Thel's Motto
Does the Eagle know what is in the pit?
Or wilt thou go ask the Mole:
Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod?
Or Love in a golden Bowl?
I propose that Blake deliberately inverted his symbols to complete what Kathleen Raine called the Divine Analogy. (The fourth chapter of her book “Blake and Tradition” is my favorite explication of the poem.) Note his use of the colon after the second line and the 4 capitalized words:
Eagle/Mole:
Wisdom/Love
I challenge you to consider the context Blake uses. In what sense can Wisdom be put into a silver rod, or love into a golden bowl? Here the literary critic may be at a loss, but the student of magic quickly recognizes his two favorite tools–the silver bowl, representing the feminine whose emotion is love (love can be put into a silver bowl by magic)– and the Golden Rod (magic wand)–representing the masculine (Wisdom can be put into a golden rod by magic). Only in the magical sense can metals be endowed with spiritual properties.
So, the answer: Can wisdom be put into a silver rod? Of course not–only a golden one will suffice. Can love be put into a Golden Bowl?–No only a silver bowl will work.
Blake has deliberately inverted the spiritual attributes of the alchemists’ metals. To the Alchemist, silver has the spiritual property of love and gold has the spiritual property of wisdom. Notice also that the naming conventions Blake uses in Thel derive from H. C. Agrippa–noted occultist (while not my favorite).
Blake did not intend an audience of literary critics only. Perfectly good romantic scholars, like Harold Bloom, are quickly in over their heads–the water is deep and swift:
“The Silver rod is a phallic variant of the silver cord in Ecclesiastes 12:6, and the golden bowl is an emblem of the virgin womb. But silver and gold, opaque and dedicated to Mammon, are ambiguous substances in Blake…”
No, friend. Blake’s use of alchemical symbolism is not ambiguous in the least.
