. The simplicity of the poem’s structure is characteristic of his work in Songs of Experience. The use of a short, direct form mirrors the urgency of Blake’s appeal and the concise nature of his mystical reflections. Each stanza consists of four lines with a consistent rhyme scheme, contributing to the sense of rhythm and harmony that permeates the poem.
The relatively simple form is not meant to detract from the poem’s weighty themes but to focus attention on the depth and intensity of the spiritual longing it expresses. The uniformity of the rhyme scheme creates a meditative, chant-like quality, enhancing the incantatory effect of the poet’s appeal. Through this controlled, structured form, Blake evokes a sense of both order and divine clarity, elements which are critical to the spiritual revelations that the poem seeks.
Thematic Exploration
Spiritual Awakening and Divine Inspiration
The primary theme of The Invocation is the quest for divine guidance. Blake calls upon a higher power—perhaps representing God, the divine creative force, or the spirit of the imagination itself—to open the doors of perception and inspire the poet. This theme ties into the broader vision that Blake explored throughout his poetry: the relationship between the human soul and the divine, and the power of imagination to transcend the material world.
Here, Blake introduces the concept of pity and mercy as intrinsic to human experience, yet dependent upon suffering and inequality. In this invocation, Blake is not just asking for artistic inspiration but is also seeking a deeper understanding of human suffering, compassion, and the moral complexities of life. The emphasis on poverty and happiness suggests that moral virtues like pity and mercy only arise when people face adversity and inequality, a key idea that permeates Blake’s work.
Contradictions of Innocence and Experience
The second theme that emerges in The Invocation is the paradoxical relationship between innocence and experience. Blake’s poetic project often centered on the tension between these two states, with Songs of Innocence representing purity and simplicity, and Songs of Experience representing corruption, complexity, and the loss of that purity. However, for Blake, neither state is entirely positive or negative; rather, they are two sides of the same coin.
Blake’s invocation of mercy, love, and pity highlights the virtues that arise from suffering and experience. These virtues allow humanity to transcend the limitations of the material world and enter into a deeper connection with the divine. Yet, this connection is only possible because of the experience of suffering, inequality, and hardship. The contrast between the innocence of the ideal and the experience of the real world is where Blake sees true spiritual awakening taking place.
The Role of Imagination
Imagination is a central concept in Blake’s poetry, and in The Invocation, it plays a critical role in connecting the poet with divine inspiration. For Blake, imagination is not simply a mental exercise but a higher faculty that allows one to perceive spiritual truths and transcend the limitations of the physical world. The invocation, in this context, can be seen as a plea for the activation of the imagination, the key to understanding deeper truths about the world and the self.
Blake believed that imagination had the power to “create” reality, suggesting that the world as we perceive it is not the ultimate reality but a manifestation of spiritual truths that the imagination can reveal. This mystical view aligns with Blake’s broader theological beliefs, which saw divine inspiration and creativity as essential to spiritual enlightenment.
The Call for Reformation
Finally, The Invocation expresses Blake’s broader desire for social and spiritual reformation. By invoking divine forces and asking for mercy, pity, and love, the poem calls for a transformation of society itself—one that addresses the inequalities and injustices Blake saw in the world. This is aligned with Blake’s radical political views, which critiqued the social, religious, and political structures of his time. The poem can be read as a critique of a society that has strayed from its spiritual and moral ideals, and a call for a return to divine, imaginative truths.
The Language and Imagery
Blake’s language in The Invocation is deceptively simple yet rich with symbolic meaning. The imagery of pity, mercy, and love, while common in religious discourse, is imbued with a mystical and visionary quality that elevates the poem’s ordinary language into a spiritual appeal. By using concrete terms like “somebody poor” and “happy,” Blake grounds his spiritual invocation in real-world experiences, making the themes of the poem more immediate and relatable. Yet, these concepts also function on a symbolic level, representing larger metaphysical ideas about human suffering, divine grace, and spiritual redemption.
Blake’s use of the word “God” is also significant. While Blake was deeply spiritual, he often eschewed conventional notions of God as a distant, authoritarian figure, instead envisioning God as a dynamic, creative force present in all things. In The Invocation, the God that Blake appeals to is not an abstract deity but an active, immanent force that can be invoked through the act of imagination, creativity, and spiritual inquiry.
Conclusion
The Invocation by William Blake is a brief but powerful poem that encapsulates many of the themes that preoccupy Blake’s work: the tension between innocence and experience, the power of imagination, and the call for divine inspiration and moral reform. Through its simple yet evocative language, the poem invites the reader into a world where spiritual and material realms intersect, where the divine is accessible through creativity and moral reflection. In this sense, the poem is not just a call for artistic inspiration but a spiritual plea for a deeper understanding of the human condition, one that recognizes both the beauty and the suffering inherent in life. For Blake, the act of invoking divine mercy and insight is inseparable from the act of artistic creation, making The Invocation a central work in his larger poetic project and a timeless exploration of the soul’s yearning for truth and transformation.
