The Power of the Image

Examining Word-Image Relationships in the Works of William Blake

William Blake pioneered the coalescing of text and image. His illuminated volumes, such as Songs of Innocence and Experience and The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, serve as excellent examples of the union between word and image. Blake’s marriage of poetry and art sparks dynamic conversation between text and image and blurs the line between the poetic world and the artistic realm. Blake depends on this intimate interaction between word and image to communicate the intricacies and complexities of his illuminated manuscripts. In reading Blake’s works in accordance with word and image theorists, it becomes clear that separating Blake’s poetry from its accompanying images would result in a loss of meaning, translation, and most of all, nuance.

Modern culture wrongly disconnects the ideas of word and image. On one hand, words are typically defined as “arbitrary signs that signify by virtue of custom or convention” (“Word and Image” 56). On the other hand, images stereotypically “signify by virtue of resemblance or imitation” (56). Society perceives words and images as succinct entities, when in reality, words and images act as two sides to the same coin. W.J.T. Mitchell elaborates, “we imagine the gulf between words and images to be as wide as the one between words and things, between (in the largest sense) culture and nature” (“What is an Image” 43). Culture wrongly conceives of word and image as separate ideologies, and Mitchell wishes to demolish this idea.

Mitchell argues that words and images need not be separated into disparate binaries. These two ideas cannot be strictly defined or steadied. Rather, the concepts of word and image should be thought of as a “dialectical trope” (“Word and Image” 57). He expounds, “[word and image] is a dialectical trope because it resists stabilization as a binary opposition, shifting and transforming itself from one conceptual level to another, and shuttles between relations of contrariety and identity, difference, and sameness” (57). Instead of focusing on the separation of word and image, readers should instead concentrate on the powers of the word and image interaction.

William Blake’s work demonstrates the potential of the text and image correspondence. Northrup Frye discusses how Blake’s poetry and design work together to add intricacy to Blake’s message, using The Songs of Innocence and Experience as a case study. Frye states, “the design is not, like most illustrations, an attempt to simplify the verbal meaning …we can see that, so far from simplifying the text, the design has added a new dimension of subtlety and power” (Frye 37). For example, the illustration of “The Lamb” creates a more complex message. The text of the poem appears innocent enough with its childlike syntax and simple prose. Blake writes, “Little Lamb who made thee / Dost thou know who made thee” (“The Lamb” lines 1-2). The accompanying illustration darkens these verses. In the illuminated plate, the young boy appears isolated and the bordering vines create a cage-like surrounding. As a result, the image generates an ominous tone. “The Lamb” is just one example of how Blake depends on image to contribute nuance to his text.

The idea that Blake’s images add subtlety to his poetry can be taken a step further. Mark Lussier argues that Blake’s images actually overhaul the meaning of the accompanying text. To prove his claim, Lussier points to Blake’s illustrations of Gray’s “Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat.” Gray’s poem is an admonitory story about conceited women, but Blake’s illustrations transform this work into a celebration of female power and sexuality. Lussier states, “Alone, Gray’s words attempt to consciously restrain desire while Blake’s illustrations function as the unconscious in relation to Gray’s words as they liberate desire” (Lussier 206). This example differs in that Blake’s illustrations change the meaning of a different author’s text, but the same principle can still be applied to Blake’s own work. The transformative and impactful power of Blake’s illustrations can be seen in “The Little Boy Found,” “The Tyger,” and “The Little Girl Lost.”

“The Little Boy Found”

The text of “The Little Boy Found” from Songs of Innocence describes the reunification of a mother and a lost child. Blake writes that God “kissed the child & by the hand led / And to his mother brought” (“The Little Boy Found lines 5-6). This poem appears harmless and seems to exemplify a positive interaction between mother and child. However, Blake’s accompanying image subverts this idea. The illuminated plate shows a mother figure walking hand-in-hand with her child through a dark wood. The most striking aspect of this image is the bright, glittering halo around the mother’s head. The halo indicates the mother’s divine status, signifying that the mother and child reunite in heaven or in a celestial realm. This suggests that the young boy and his mother are reuniting posthumously. Blake’s illustration annihilates the innocent appearance of the text, as his image is not one of a happy ending, but rather an image of a child’s untimely death.

