EX-The Human Abstract (Partner DI)

Question 1

Reversing the terms of “The Divine Image” in Songs of Innocence, this poem spells out with cyclical enthusiasm how the authorities have perverted notions of pity and mercy to their ends, and how they use them to justify what?

Answer 1

to justify economic inequality and exploitation

Question 2

The poem highlights how authorities have perverted notions of pity and mercy to their ends and how they use it to justify economic inequality and exploitation. Here deceit and hypocrisy culminates in the what?

Answer 2

in the “dismal shade/Of Mystery” under the “Tree” which acts as the inversion of Christ’s crucifixion cross and serves only to cover over the deadly operations of tyranny

Question 3

What is the sing-along tone in this poem a direct counterpoint to?

Answer 3

to the violence of the imagery whereby we are shown how the whole of humanity is perverted by the lies of those in power

Question 4

The title here is all-important as whatever was ‘abstract’ to lake was deathly and derogated from what?

Answer 4

the fullness of life

Question 5

This poem offers a closer analysis of the four virtues first mentioned in “” in Innocence.

Answer 5

“The Divine Image”

Question 6

The poem asserts that the traditional Christian virtues of Mercy and Pity and Peace resuppose a world of what?

Answer 6

a world of poverty and human suffering since Pity could not exist without Poverty, and Mercy would not be necessary if everyone was happy and that Peace is sourced in fear

Question 7

The speaker refuses to see the four “virtues of delight” as ideals, why?

Answer 7

he reasons that an ideal world of universal happiness and genuine love would not require them.

Question 8

The poem begins as a methodical critique of the touchstone virtues that were so praised in “The Divine Image” What does the poem go on to call these “virtues of delight”

Answer 8

“selfish loves”

Question 9

The poem differs the four “virtues of delight” from Love as an innocent abstraction, it instead takes a turn to explore the growth, both insidious and organic of a system based on what?

Answer 9

fear, hypocrisy, repression and stagnation

Question 10

The description of the “tree” in the second part of the poem shows what about the intellectualised values like Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love?

Answer 10

that they become the breeding-ground fro Cruelty

Question 11

How does the speaker depict Cruelty?

Answer 11

as a conniving, knowing person who plants a tree as a trap which flourishes on fear and weeping

Question 12

The speaker depicts Cruelty as a conniving, knowing person who plants a tree as a trap which flourishes on fear and weeping; “Humility takes its root,” and “Mystery” in its foliage, but what is wrong with this?

Answer 12

it does not reflect the natural state of man

Question 13

The speaker states that the “Raven his nest is made” what does this suggest about the Tree?

Answer 13

that it is associated to the symbol of death

Question 14

By the end of the poem what does the reader realise about the above description of the Tree?

Answer 14

that it acts as a glimpse into the human mind, the mental experience which comments on the way abstract reasoning undermines a more natural system of values (the Humitiyly [which] takes its root)

Question 15

The Tree depicted in this poem is not one that lies in nature but where?

Answer 15

“there grows one in the Human Brain”

Question 16

What is the Human Abstract a symbolic analogy for?

Answer 16

for how the human mind is the agent of its own downfall

Question 17

The speaker suggests that the four “virtues of delight” represent a kind of passive and resigned sympathy that people like to experience when they pity others why?

Answer 17

so that they may feel virtuous in giving a donation to the poor

Question 18

BY speaking and thinking in abstract concepts Blakes illustrates how people are able to deceive themselves concerning the true motives for their conduct. Why?

Answer 18

as it is a way of avoiding the world humanity has cerated

Question 19

What does the titles suggest?

Answer 19

that humankind has produced an image of human nature made up of abstract concepts such as Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love which actually flatter and conceal the truth

Question 20

According to Blake, such abstract ideas are at the root of what he observes of contemporary religious practice. for Blake, what does he believe the whole religious system derive from?

Answer 20

self-centred love which breeds a cruel desire to control and repress human powers

Question 21

According to Blake, the mind has fallen into selfish love which begins to develop ideas of God as being one to fear. What does he suggest about this fear?

Answer 21

that fear leeds to tears of repentance for causing offence to their feared ruler which keeps the mind in subjection to God

Question 22

How does the tree described in this poe which represents the system of religion devised by the Human Brain differ to that described by Jesus in the Bible?

Answer 22

Here Jesus describes the Kingdom of God as being like a strong plant which develops from the seed of faith; all the birds find shelter in its capacious braces

Question 23

How does Blake suggest humility is bad?

Answer 23

as Blake saw humility as an undervaluing of human powers as humility meant believing oneself to be nothing in comparison to this external, feared authority figure, God. The ore humility grows, the more incomprehensible and divorced from human begins the human idea of God becomes

Question 24

What is the importance of “the Catterpiller and Fly, [which]

Feed on the Mystery. “?

Answer 24

they both symbolise something destructive or disease bearing which Blake suggest develops from Mystery as since we believe that our system is unfathomable, the final result is the ‘fruit’ of deceit which tangles a web of lies about the true nature of reality

Question 25

Implicit in the poem is a critique of the way in which people have developed what?

Answer 25

a “mind-forg’d manacles”

Question 26

Implicit in the poem is a critique of the way in which people have developed “mind-forg’d manacles”. These systems of thought have led to the construction of oppressive social structures, Chief among them is the Church and its authority as the guardian of “mystery” what does this image add to?

Answer 26

to the regal, hierarchical and controlling God cerated by the “Human Brain”

Question 27

So Blake suggests here that the origins of social ills are in fact found to be found within human beings who have fallen into divided selfhood. Why have they created a God?

Answer 27

to create a social order in their own image

Question 28

The Human Abstract keeps to an AABB couplet rhyme scheme throughout invoking the childhood rhyming of innocence. The first two stanza’s are ______. offering simple lessons in the unfortunate roots of human virtue.

Answer 28

didactic (teaching)

Question 29

The fourth stanza breaks the strict AABB rhyme pattern with “shade” and “head” only barely rhyming while “Fly” and “Mystery” only rhyme if read similarly to “eye” and “Symmetry”. What is the effect of this?

Answer 29

the discord focuses the reader on the “Mystery” which is the only capitalised noun to be repeated in the poem.

Question 30

the tree referred to in the poem is the Mystery of Religion and it grows quite tall and strong until “the Caterpillar and the Fly” eat at it. What do these two destroyers represent ?

Answer 30

the clergy, a class often the subject of Blake’s criticism and scorn for their abuse of religious authority to their own selfish benefit and the harm of others

Question 31

The titles refers to the human capacity to create false structures of belief trough excessive use of the rational part of the mind.
In the first stanza, two excuses for human moral fraility are made; pity and mercy are depicted as emotions that show positive objectives nonetheless they are backed up with low defences; how is this explained from the outset of the poem?

Answer 31

“pity would be no more/if we did not making somebody Poor”

Question 32

In the fifth stanza it is exposed that humans are inherently evil creatures because they are derived from Mystery and are borne from “the fruit of Deceit”, which is a direct parallelism to what?

Answer 32

to the birth of deception

Question 33

The poem begins with “pity” not “mercy.” What is the difference?

Answer 33

we are not considering the divine, we are considering each other