Wine Pressing

But in the Wine-presses the Human Grapes Sing not nor Dance

William Blake

But in the Wine-presses the human grapes sing not nor dance:
They howl and writhe in shoals of torment, in fierce flames consuming,
In chains of iron and in dungeons circled with ceaseless fires,
In pits and dens and shades of death, in shapes of torment and woe:
The plates and screws and racks and saws and cords and fires and cisterns
The cruel joys of Luvah's Daughters, lacerating with knives
And whips their victims, and the deadly sport of Luvah's Sons.

They dance around the dying and they drink the howl and groan,
They catch the shrieks in cups of gold, they hand them to one another:
These are the sports of love, and these the sweet delights of amorous play,
Tears of the grape, the death sweat of the cluster, the last sigh
Of the mild youth who listens to the luring songs of Luvah.----

 

William Blake is known to write poems and create artwork contrasting innocence and experience using many biblical allusions and symbolism. In his poem “But in the Wine-presses the Human Grapes Sing not nor Dance” Blake juxtaposes love and torture to show the torment of experience.

His first line sets up the poem in a wine press, where grapes are squeezed in order to make wine. In order for the grapes to turn into the fine drink, they must first be pressed and aged, transforming from one state to another. This is symbolic of the transition from innocence to experience, and Blake illustrates this process by personifying the grapes which “howl and writhe in shoals of torment”. The transition could be described as painful because the effect of eating this “fruit of knowledge” (in this case a grape), is losing the ignorance and bliss associated with innocence. The grapes “no longer sing nor dance” because they have been weighed down by age and experience. Blake continues describing the almost torturous process by repeatedly using fire imagery. This could be an allusion to the fires of Hell, in which the grapes are being scorched. The allusion to Hell with “fierce flames consuming” and “chains…circled with ceaseless fires” describes experience as a sinful experience, contrary to the pure and innocence found in heaven.  Blake goes on to describe Luvah’s sadistic daughters and sons. He juxtaposes “cruel joys” and “deadly sport” when speaking of lacerating and whipping victims. Luvah, which Blake created, is symbolic of love and the fact that his offspring enjoy torture depicts an ironic scene demonstrating both the good and bad aspects of experience. These “sweet delights of amorous play” show that experience can be painful yet beneficial. Love is often seen with positive connotation, and when posed with violence it captures the dual emotions associated with the fruit of knowledge.  William Blake uses these descriptions to demonstrate his view that neither innocence nor experience is superior to the other. Both have their advantages and their drawbacks and he compares them in his poem about enlightened yet pained grapes as they transition to wine.

Blake uses the process of wine pressing to demonstrate the acquisition of knowledge in his poem. Luvah represents love and tortures his victims in the “sports of love”. The juxtaposition and violent imagery presented in the poem demonstrate the downsides of experience. Compared to innocence, it reveals knowledge and takes away the ignorance, but it is also reality- which can be devastating. William Blake finishes his poem describing “the last sigh of the mild youth who listens to the luring songs of Luvah”. This reveals that experience is tempting, yet the loss of innocence is something to be sighed over, a distressing experience.