The Book of Thel

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1789

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Lilly

Like Thel, the symbolic Lilly is a “virgin” (Line 28); she represents a maid, or young woman. Blake gives her female pronouns throughout the poem. Lilies, in the western poetic tradition, represent whiteness and purity. They also “represent virginity in any woman” (Ferber, Michael. A Dictionary of Literary Symbols. Cambridge University Press, 2007, p.117). Lilies, as Christian symbols, are associated with the Virgin Mary and frequently appear in the Solomon’s Song of Songs. Blake specifically connects Lilly with the silver in Thel’s Motto; Lilly sits in a “silver shrine” (Line 27). Also, silver is associated with the moon, which is often characterized as chaste.

Cloud

Conversely, Cloud is an archetype of the lover and connected with gold. Blake gives Cloud male pronouns and describes him as having a “golden head” (Line 48), which characterizes him as a sun-related figure. When Cloud symbolically marries dew, he gives her a “golden band” (58), further highlighting the connection. Gold often symbolically designates what is best, first, or highest; Cloud is the highest of all the creatures that speak to Thel. Furthermore, Cloud’s symbolic role as lover includes imagery of death; he “pass[es] away [...] to “love” (Lines 53-54). To join with dew, a part of Cloud must die. This is an aspect of love that Thel resists throughout the poem.

Worm

Thel calls Worm an infant, and Blake uses non-gendered pronouns (it/its) for it. The Worm can only cry; it is not given the ability to speak. These aspects characterize it as a symbolic child. Thel says the Worm is an “Image of weakness” (Line 76), as it is “helpless & naked, weeping” (Line 79). Learning that God cherishes this weak and low creature helps Thel understand the expansiveness of God’s love. The Worm’s child-like symbolism is in conversation with the worm as a symbol of graves and death. Thel is introduced to the Worm because she expressed her fear of becoming “food [for] worms” (Line 66). There is a similar helplessness in the newly born and the dying.

The Clod of Clay

Contrasting with the virginal Lilly and Thel, the Clod of Clay is characterized as a symbolic mother. Blake gives her female pronouns, and God refers to her as the “mother of my children” (Line 89). Clay represents the flesh—the body—in the Bible; in Genesis, Adam is crafted out of the earth. In Blake’s text and accompanying illustration, the Clod of Clay acts motherly towards the infant Worm in the Edenic vales of Har. She says her “Bosom of itself is cold, and of itself is dark” (Line 86). Again, this links birth and death; the womb and the earth are cold and dark places.