The Divine Image Question and Answer

The Divine Image

William Blake

1. When do people pray to Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love?

Ans: People pray to Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love in their time of distress.

2. What do people return to the 'virtues of delight'?

Ans: To the 'virtues of delight', people return their thankfulness.

3. Who is God for us?

Ans: For us, Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love are God for us.

4. Which of the virtues has a human face?

Ans: Pity is the virtue which has a human face.

5. Who is seen as God's child and care?

Ans: Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love is seen as God's child and care.

Answer these questions in a few words.

1. What do people do in distress?

Ans: According to the poet, people pray to the abstract qualities of Mercy, pity, Peace and Love. People pray to these abstract qualities in times of pain and suffering.

2. What does the term 'virtues of delight' refer to?

Ans: The term 'virtues of delight' refer to the Mercy, Pity Peace and Love which provides respite when people are in pain and suffering.

3. Name the different human forms represented by 'virtues of delight'?

Ans: The different human forms represented by the virtues of delight' are: Mercy represents a human heart, Pity represents a human. face, Love represents the human form divine and Peace represents the human dress.

4. What kind of man prays to the 'human form divine'?

Ans: According to the poet, Love represents the 'human form divine' and people of every climate prays in their distress to the human form divine.

5. Where does God dwell?

Ans: God dwells where Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love dwell too. Blake says that God dwells in the people in whom dwell the virtues of mercy, pity and love.

Answer these questions briefly.

1. What human form must all man love?

Ans: The poet says that everyone must love the human form irrespective of their culture or religion. Whether an individual is a Heathen, a Turk or a Jew. Every man must love the human form as God dwells within the human race. Hence, Blake is basically trying to assert that all the human beings must love one another irrespective of their nation, culture or religion.

2. How do the qualities of Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love embody both God and man?

Ans: The poem "The Divine Image" by Blake is primarily centered on his concept of God. According to Blake, God is the essence of divine virtues like Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love. A human being who possesses these divine virtues is no less than God. Blake has tried to assert that God dwells within the hearts of human beings. This means that when human beings begin to exercise their divine virtues, then the human beings tend to become equivalent to God.

3. What is the significance of the expression 'In Heathen, Turk, or Jew'?

Ans: In the final stanza of the poem, "The Divine Image", Blake explains how all forms of humanity should be cherished. The lyrical voice mentions that "all must love the human form; In heathen, Turk or Jew". This is because all forms of humanity are linked to divinity. As all the human forms seek the same virtues, everyone is same and equal. It does not matter if one is heathen, Turk or Jew, all that matters is that one is human. Love is present everywhere and is equal for all races and forms of human beings.

Answer these questions in detail.

1. Bring out the central idea of the poem 'The Divine Image” by William Blake.

Ans: The central idea of the poem, "The Divine Image" as manifested by Blake is the relationship between divinity and human Blake presented four abstract qualities; Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love as the epitome of both divine and human entities. Blake has tried to give message of love and humanity through this poem and have made readers imagine a world full of equality and peace. All people, whatever their background, are thus united by their shared divinity. To this speaker, "Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love" aren't just attributes of God, they are God, "our father dear" himself. When people "pray in their distress" to God, they're thus also praying to the goodness and kindness of humanity. If God lives in the "human form," the speaker proclaims, then people don't just need to remember that they can seek and express God's goodness in themselves. They need to remember that God's goodness lives in every person. All people must love every single "human form" for this very reason. Through "Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love," then, God lives in every "human form" and unites all people.

2. How does the poem 'The Divine Image' by William Blake illustrate the biblical adage "God created man in his own image”.

Ans: The personified figures of Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love: are presented as the four "virtues of delight." The speaker states that all people pray to these in times of distress and thank them for blessings because they represent "God, our father dear." They are also, however, the characteristics of Man: Mercy is found in the human heart, Pity in the human face; Peace is a garment that envelops humans, and Love exists in the human "form" or body. Therefore, all prayers to Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love are directed not just to God but to "the human form divine," which all people must love and respect regardless of their religion or culture.

The speaker then claims that Mercy, Pity, Peace, Love are also equivalent to Man as it is in humans that these qualities find a kind of embodiment, and they become recognizable because their features are basically human. Thus, when we think of God, we are modelling him after these ideal human qualities. And when people pray, regardless of who or where they are, or to what God they think they are praying, they actually worship "the human form divine"; what is ideal, or most godly, in human beings. The implication that God is a mental creation reflects Blake's belief that "all deities reside in the human breast." The poem does not explicitly mention Christ, but the four virtues that Blake assigns alternately to man and God are the ones conventionally associated with Jesus. Because Christ was both God and man, he becomes the vehicle for Blake's mediation between the two.