The Marriage of Heaven and Hell — A Memorable Fancy 3
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell — A Memorable Fancy 3
William Blake
As I was walking among the fires of Hell, delighted with the enjoyments
of Genius, which to Angels look like torment and insanity, I collected
some of their proverbs, thinking that as the sayings used in a nation
mark its character, so the proverbs of Hell show the nature of infernal
wisdom better than any description of buildings or garments.
When I came home, on the abyss of the five senses, where a flat-sided
steep frowns over the present world, I saw a mighty Devil folded in
black clouds hovering on the sides of the rock; with corroding fires
he wrote the following sentence now perceived by the minds of men, and
read by them on earth:--
"How do you know but every bird
that cuts the airy way
Is an immense world of delight,
closed by your senses five?"
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Complete poem text from the cited public-domain source edition.
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