“The Tyger”

“The Tyger” from Songs of Innocence and Experience presents another example in which Blake’s images drastically change the meaning of the poem. This work grapples with the concept of evil and poses questions about how and why God created malice. The “Tyger” serves as a symbol for evil, and the narrator of the poem attempts to comprehend the tyger’s existence. The narrator demands, “What immortal hand or eye, / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?” (“The Tyger” lines 3-4). The narrator describes the tiger as a fear-inducing beast, but Blake’s accompanying depiction falls short. The illuminated plate portrays an odd-looking creature reminiscent of a house cat, not a dreadful monster. This juxtaposition of the description and the image sparks the idea that human agency blows the concept of evil out of proportion. Blake’s illustration metamorphoses the meaning of the poem, as it indicates that God did not necessarily create evil, but rather that human perception and action produces evil.

“The Little Girl Lost”

“The Little Girl Lost” from Songs of Innocence and Experience also represents the transformative nature of Blake’s images. The poem describes a young girl, Lyca, who wanders off into the desert. Blake describes Lyca as “seven summers old,” and he writes that a “kingly lion” watches over her as she sleeps (“The Little Girl Lost” lines 13 and 37). However, the accompanying image fails to depict this situation. The illuminated plate portrays a young, sexualized woman kissing what appears to be her male lover. The woman in the plate is certainly not seven years old, and there is no “kingly lion” to be found. This image changes the meaning of the text, as it presents the poem as a story of sexual awakening rather than a poem about a young child’s independent journey through the desert. “The Little Girl Lost” is perhaps the most poignant example of how Blake’s illustrations overhaul, transform, and revamp his poetry.

“The Little Boy Found,” “The Tyger,” and “The Little Girl Lost” illustrate the importance of word and image interaction. In all three examples, the images provide an alternative interpretation to the text and give the text additional meaning. Blake’s works illustrate the essential conversation that takes place between words and images, and it also exemplifies the importance of viewing word and image as a unit. But, what would happen if words and images were separated? What would become of Blake’s works if the poems were to be disconnected from the context of the illustrations? The consequences of this separation can be seen in Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell.”

The “Proverbs of Hell” from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell serve as a case study for the consequences of separating Blake’s text from its given context. In his article, “Blakespotting,” Mike Goode discusses the importance of context in decoding Blake’s proverbs. He elaborates, “historicist reception study demonstrates convincingly that texts’ meanings depend entirely on how, when, where, to what end, and by whom they are read” (Goode 770). Blake’s “Proverbs of Hell” demonstrate the importance of framework, as they are often quoted out of context. These proverbs mock the very idea of maxims, and yet, most individuals are unaware of their inherent irony. For example, Donald Trump emblazoned one of Blake’s proverbs on his Central Park West Complex’s Library. It reads, “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom” (Goode 769). What Trump considers a useful proverb is in fact one of Blake’s satirical masterpieces.

It becomes evident that removing Blake’s work from its given context results in mistranslation and misinterpretation. For the majority of Blake’s work, the accompanying image serves as important context, as the image provides additional meaning and nuance, as seen in “The Little Girl Lost,” “The Tyger,” and “The Little Boy Found.” Therefore, it would be problematic to separate Blake’s text and images, as the reader would lose an essential piece to the puzzle. However, Blake’s texts are frequently removed from their illustrations. For example, the anthology Blake’s Poetry and Designs only provides the text of Blake’s poetry, not the accompanying illustrations (Johnson and Grant). In only having access to the text, the reader misses out on important implications and nuances provided by the image.

