In this set of poetry, William Blake takes on the dualities of mind, self, good and bad, and religion to prove that there will always be a meeting point between two opposites. Even more bluntly, that there is no such thing as a separation of body and soul or evil and good, there is only a person who is a representation of their experience and knowledge. Blake makes it clear that there is not a thing in the world that is truly evil or truly good, there are dynamics in everything that call on us to learn about them to develop our minds/souls further.
In particular, I loved the line in The Argument:
“Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction
and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are
necessary to Human existence” (Lines 29-31)
I felt that this line really encapsulated all that Blake is trying to accomplish in this section, his thesis (if you will). I believe in what he’s saying because it is so plainly true but so often unsaid. Words like this seem revolutionary to me in 2019, to think that we need all these experiences (good and bad) in order to live a full (Godly) life is completely new. Growing up in the church there are separations between everything and Blake shows the falsehoods in this action. It makes me wonder about how this was received during his time, when even now it comes across somewhat evolved?
Romanticism Blog 