Symbol Analysis
Here is a partial list of all the animals that appear in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: bee, serpent, lion, worm, bird, peacock, goat, wolf, fox, sheep, spider, rat, mouse, rabbit, tiger, horse, elephant, eagle, caterpillar, crow, and platypus. Okay, so we threw that last one in ourselves to see if you were still reading. The point is, at times this book reads more like a zoo's manifest than a work of philosophy.
So, what's up with all the animal imagery? Was Blake an environmentalist before his day? The answer to that question is a resounding yes, but not in the way we think of environmentalists today. We're sure that Blake would have been down to hug a tree or two, but he was more concerned about a broader notion of environment, one that included spirituality and philosophy, as well as the physical and natural world.
We can see this in the "Proverbs of Hell" section, where Blake uses animals a lot to illustrate his points. In this way, the proverbs are a lot like fables, short stories that often star animals as their main characters. (Aesop's are the most famous.) Let's check out a few examples:
We're told, for instance, "The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship" (4.31). In this case, we're asked to make the connection between building a home and making a friend. The work these animals do is a model for how people should approach their relationships with others.
As well, the speaker lets us know that "The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow" (4.39). This reinforces Blake's point about the importance of honoring talented people and giving them their due (see the "Detailed Summary" for more on that). Right away, the use of animals here provides a sharp contrast—noble eagle, lame crow—to get the point across.
Blake throws a ton of these kinds of animal-based lessons at his readers, using their relatively simple examples to illustrate more complex truths. Try it yourself some time. You might surprise yourself and come up with a gem, like "The kangaroo knows that the hedgehog makes a poor handkerchief."