Blake’s speaker addresses Tirzah, a figure who embodies physical birth, the mortal body, and the whole cycle of shame-fuelled sexuality. The tone is harsh and accusatory: she is a cruel mother who “moulded” his heart and trapped his senses in clay, binding him to suffering. There’s a strong feeling of betrayal—as if being born into a body was a deliberate trick, a prison made of “false self-deceiving tears.” Yet the mood shifts from resentment to a cold, liberated defiance. The death of Jesus, for Blake, is the moment that breaks this cycle; it transforms death into sleep and frees the speaker from the demands of the flesh. The repeated question “what have I to do with thee?” lands as a final, decisive break—the soul walking away from its mortal chains with a kind of exhausted triumph.
To Tirzah — Summary
Whate'er is born of mortal birth Must be consumed with the earth, To rise from generation free: Then what have I to do with thee? The sexes sprang from shame and pride, Blown in the morn, in evening died; But mercy changed death into sleep; The sexes rose to work and weep.
Thou, mother of my mortal part, With cruelty didst mould my heart, And with false self-deceiving tears Didst bind my nostrils, eyes, and ears,
Didst close my tongue in senseless clay, And me to mortal life betray. The death of Jesus set me free: Then what have I to do with thee?