Auguries of Innocence Injustice Quotes

This is the first of Blake's animal couplets—and it sets the pattern for the rest. A small example of a bird suffering and losing its freedom really reflects all suffering and the death of all freedom. It's enough to tick heaven off.

Like the robin one, this couplet shows how a smaller example of cruelty can reflect greater sufferings. If the relationship between a dog and its master gets this bad, it probably means that the master isn't treating the humans who work for him very well either. The whole social order might fall into revolution—or pure tyranny.

This one might seem silly—but Blake's saying that, if you're in the habit of picking on innocent animals, you're probably not going to appear very lovable to humans either.