“To love another person is to see the face of God.”
Victor Hugo · Les Miserables, 1862
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I am in you and you in me, mutual in divine love.
About this quote
Meaning
Blake's line speaks to a vision of love as complete mutual indwelling, a state in which two people do not merely share space or affection but are genuinely present within one another. The phrase "mutual in divine love" elevates this union beyond ordinary human feeling, suggesting that love at its deepest has a sacred quality. For Blake, the boundaries between self and other, and even between the human and the divine, were not fixed. This line reflects his belief that love is not just an emotion but a spiritual condition of wholeness.
Context
"Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion" is one of Blake's longest and most complex prophetic works, a poem composed over many years and filled with his own invented mythology. The poem deals with themes of division and unity, fall and redemption, and the struggle to restore wholeness to a fragmented world. Within this ambitious framework, love is presented as the force capable of healing separation. Blake engraved and illustrated the work himself, combining text and image in a way that was entirely his own.
About the author
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker working at the turn of the nineteenth century. He is now regarded as a foundational figure of the Romantic movement, though he was little recognized during his lifetime. His work is visionary in the most literal sense, drawing on personal spiritual experiences and a privately developed symbolic system. He created his books by hand, engraving both the words and illustrations onto copper plates. His poetry ranges from deceptively simple lyrics to vast prophetic epics.
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