Proverbs of Hell 10

And we’re back, this is the tenth entry in my series on William Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell” see here for context and background.

Joys impregnate. Sorrows bring forth.

When we are happy we are internalizing and sorting positive feedback. We see who is there for us and what behavior is encouraged by our lifestyle and community. Our joys let us store up for the hard times like summer and winter. When we’re down and low, our preparations will make all the difference. If it brings forth community and abundance then we must have once stored community and abundance. Some never even get the chance to store up in joy, but their sorrows still bring forth some inner strength that allows them to reach joy and begin to catch up. It’s a beautiful process that sucks to experience.

Let man wear the fell of the lion, woman the fleece of the sheep.

To be honest, I’m not sure what this line is accomplishing. I suppose it’s one of your classic proto-Victorian prescriptive aphorisms that Blake normally avoids. A straightforward admonition for the dominating character to wear their acts of triumph and the submissive to advertise their role. Like a company website, covered in awards for business practices and profits, that requires their employees to submit to weeks of interviews and paperwork before they pay them a cent. Yet will still have a line of applicants made up as pretty as they can look.

The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.

Now this is a line. A straight simile with a three part, joke-like structure. Classic immortal wisdom stuff. Socrates could have said this and so could the strange man that randomly friended you back in 2011 and hasn’t stopped spouting nonsense since.

The line shows that friendship is the true house and comfort of “man” in the poetic sense. It is a place of nourishment, comfort, and growth, while also a place of construction, hunting, and storing. While this is obvious in a personal sense, it’s true on a grander scale as well. In the year 2024, we’re less violent than we’ve ever been historically (ironic to say this during several ongoing genocides, but I’m talking on the scale of millennia here) and the average human on the Earth, the median, could reasonably expect to walk around the entire globe and never encounter an unfriendly human. We talk about scary parts of the world and bad neighborhoods, but we’re nicer with each other than we’ve ever been, more willing to help out and speak up when injustice and tragedy happen to others. Even people who’re descended from generations of enemies can bond over pop culture and begrudgingly allow each other to pass by. Our society as a whole is only growing more tolerant, even as that old animal Hate kicks and screams without its favorite targets.

We’re a long, long way off from world peace or whatever, but on a personal growth scale, outside of the internet and the hate machines, we’re better than we’ve ever been. It’s as inevitable as a bird building comfier, sturdier nests over time, and a spider more elaborate and effective webs. Humans improve our communities. We’ve definitely had some dead ends over the years, and it’s always possible we’re in one right now, but we’ll keep trying. If not us, then another human will pick up the torch.

It’s said that the first thing an animal can do after it’s born, is usually the thing most important to its survival. A baby horse can run and jump in hours, a baby turtle can both run and swim at the same time it first sees the sky, marsupials and primates can cling to their mothers and hide with strength and tenacity that other creatures don’t possess until they’re adults, and the first thing every human baby can do is cry for help.

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