A DIVINE IMAGE

Cruelty has a human heart, And Jealousy a human face; Terror the human form divine, And Secresy the human dress.

The human dress is forged iron, The human form a fiery forge, The human face a furnace sealed, The human heart its hungry gorge.

William Blake

Mood:: Angry
Topics:: fear, heart, fire, concealment, jealousy

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Summary

In Blake’s few sharp lines, he packs a disturbing contrast. At first, personified abstractions—Cruelty, Jealousy, Terror, Secrecy—seem to wear human features: a heart, a face, a form, a dress. But then the poem twists; those soft human parts turn hard and industrial.

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A DIVINE IMAGE

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Discord in Childhood

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