Blake, Hardy and the Poetics of Mixed Beliefs

Abstract

This discourse examines the belief patterns and existential views of William Blake and Thomas Hardy, two of the most misunderstood English poets. Although they belong to radically different literary traditions — Romanticism for Blake, then Victorianism and Modernism for Hardy — the considerations that bring them together far outweigh those that put them apart. Both poets share similar social concerns and sympathy for the masses, controversial existential views, and a poetics of mixed beliefs that oscillates between rejection and acceptance of Christian orthodoxy. The paper argues that the term “Agnostic” appears inappropriate to describe either poet, as both exhibit split personalities and mixed belief patterns that defy easy categorization.

Keywords: William Blake, Thomas Hardy, mixed beliefs, existential views, Christianity, agnosticism, poetics

Introduction

William Blake and Thomas Hardy may in no circumstance be considered contemporaries, for Hardy was born 85 years, almost a century, after Blake died. History puts the two English classics far apart with almost nothing, superficially, connecting them together. That notwithstanding, it has not been proven that his admiration of the romantics excluded Blake, one of the prominent romantics. Both poets belong to literary traditions or movements that are radically different — romanticism for Blake then Victorianism and Modernism for Hardy. Nevertheless, the considerations that bring the two prominent English poets together far outweigh the factors that put them apart. The homogeneity in their belief patterns and existential views, and most especially, the fact of being the most misunderstood English poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, constitute not only the reason for putting them together, but also serve as the main purpose of this discourse.

Like Hardy who admired his predecessors, Blake fell in love with the classics or ancient literature. Blake greatly admired the roots of their literature. He was widely hailed and appreciated as a visionary poet, while others described him as a revolutionary, who was bent on changing the status quo imposed by the conservative political and religious institutions of the time. Hardy does not fall short of Blake’s revolutionary spirit. By almost the same measure, he desired to see the oppressed liberated and above all, see an improvement in the deplorable living conditions of the poor perpetrated by repressive human institutions.

Misunderstood Poets

Apart from their similar social concerns, their belief patterns or controversial existential views evidently stand as the strongest uniting elements between them. The consideration that Blake was a visionary poet who attracted the admiration of many is not shared by all. Shirley Dent rather holds that Blake “…was a confused failure but a great humanist.” The apparent confusion in which Blake found himself, earned him the name ‘madman’. Blake’s apparent ‘insanity’ is seen by some critics in terms of his outright rejection of the word of God or the Bible, where he sought personal approach to scriptural interpretations. Some critics ascribe his controversial worldview to diverse sources of his inspiration, which include German mystic Jakob Boehme, Swedenborgianism, and Blake’s personal visions.

Blake moved away from the conventional on matters of religion and entered into a universe of his own. He said to himself “I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s”. Blake did not believe that God exists apart from man, but says expressly, ‘Man is All imagination. God is Man and exists in us and we in Him… imagination or the Human Eternal Body in Every Man.’ His ‘deviant views’ are evident in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, a series of texts written in imitation of Biblical prophecy, wherein Blake states many Proverbs of Hell.

Blake operated in a cosmos of his own where he designed his mythology, in his prophetic books. Therein, he describes a series of characters, including ‘Urizen’, ‘Enitharmon’, ‘Bromion’ and ‘Luvah’. This mythology seems to have a basis in the Bible and in Greek mythology, and it accompanies his ideas about the everlasting Gospel.

Hardy, in the same vein, “complex and multifaceted … His philosophy seemed to be full of contradictions.” Like Blake, Hardy distanced himself from religious and social orthodoxies. He believed in a First Cause; and his preoccupation was not God’s existence but his nature. His poetry offers an exposition of the various ideas he explored in his attempt to make sense of the traditional Christian God of his youth in the context of the rapidly changing world.

Similarly, in “Doom and She” Nature and God are portrayed like split personalities of one being. It is important to note that Hardy’s existential question does not immediately qualify him as an atheist, rather it situates him in the position of lack of genuine faith. His poetry and biography suggest that emotionally he clings to the hope that God is a positive force but intellectually he cannot evidently support this idea. Therefore, his art, and particularly his poetry, oscillates between hope and doubt and in his heart lies the everlasting and unanswered question about the nature of God.

Hardy’s agnosticism prevails probably because of the chaotic nature of humanity. In “Nature’s Questioning” he doubts and wonders in his declaration, “we wonder, ever wonder, why we find us here!” Similarly, he portrays a tragic undertone in “God Forgotten”. By trying to remind God that He has neglected His creation somewhere, insinuates the fact that God has completely forgotten about his creation.

Their Positive Reception of Christian Beliefs

Blake’s religious ambivalence is astonishing because reading The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and some of his poems in Songs of Innocence and Experience, leaves one with the impression that he was not an atheist. However, Blake’s Christian beliefs and theological perceptions are rooted in the scriptures. Although he sought personal approach to interpretation, his works do not fail to give a picture of one who believed in the Bible and in Christ.

Blake argues that “If one is to see that ‘heaven [is] in a wild flower,’ one must be able to see the ‘Infinite in all things. To do so also brings one closer to God.” Also, “The Tyger” exemplifies the conception of the Divine being in all things. In the poem, Blake marvels over the fact that the same Divine hand, which “made the Lamb” also created a dreaded and sublime creature as the Tyger.

Concretely, Blake believes in the “Divine Image” that God created man in his image and so man is a reflection of the attributes of God, which are ‘Mercy’, ‘Pity’, ‘Peace’ and ‘Love’. Also, “The Lamb” epitomises innocence and the relationship between the young and the divine. He uses the lamb as a metaphor for Christ, the Son of God.

Interestingly, Hardy like Blake wasn’t as negative towards God as some critics believe. Hardy had an important evangelical phase that left a deep impress on his thought. Pamela Dalziel argues that “‘Evangelical style and theology’ that the eighteen-year-old Hardy wrote, reveals convincing evidence ‘of his already being sympathetic to Evangelicalism by October 1858’.” For James Townsend, Hardy’s Biblical knowledge can only be matched with that of a refined theologian. Townsend does a statistical evaluation of the number of biblical allusions used in both his novels and poetry and realises that in his nine novels out of fourteen, there are 1516 general allusions and 518 specific allusions to the Bible.

Hardy’s presentation of idealistic dreams in “In Tenebris II” and other poems ultimately reveal what he does maintain as a viable source of hope, observable human actions. Christ becomes an important figure to Hardy, as He not only serves as a symbol to inspire virtuous actions in others, but provides a historical example of the possibility and efficacy of human virtue.

Conclusion

Blake and Hardy appear to have calved out an existential sphere of their own, where no one seems to understand them. Andrew M. Cooper states that “Blake occupies an often ambiguous borderline between the divine madness of inspiration, and the demonic madness of incapacity and false or fruitless labour, a madness of irrationality, slavery, and compulsive repletion.” Similarly, Hardy defied innovations that were taking place in the literary landscape and entered into a world of his own. Louise Dauner argues in this light that Hardy “remained consistent with his own individuality.” Generally, Hardy can neither be styled as a committed Christian nor as an atheist. Even his description as an agnostic still appears in adequate to describe the existential views of the most controversial writer in English literary history.

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