William Blake’s Poem “The Clod and the Pebble” shows us two kinds of love, one represented by a squooshy lump of clay and the other represented by a tiny but hard pebble. The lump of clod’s love is selfless while the pebble’s love is self serving. One has the power to build Heaven in someone’s hell while the other has the power to build Hell in someone’s heaven. The poem warns us that we can be “trodden” on if we choose selfless love and attempt to build “a Heaven in hell’s despair.” Blake leaves us to choose how we will love.
The Clod and the Pebble
“Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.”
So sung a little Clod of Clay
Trodden with the cattle’s feet,
But a Pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:
“Love seeketh only self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another’s loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heaven’s despite.”
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