Opposition as Progression in Blake's the Marriage of Heaven and Hell and Keat's "Ode to Autumn"

Among the many verse forms used by the Romantics are the ode and prophesy which were utilized for their style as well as content. The Romantics chose each verse form for different reasons and also to accomplish different objectives. Yet, how do these forms compare to one another? Do they share content, purpose, or intent? Would the Romantics use these two different forms for specific purposes? Does William Blake's prophetic piece, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, bare some philosophical similarities to John Keats's "Ode to Autumn," despite the differences in form and content?

Keats's "Ode to Autumn" and Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell do exhibit similar philosophical undertones. Despite the dissimilarity in their presentation and form, the two works both converge on a very strong theme of progression. Blake's poem is more explicit in its use of the theme, and, being the longer work, has the option of weaving that theme throughout the entire text. On Plate 3, the narrator posits that "Without Contraries is no progression." This theory proposes that without opposition to one another to force the two contraries into action, there will be no progression or evolution and therefore the two contraries would remain inactive and stagnant. The narrator reflects on this throughout "The Proverbs of Hell," often comparing the lack of progression to still water: "Expect poison from standing water" (Plate 9, line 8). Since the still water never moves from its position, then there is no progression and the water grows stagnant.

In "Ode to Autumn," Keats's opposition stems more from the form and the overall comparison than from individual lines. The ode is divided into three reflections on the seasons: the strophe covering summer, the antistrophe covering autumn, and the epode resolving that the autumn "hast thy music too" (24). Keats makes his theme more subtle, utilizing the seasonal shifts as contraries. He speaks to Autumn saying, "Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find / Thee sitting careless on a granary floor" (13-14). However, he talks of how Summer, the "Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun" (2), would be "Conspiring with him" to "load and bless / With fruit the vines around the thatch-eaves run" (3-4). Keats deems the Summer the better provider by outlining all the items the Summer produces such as fruits, flowers, and ripeness. But, without Autumn, the creations of Summer would be wasted, or rather, turn stagnant like standing water. During autumn, all of the goods produced during the summer are harvested and turned into usable goods: "by a cider-press, with patient look, / Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours" (22). Keats reconciles that each season has a purpose, but without the opposing season, no progress is made in the cycle.

Blake also uses other measures to verify that opposition is key to human progression through history. On Plate 23 and 24, the Devil, speaking of how Jesus broke Jewish law, said "I tell you, no virtue can exist without breaking these ten commandments: Jesus was all virtue, and acted from impulse: not from rules." In order for the prophesies of the bible to be fulfilled, and also for new laws to be written and implemented, Jesus had to oppose the Jewish law. If this opposition did not occur, then Jesus would never had been anything different than a normal man, no lessons would be learned, and he would not be considered "the greatest man" (Plate 23). Furthermore, the narrator provides in "The Proverbs of Hell" that "The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship" (Plate 8, line 16). But this is not a complete thought until later when the narrator confirms, "Opposition is true Friendship" (Plate 20). Therefore, the narrator asserts, logically, that opposition is man's home; this being derived from the nest as a bird's home, a web is a spider's home, and friendship is man's home. Man would thus be nothing without the progress, "What is now proved was once, only imagin'd" (Plate 8, line 19). The opposition in man resides in the non-separation of the soul and the body. As annotated by the voice of the Devil on Plate 4, "Man has no Body distinct form his soul." The opposition between the body and soul, evil and good respectively as deemed by the Devil in point 2, is what allows the progress of humankind as a whole.

Swedenborg is used by the narrator as an example of how knowledge becomes stagnant due to lack of opposition. Swedenborg is lambasted throughout The Marriage of Heaven and Hell for his philosophy which "has not written one new truth." The narrator declares that Swedenborg's writings "are a recapitulation of all superficial opinions" because he has only "conversed with Angels who are all religious. & not with Devils who hate all religion" (Plate 22). Since there is no opposition in Swedenborg's writings, then there can be no progression towards a strengthening in knowledge, therefore making his philosophy stagnant. The narrator, on the other hand, composes "The Bible of Hell: which the world shall have whether they will or no" in order to bring opposition to the bible and force a forward progress to avoid the stagnation of knowledge.

Not only do the two works stand alone on their principle, but also complement (and oppose) one another in form. Romantic odes often follow a logical pattern of three sections or five parts, although not necessarily divided into three or five parts, the ode can be separated into either a strophe-antistrophe-epode form or a story-model of exposition-rising action-climax-falling action-resolution. Prophetic verse, on the other hand, often is written in book-length manuscripts complementing the main idea or the prophesy of the poem. Like biblical prophesies, not only is there a lesson taught, but also a future event is predicted to make the reader aware of what is to come. Both forms are used to convey some thought or philosophy, some story or image, to its audience.

In the case of Keats's "Ode to Autumn," the poem is comprised of three stanzas following the method of strophe-antistrophe-epode in form. Odes paint a picture or give an impression of an event, either small or large, in a condensed form. Keats's ode condenses his impressions of the seasons and contemplates their purpose, which moves into the postulating of philosophy. Keats's ode may happen to intersect Blake's prophesy, but this is not true of all odes and prophecies. Blake's piece mixes the opposing forms of verse and prose, fusing the two in an attempt to mimic the bible which, in turn, strengthens his form.

Blake's subject and style would not have fit well under the constraints of an ode, nor would his point have been made as clearly. "The Proverbs of Hell" were better suited to a parody of the bible's psalms rather than in a complex Keatsian rhyme scheme. Conversely, Keats's ode would not have faired well in the book-length form of a prophesy. The condensed and focused language added to the beauty of the poem as a whole, and since his purpose was not to preach or predict, the ode was the better choice. Authors choose their verse forms for specific reasons, however, they can still convey the same or similar themes within the text. Blake and Keats's works are of this nature: they both utilize different content, but they make a related point that there can be no progression without some kind of opposing forces.