Big Thoughts, Human-sized Canvas
An “augury” is an omen, a sign of things to come. Augury can also be the practice of being sensitive to omens – like divination, or magical foresight. In this case, the poem is a series of pairs of lines that can be read as comparing good and evil, kindness and cruelty, beauty and corruption – auguries that challenge us to be aware…
Exuberance is Beauty.
If the lion was advised by the fox, he would be cunning.
Improvement makes strait roads; but the crooked roads without Improvement are roads of Genius.
Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires.
Where man is not, nature is barren…
If others had not been foolish, we should be so.
The soul of sweet delight can never be defil’d.
When thou seest an Eagle, thou seest a portion of Genius; lift up thy head!
As the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys…
Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.
He who has suffer’d you to impose on him, knows you.
As the plow follows words, so God rewards prayers.
The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.
Expect poison from the standing water…
The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity too great for the eye of man.
The fox condemns the trap, not himself.
Joys impregnate. Sorrows bring forth…
The most sublime act is to set another before you.
If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
Folly is the cloke of knavery.
Shame is Pride’s cloke…
In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
Prudence is a rich, ugly old maid courted by In- capacity.
He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
The cut worm forgives the plow.
He insisted on meticulous, time-consuming, financially impractical printmaking techniques, moreso as he aged and felt the art had matured – later work demanded more from both artist and reader. Blake lived hand-to-mouth, content to be doing good work. He made art until…