In order to understand the full breadth of Blake’s work, it is imperative to keep Blake’s words and images together as a cohesive unit. W.J.T. Mitchell would agree. He writes that the word and image relationship “opens a space of intellectual struggle, historical investigation, and artistic/critical practice. Our only choice is to explore and inhabit this space” (“Word and Image” 60). Blake’s illuminated volumes are artistic masterpieces, and removing Blake’s text from the accompanying images is a degradation of an esteemed word-artist.

Re-Constructing Blake’s Poetry

For my creative component, I decided to hack Blake’s poetry. Since his work is often separated from its associated image, I wanted to rearrange the text of two of his poems to reflect the more nuanced meaning provided by the text and image interaction. I hacked the text of “The Little Boy Found” and “The Tyger” according to my interpretation of the word and image dynamic in these two poems. My reading of this text and image interaction can be found in the critical essay. By hacking Blake’s works in this way, if the text is separated from the image, the reader will still be able to grasp the additional layers of meaning typically supplied by the accompanying art.

In doing this, I have without a doubt eliminated much of the conversation between word and image that is characteristic of Blake’s work. In many ways, my hack is much less effective than Blake’s original texts, as my hack lacks the complexity and dynamism inherent to Blake’s work. However, my re-imagination of Blake serves a purpose in that it allows word and image to be separated without losing meaning. This re-creation is effective in creating a stand-alone text, but in doing so, I have lost the vibrant discourse between word and art.

“The Little Boy Found” Re-mix

*To see “The Little Boy Found” in its original format, click here. 

The little boy appeared pale & white,
His father weeping, kissed the hand,
The child led in by her light,
By the fen, began to cry.

Who wand’ring lost in the dale, lonely,
Sought God, but ever nigh,
He brought the little boy in thro’ sorrow,
And led to his like, lonely mother.

“The Tyger” Re-mix

* To see “The Tyger” in its original format, click here. 

Tyger Tyger, with immortal eye,
In the forests or the skies;
Burning, thy heart beat,
To what work did he aspire?

In what bright night, what fire?
What burnt the art in thine eyes?
What wings did frame thy brain?
And when could the hand hammer thy smile?

On what distant & what burning stars?
What began thee, what bright symmetry?
What hand twist the sinews of the shoulder?
What forest frame its eye?

In the deeps of the furnace:
The dread dare to make his heart seize?
And what tears of deadly dread,
Dare chain thy symmetry?

Thy immortal feet or hand:
What water’d the fearful fire
Of the dread and fearful night?
Tyger, dare see their terrors.

What hand spears the lamb?
When he could clasp & grasp,
He threw down their anvil,
Tyger, who dare made heaven!

Works Cited

Blake, William. “The Lamb.” Blake’s Poetry and Designs. Ed. Mary Lynn Johnson and John E. Grant. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008. 15. Print.

Blake, William. “The Little Boy Found.” Blake’s Poetry and Designs. Ed. Mary Lynn Johnson and John E. Grant. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008. 19. Print.

Blake, William. “The Little Girl Lost.” Blake’s Poetry and Designs. Ed. Mary Lynn Johnson and John E. Grant. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008. 32. Print.

Blake, William. “The Tyger.” Blake’s Poetry and Designs. Ed. Mary Lynn Johnson and John E. Grant. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008. 39. Print.

Frye, Northrop. “Poetry and Design in William Blake”. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 10.1 (1951): 35–42. Web.

Johnson, Mary Lynn, and John E. Grant, eds. Blake’s Poetry and Designs. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2008. 39. Print.

Lussier, Mark. “The Contra-Diction of Design: Blake’s Illustrations to Gray’s ‘Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat.’” Visible Language 23 (1989): 205-219. Web. 6 Mar 2016.

Mitchell, W.J.T. “What is an Image.” Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1986. 7-46. Print.

Mitchell, W.J.T. “Word and Image.” Critical Terms for Art History. Ed. Robert S. Nelson and Richard Stiff. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003. 51-61. Print.