Food for thought from William Blake
William Blake was a unique poet and artist. I don’t think he fits into any category except “mystical visionary” and probably “some sort of genius.”
Many people are aware of his poem “The Tyger,” but he wrote a great deal more than that, and I’ve delved into a fair amount of it. And then there are his engravings, which are phenomenal.
Last night I came across Blake’s poem “I Saw a Monk of Charlemaine,” which I’d never read before (written some time around 1800). This particular stanza caught my eye:
The hand of Vengeance sought the bed
To which the purple tyrant fled;
The iron hand crush’d the tyrant’s head,
And became a tyrant in his stead.
There’s no question this sometimes happens, probably far more often than not. Is it inevitable, though? And does it matter whether the motive for “crushing the tyrant’s head” is vengeance or something more lofty?
One thing I’ve observed is that those who have “crushed the tyrant’s head” most always either think that their own motives are pure or pretend that their motives are pure.
A theme repeated in The Hunger Games where the leader of the revolution against the tyrant becomes exactly that herself; and the meets her own demise.
Blake was supposedly thinking of the French Revolution, most likely Robespierre– although the pattern Blake describes would also fit Oliver Cromwell, particularly his cruelty to the Irish during his invasion of Ireland in 1649-1650.
William Blake. OMG. Billy Blake in Joyce Cary’s “The Horse’s Mouth.” Blake and Whitman were poets, but one misses the point entirely to stop there.
Here’s a political Blake poem long stuck in my mind, courtesy of Loreena McKennitt. Perhaps about Ireland, in the case PA+Cat mentions:
___________________________________
O for a voice like thunder, and a tongue
To drown the throat of war! When the senses
Are shaken, and the soul is driven to madness,
Who can stand? When the souls of the oppressèd
Fight in the troubled air that rages, who can stand?
When the whirlwind of fury comes from the
Throne of God, when the frowns of his countenance
Drive the nations together, who can stand?
When Sin claps his broad wings over the battle,
And sails rejoicing in the flood of Death;
When souls are torn to everlasting fire,
And fiends of Hell rejoice upon the slain,
O who can stand? O who hath causèd this?
O who can answer at the throne of God?
The Kings and Nobles of the Land have done it!
Hear it not, Heaven, thy Ministers have done it!
–Loreena McKennitt, “Lullaby (with lyrics)
From “Prologue, Intended for a Dramatic Piece of King Edward the Fourth” by William Blake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLDZqczzniY
Many quotes convey the thought that power corrupts and that revolutions ultimately only exchange one tyrant for another.
For example, this poem by a great admirer of William Blake:
The Great Day
Hurrah for revolution and more cannon-shot!
A beggar upon horseback lashes a beggar on foot.
Hurrah for revolution and cannon come again!
The beggars have changed places, but the lash goes on.
When revolution did come, Yeats was more ambivalent about it, perhaps because so many of the revolutionaries were his friends.
Seems like each party is convinced that its opponents are evil and need to be stopped. Biden and the Democrats, though, take that further than it has been taken in recent years. Maybe the sense that their own rule isn’t quite legitimate makes them double down. Maybe having the power and not being afraid to use it to suppress their opponents makes them more convinced that their opponents absolutely have to be suppressed.
…Which is what makes the American Revolution so extraordinary.
Washington just wanted to go home…to Mt. Vernon. The rest wanted to ensure that the Republic would ENDURE…as a republic.
Cincinnatus was the model.
(And look how Ancient Rome ultimately relegated him….)
What is rather curious, though, is how Jefferson, the neo-Rousseau-an (all things being relative) ultimately became America’s prime mover of expansion and (if you will) EMPIRE….
Those Dead Old White Slave-Holding Dudes—DEISTS to a man, well maybe except for Franklin—sure knew a thing or two about the potential excesses of human nature. More accurately, they made it their business to KNOW a thing or two about human nature…
Those who crush the tyrant’s head, claim their motives are pure? Imagine that! …Why would they NOT make such claims? Whether or not they believe their words, there is at least a chance that their listeners will; or that the listeners will pretend to believe them, because there is a shared interest in restoring order and legitimacy. This is useful theater.
Pete Townsend said it best: “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”. Unfortunately his next line of won’t get fooled again, doesn’t always ring true.
Annie: “‘The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.’ William Blake.”
Crash: “William Blake?”
Annie: “William Blake.”
Crash: “William Blake?”
Annie: “William Blake!”
Crash: “What do you mean, ‘William Blake’?”
Annie “I mean William Blake!”
Crash: “Who are you?”
Purple Man Bad!