source: http://vimeo.com/34543106
"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."
QUESTIONS:
1. What do the clod and the pebble symbolize?
ü Both clod and pebble symbolize love. The clod
symbolize a selfless love that only want to make others happy more than
themselves and a self sacrificing nature of love while the pebble symbolize a selfish love
that does not want to see others’ happiness but themselves only.
2. Identify 2 Literary Devices and how they enhance the poem?
ü Contrast
a) This poem uses contrast to show the
differences between the clod and the pebble. In the first stanza, the clod said
that if you love someone, it is about pleasing them not yourself, try to ease
their burden and take away their burden. While the third stanza is what the
pebble thinks about love. For the pebble, love is all about pleasing oneself
and not the others, jealousy toward others’ happiness, a stepping stone to make
us happy and there should not be other form of happiness but ourselves only. These
two stanzas clearly contrast to one another and make us easily to understand
the poem because it does not have hidden meaning.
b) Another contrast between the clod and the
pebble is the clod will build a heaven in hell’s despair while the pebble will
build a hell in heavens’ despite. Other contrast words in the poem are between Selfless and Selfish, Clod and Pebble, Sung and Warbled, Humble and Prideful, Cattle and Brook.
ü Personification
a) Personification used in the poem to give us
the idea between an innocent love and a selfish love. Blake has given the clod
and the pebble human traits such as ability to love.
b) The clod that is a lump of earth or clay is
personified as a person who is willing to sacrifice himself to please the
others (Love seeketh not itself, nor for
itself hath any care), try to ease others burden and take away their
despair (but for another gives it ease,
and builds a heaven in hell’s depair).
c) While the pebble is a stone which has the characteristic
of being hard. Blake described pebble as a person who love had hardened him
that he see the love is no longer a self sacrificing nature but rather a self centred
love and pleasing oneself is much better than pleasing other (love seeketh only self to please, to find
another to its delight). The pebble also dislikes to see others’ happiness
but himself only and he promised to destroyed others’ happiness (Joys in another lost of peace, and builds a
hell in heaven’s depite)
3.
Are you are a clod or a
pebble?
a)
I think I am a
pebble because I am not willing to sacrifice my needs and feeling for the sake
of others. Unlike the clod that always willing to wait for the love, the pebble
will let go of love when things did not working between them. Because love is
mutual thing, so too much give like the clod and not taking any can bring a
deep harm to our heart. The pebble is hard because inside it is very fragile so
in order to protect itself the pebble choose to love itself more than anyone. This
is not to say that the pebble did not love anyone but the love is more toward
itself. It may sound selfish but that is the reality of the world, can we be
truly love someone and be loved wholehearted by others? On this basis
it becomes clear that Blake is saying that only the dim-witted individual
believes love is a holy thing, and that a person with any intelligence will
know that love can be a cruel and destructive
force.
-gloria-
