Analysis of Proverbs of Hell (Excerpt from The Marriage of Heaven and H



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 Incapacity.
    He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
    The cut worm forgives the plow.
    Dip him in the river who loves water.
    A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
    He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.
  Eternity is in love with the productions of time.
  The busy bee has no time for sorrow.
  The hours of folly are measur'd by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure.
  All wholesome food is caught without a net or a trap.
  Bring out number, weight and measure in a year of dearth.
  No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.
  A dead body revenges not injuries.
  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 cloak of knavery.
  Shame is Pride's cloke.
  Prisons are built with stones of law, brothels with bricks of religion.
  The pride of the peacock is the glory of God.
  The lust of the goat is the bounty of God.
  The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of God.
  The nakedness of woman is the work of God.
  Excess of sorrow laughs. Excess of joy weeps.
  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.
  Let man wear the fell of the lion, woman the fleece of the sheep.
  The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.
  The selfish, smiling fool, and the sullen, frowning fool shall be both thought wise, that they may be a rod.
  What is now proved was once only imagin'd.
  The rat, the mouse, the fox, the rabbit watch the roots; the lion, the tyger, the horse, the elephant watch the fruits.
  The cistern contains: the fountain overflows.
  One thought fills immensity.
  Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.
  Every thing possible to be believ'd is an image of truth.
  The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow.
  The fox provides for himself, but God provides for the lion.
  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.
  You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
  Listen to the fool's reproach! it is a kingly title!
  The eyes of fire, the nostrils of air, the mouth of water, the beard of earth.
  The weak in courage is strong in cunning.
  The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow; nor the lion, the horse, how he shall take his prey.
  The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.
  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 caterpiller chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys.
  To create a little flower is the labour of ages.
  Damn braces. Bless relaxes.
  The best wine is the oldest, the best water the newest.
  Prayers plow not! Praises reap not!
  Joys laugh not! Sorrows weep not!
  The head Sublime, the heart Pathos, the genitals Beauty, the hands and feet Proportion.
  As the air to a bird or the sea to a fish, so is contempt to the contemptible.
  The crow wish'd every thing was black, the owl that every thing was white.
  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.
  Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd.
  Enough! or too much.


Scheme Text too long
Poetic Form
Metre 0111010101001 1110111001101 011111010110 10101101110100100 110101111100 0110101 1100101110 011101110111 1111111100101 01001011001011 0101111110 010110110101111011110 1101110101101 1110101000111 111111111111 011011100 01011111010011 101101011011011 1010111 1111 1011111110111010 01101101011 01101101011 011010101011 0111010111 111011111 0101100101101010101000101110101001110111 010101101 1011011 1110110101001101 010101001110 010101001010111111111101 11111110010 010101010101010010010100101 0100101010 1111 1110111100111011 10011001101111011 01010111111101011101 010110111011010 100101001100101001 1111011011111 10110111011 011111010101010 0110101010 110111010111111101 10101011101010 0111001011011100111 0101011010 0101101011111101001111111 0100101010010 110111101111 01110111011 111110110101101111 101001001011101110111110101 10101010101110 1101010 01110100110010 1111011 1111011 010101100100100101010 1011011011011101100100 011100111011100111 0100110 101010110111110 010111101010101011110 10101100110111010 111110110 11101111110101101 01111
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 4,123
Words 764
Sentences 81
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 70
Lines Amount 70
Letters per line (avg) 45
Words per line (avg) 11
Letters per stanza (avg) 3,125
Words per stanza (avg) 762
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 31, 2023

3:52 min read
201

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. more…

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