Proverbs of Hell 1

Today I’m going to cover the first three of William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell” from his 1790 book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. See this post on Blake’s Proverbs for background.

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.

This is a straightforward instruction in apportioning time. It definitely hits hard now in a world where the weather has almost no influence on our daily lives and commerce. However, we are still biological creatures who affect and are affected by Nature. Keeping in mind that there are appropriate times, just like places, for certain types of work, and there is no grand moral imperative to constantly labor at the same things. I do appreciate that there are actually two instructions in each directive: In SEED time LEARN, so when you are preparing and building, do not forget to observe and integrate new insights and knowledge. In HARVEST TEACH, so even while you are in the process of literally reaping the fruits of your labor, don’t forget to communicate what you’ve learned to others, and help the next generation be ready for their own SEED time. In WINTER ENJOY, so while you are living off your previous labor (whether it’s a long hibernation or a weekend off), do not forget to enjoy your time, there is no reason to fret and worry about the next time you need to be doing something else, enjoy the days off dammit.

Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.

This one could go several different ways, but my personal selection is that we must not allow the bones of the dead to dictate our lives forever. Eventually, everyone is reabsorbed into the Earth that supports the life above. Don’t ignore it, but don’t get too precious about it either. Life moves on. I do think pointing out both “cart” (movement and commerce over roads) and “plow” (disturbing the settled, rich soil for new growth) really points to the most expansive interpretation possible. Even old ideas should be turned over and developed if they are going to remain part of living, otherwise let them serve as the bedrock of ideas we run on and only acknowledge when someone does something about all the damn pot holes.

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.

Dead simple metaphor, and I think I mostly agree with it. The road of excess would imply many more opportunities to observe and learn from things that a more prudent route may never see, good or bad. Hidden gorgeous scenes of nature and hangovers come from the same drive for celebration and exploration. I do think it’s worded to be specifically inflammatory to a certain set of ideologies however and I would expect to see more of that. Blake really didn’t like Anglicans guys.

So that’s the first three and it took me about an hour, I might be able to do this for a while. One one music per though: