Rouze up, O Young Men of the New Age! set your foreheads against the ignorant Hirelings! For we have Hirelings in the Camp, the Court & the University, who would, if they could, for ever depress Mental & prolong Corporeal War.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Blake urges the new generation to resist those who keep people ignorant and perpetuate conflict.
- In plain terms
- Stand against ignorant people who cause endless mental and physical wars.
- What can you take from it?
- Challenge and reject oppressive, uninformed influences.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What defines an 'ignorant hireling' today?
- How can youth effectively oppose entrenched power?
Another view
The quote assumes a clear distinction between 'ignorant hirelings' and the enlightened, which may oversimplify complex social dynamics.
More from William Blake
The Stolen and Perverted Writings of Homer & Ovid, of Plato & Cicero, which all men ought to contemn, are set up by artifice against the Sublime of the Bible
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Permalink to quote #136
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