"Love 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."
Source: http://www.online-literature.com/blake/614/
Subject:
The poem is about the cruelty of love, it could be a Heaven but it is really a Hell.
Theme:
In my opinion, the poem has three main ideas: firstly, Love seems a sweet thing but really, it is a bitter thing ( three first quartets). Secondly, women are the reason why Love is bitter, because they do not accept the love of the poet ( quartets four and five). Finally, although women are cruel, there will be always another opportunity, so you can not loose your hopes ( last quartet).
Meaning:
The poem is straightforward, and very direct; however, there are two aspects that are ambiguous, at least for me: the first aspect is the use of the Clod of Clay and the Pebble as actors of the poem; I do not know if they represent anytbing or not, I mean, if they are a metaphor, I do not know the real thing that they are representing.
The second aspect is the character of the traveller; it can be a metaphor of someone that will come to the life of the poet in the future (someone who is now travelling to his life), or it is only a typical romantic image that represents something that you do not know, a future person or an ideal that will appear in the life of the poet.
Viewpoint:
In this poem there is a very pessimistic view point because it seems that the poet writes this lines because he does not believe in love, or more exactly, he does not believe in the love of women; it could be because he had suffered an amorous disillusionment. During all the poem, the poet is reflecting that he does not believe in love, and probably the end of the poem is the solution to this problem: in the future, the poet will love and ideal thing ( the traveller) and he will refuse the material love.
Tone and mood:
It is a sad poem, the poem shows the difference between the ideal love ( first quartet) and the hopes of a lover ( forth and fifth quartets) on one hand, and the real love ( third quartet) and the reaction of women when the poet tells them his love ( “Ah, she doth depart”). However, at the end, the poet introduces an element ( the traveller) that can be a hope and a solution for the sadness of the poet, although this solution is not the best solution because it implies that the poet refuses the real love and he is going to dedicate his life to an ideal that is not real.
Structure:
The poem is structured in quartets with the A-B-A-B rhyme with a few exceptions.
Key images:
In the first four quartets, the poet personifies three things: The Clod of Clay, the Pebble and the Love. In my opinion, the Love is personificated for two reasons: the first reason is because it is a traditional image of literature, love appears many times like a person in the literature of all the countries. Here it does not appear directly like a person, but we can see that Love can do human actions. The second reason is because it is a manner of expressing that love is an independent thing, you can not control it, it has its own rules and you can do nothing if you are disagree.
Other key images are the character of the traveller. It is a very typical romantic image. I do not know exactly what its meaning is in the poem, but travels and travellers were two of the bases of the romantic ideology, they represent the adventure of the unknown.
Personal response:
My first impression when I red this poem is that I was reading a typical romantic poem with all its topics, cruel women, a poet who can not realise his ideal of love, typical images of the Romanticism, the traveller. It reminded me of all the topics that we all know about Romanticsm. In my opinion it is a very good poem, so it is not difficult to read and it transmits you a very strong sadness.