"The Clod and the Pebble" is a poem from William Blake's 1794 collection, Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

Summary

"The Clod and the Pebble" is an example of William Blake's idea about the opposite states of the human soul, as introduced in his work Songs of Innocence and of Experience. The poem shows two different views of love. It is divided into three parts. The first part presents the clod’s view that love is selfless. This gentle idea of love is shown through a soft clod of clay, which represents innocence and a simple, childlike way of seeing the world. The second part connects the clod and the pebble. It describes the clod’s location, where it sings its view while being stepped on by cattle. A semicolon at the end of the second line signals a change in perspective. This change is also shown by the word "But" at the start of the third line. Meanwhile, the pebble is in the river, singing its own view. The final part shows the pebble’s view of love as selfish. This section is written in a structure similar to the clod’s part, showing how the two ideas are opposites.

Themes

This poem shows different ideas about love. Joseph Heffner explains that the clod singing represents a view of love that is joyful and unselfish. In contrast, the pebble believes love is selfish. These two views can also be seen as examples of how men and women might understand love differently.

The clod symbolizes innocence. Joseph Heffner says its view of love is filled with "childlike innocence." The clod is made of clay, a material used to create Adam in religious stories. This choice is meaningful because clay is soft, showing how this innocent view of love can be easily harmed, such as by the foot of a cow in the poem.

The pebble has a hard and strong structure, showing that it has been shaped by experiences with love. Joseph Heffner notes that the pebble believes love is selfish. He also explains that the pebble's use of the word "bind" suggests a view of love that is aggressive and connected to a more forceful, masculine perspective.

Literary influence

The final stanza of the poem, which describes the pebble's perspective on selfish love, was chosen as the opening quote for Evelyn Scott's 1921 novel The Narrow House. According to Pat Tyler, the women in this novel are "made strong by difficult experiences. Each focuses only on staying alive and is not affected by the pain of others."

The poem is also mentioned in The Goshawk by T. H. White, though it is quoted incorrectly. It is also referenced in Graham Greene's novel The Human Factor.