Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 59-62
Joy & Woe are woven fine,
A Clothing for the Soul divine;
Under every grief & pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.
- Blake continues on the "Joy and Woe" theme. These four lines are rubbing elbows with the four lines that came before them for a reason.
- But what Blake's saying in this case might be a little harder to understand. Why are joy and woe "woven fine"? And why are they the hot, new Urban Outfitters garb that the Soul is wearing?
- Well, since humans (and all living things, according to Blake) have souls, their experiences in the world become like a kind of clothing. Like people say, "It builds character"—joy and woe wrap the soul in experience, giving it a unique character and identity. They make it an individual.
- So, the idea that joy and woe are like threads weaving together a garment is a strange and unexpected metaphor. It's the kind of interesting, left-field thing Blake specializes in.
- The last two lines help prop up a point made in the last section: joy and grief are complementary. You can't have one without the other. A joy is somehow hidden under every grief, waiting to balance it out and harmonize it. The fact that joy is made of "silken twine" indicates the high quality, Versace-level elegance and subtlety of joy as an emotion.
- Note how Blake uses the similar sounds of "woe" and "woven" for an effect. Check out "Sound Check" for all the goods.