the clod and the pebble was written in 1794.
the clod and the pebble was written in 1794.
when was the clod and the pebble written?
1794
the clod and the pebble









































the clod and the pebble is a poem from william blake's 1794 collection songs of innocence and of experience.









































section::::the poem.









































poemlove 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.









































so sung a little clod of clay,









































trodden with the cattle's feet;









































but a pebble of the brook,









































warbled out these metres meet









































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./poem









































section::::summary.
the clod and the pebble
the clod and the pebble is the exemplification of blake's statement at the beginning of songs of innocence and of experience that it is the definition of the "contrary states of the human soul." it shows two contrary types of love. the poem is written in three stanzas. the first stanza is the clod's view that love should be unselfish. the soft view of love is represented by this soft clod of clay, and represents the innocent state of the soul, and a childlike view of the world. the second stanza connects the clod and the pebble. it gives the location of the clod, pleasantly singing his view while being trodden on by a cattle. at the end of the 2nd line the shift in views is signaled by a semicolon. this shift is further emphasized with the use of the word "but" at the beginning of the third line. the pebble is meanwhile in the river warbling his view. the final stanza is the pebble's view of selfish love, and it is set up in a parallel structure to the clod's stanza on unselfish love.
the clod and the pebble