Man's desire vs. God's will
Man's desire vs. God's willWhat place should the church have in one's life? This has been a debated question for many decades. In William Blake's poem, "The Garden of Love", Blake declares his hatred toward the church, and claims that it has unlawfully used its powerful and vicious hand to do wrong upon society.The first stanza describes the contentment that God bestowed upon man: I went to the Garden of Love, / And saw what I never had seen: / A Chapel was built in the midst, / Where I used to play on the green (1-4). The Garden of Love here represents God's pure love in its most natural form. God's love in this unadulterated form, opened up the writers eyes, thereby allowing him to have a personal relationship with his creator. The garden was untainted by man's hand; hence it was love in its most perfect and pure form. Although there was a chapel built next to the garden, the writer indicates that he decided to play in the green grass, God's creation. The color Green sign
It is no coincidence that Blake choose to associate the color black with priests. In the third stanza Blake points out that the garden he once loved, has been trampled by the hands of man: And I saw it was filled with graves, / And tomb-stones where flowers should be: / And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, / And binding with briars my joys & desires (9-12). This closed off the union of man and god, and created a new relationship, man and church. The writer feels as if man has no place to change the ordinances and rules that God has established. He despised the fact that the church would willfully exploit God for it's own malicious intent. To remove all the pleasure out of life, and tell believers how to live, regardless of what the Bible says. The tombstones signify the death of man's relationship with god. They wanted to dictate the will of God to man. The sealing of the gates represents the church trying to meddle in the relationship that believers had with God. One can almost see the Physical church muscling in and taking over the luscious green grass; much like a tiger pouncing on its prey. ifies the innocence of the writer at this point in his life, and implies that he has yet to let the church impede his relationship with God. Blake uses rigid language to help the reader paint an evil picture of the mighty church moving in and pushing God out of the way. Blake despises the fact that the church came in stole what God has given man. In the second stanza, Blake describes how the church forced it's beliefs on the individual: And the gates of this chapel were shut, / And "Thou shall not" writ over the door; / so I turn'd to the Garden of Love, / That so many sweet flowers bore (5-8). This represents the death that the church caused, and makes the church appear to be evil and trite.
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Acceptance Essays
