To supplement our R2 pieces, Kevin Ceballos and I (Abby DelBianco) are adding this blog post as a discussion and debate over our two posts on William Blake and Jim Morrison: “Romantic Rebellion” and “The Dark Night of the Soul.” While we both saw the dark and romantic aspects of Blake’s piece “Auguries of Innocence,” we made very different points on Morrison’s use of Blake (Kevin argues that Morrison did not reinterpret Blake’s work and instead was drawing a parallel between the two artists, while I argue that Morrison emphasizes the darker side of Blake and the insight that that state of mind provided) and gleaned different themes from Blake’s original work (Kevin notes the animal and nature themes as well as the Christ imagery, while I focused on the antithesis between the darkness and light). The rest of the class is welcome to join in on the discussion as well.
To start out the discussion, I’d like to talk about the animal imagery in Blake’s poem, as the meaning of the animal imagery contributes significantly to what the overall poem means and therefore influences what Morrison may have derived from that piece. I saw the animal references not as a call for kindness/ appreciation to animals, but instead as a warning, that things that may appear weak can still possess evil. The dog and the horse, like some humans that are easily suppressed and controlled by those more powerful, plot evil even in their weakness. Blake writes, “a dog starv’d at his master’s gate predicts the ruin of the state. A horse misused upon the road calls to heaven for human blood.” Not all things that seem innocent and simple are pure, such as the dog and the horse, and I see that as Blake’s point as his work emotes the contrast and greater depth and truth of reality in darkness.
That is very interesting insight about Blake’s poems, and into the underlying meaning of Morrison’s song. As I said in my reply to your post, you have opened me up to a unique perspective. Now, it is quite apparent that both individuals share dark themes in their works. What do you think sparked Morrison to write about these dark themes?
I think Morrison’s motivation was an exploration of creativity, especially into the darker side of humanity. As Faulkner said, “defeat is good for art; victory, it is not good.” This is also evident in Blake’s work as his Songs of Experience demonstrate arguably deeper metaphor and more complicated themes than the more simple pieces of Songs of Innocence. Faced into the darker unknown, both artists found a greater realm to question and to explore. Do you think Blake and Morrison saw those themes in the same way and attempted to portray similar messages, or not?
I sense a connection between two of the things you mentioned, Abby: creativity and animals. After all, Blake’s poem “The Tyger” is all about creation. Blake asks the question, “What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry.” Here Blake is delving into the dark side of creativity (remember the Frankenstein comic that Katherine Craven posted earlier?). Creativity is not always a wonderful, bright, flawless, PG-rated thing. “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” Blake ponders. Creativity is thus capable of both “realms of light” and “endless night,” to use Morrison’s lyrics. This is the kind of creativity I’m guessing Morrison was trying to tap into — the dark and mysterious side rather than the pure and innocent kind; Blake was obviously well-acquainted with both.