"The Clod and the Pebble"

Thesis: William Blake uses parallel structure along with multiple personified speakers to show the contrast between the two ideals of love coming from speakers with similar backgrounds.

Parallel Structure

“’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’” (Blake 1-4)

“’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’” (9-12)

The quotations above, quatrains one and three respectively contain multiple aspects of parallel structure, highlighting the contrast between the two quatrains.  The first line of each of these quatrains have the same number of words, six, with the same words except “not itself” in line one is replaced with “only Self” in line nine.  The parallelism between these two lines exemplifies how each speaker is talking about the same idea, but has a completely different view on it.  Lines four and twelve have the same effect; the order of Heaven and Hell are switched in each and the last word in the respective lines sound similar but have entirely different meanings, adding to the contrast between the two views.  In line four when a Heaven is built “in Hell’s despair,” it symbolizes how the speaker believes that love can create good when it seems that all hope is lost.  Line twelve symbolizes the complete opposite when a Hell is built “in Heaven’s despite”; this speaker believes that if one attempts to please more than themselves, there will be a refusal to make anything good and all that can be left will be bad.  The parallel usage of Heaven and Hell by both speakers shows the extreme to which they both believe love will make things, even if they beliefs are in total contradiction of each other.  Another parallel aspect to these two quatrains drawing comparisons between the two speakers is the rhyme scheme.  In each quatrain, alternating lines rhyme; similarly, lines one and three as well was nine and eleven end in the same words, “please” and “ease.”  The repetitive rhyme scheme between these two quatrains leads the reader to draw comparisons between the views of the two speakers and realize the differences.

Multiple Personified Speakers

“So sang a little Clod of Clay, / Trodden with the cattle’s feet; / But a pebble of the brook, / Warbled out these meters meet” (5-8).

The two different personified speakers are symbolic of two types of people that would have the respective views on what love should be like.  Both clay and pebbles have ties back to bodies of water, showing that they have similar backgrounds, just as different groups within the human race all come from a similar background.  The Clod of Clay makes the argument in the first stanza that love should seek to please others.  This argument is fitting of the clay because clay is a medium that is used by putting pieces of clay together to make one larger creation, similar to it’s view on love being meant to please others and create a pleasing atmosphere.  The clay is representative of a type of person that feels the need to please and be in the company of others.  The pebble makes the second argument that love should be used to please oneself.  Pebbles are independent solid objects that cannot be easily combined with other pebbles in a manner such as clay.  This provides insight into the argument being made by the pebble because the pebble is making the argument that a self-sufficient and independent human being might make, so the pebble feels as if pleasing others is unnecessary because a pebble has no physical ability to do so and feels that its only concern is with itself.