Stanza 4 Summary

Lines 13-14

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:

• Um… or did it? 
• The speaker begins the poem's final stanza by saying he won't cease from "Mental Fight"? 
• What's up with that? 
• Then he follows up by saying his sword will not sleep in his hand. That seems impossible. 
• Okay, so first things first: Blake wasn't really much for violence. It would be a little bit of a contradiction, then, to talk about weapons and burning and destruction for someone who wasn't a big fan of violence, wouldn't it?
• Granted, the speaker of this poem isn't technically Blake (see our "Speaker" section for more on this), but most of Blake's prophetic heroes aren't really into violence either.
• The point about "Mental Fight" is that there are non-violent ways to launch a revolution, to do away with all the bad stuff in the world. Remember, the French Revolution and all of its "terror" was quite fresh in Blake's mind, and he certainly wasn't an advocate for that. 
• So what exactly would a "Mental Fight" look like? It's not clear because the speaker isn't very clear himself.
• However, being the diligent Blakeans we are, we know that in one of his famous poems, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," Blake goes on and on about "melting apparent surfaces away." He also talks about how the "doors of perception" need to be "cleansed" once in a while.
• So, could "Mental Fight" mean looking at things differently? Is that what Blake is up to here? Can you get rid of "dark Satanic mills" by changing your entire outlook?
• In short, yes. Think about a guy like Martin Luther King. What did he say? Judge people by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin. How is that not a change in perception?
• Yes, we know Blake—and the speaker of this poem—aren't MLK, but the idea of a non-violent revolution is certainly applicable, even likely.
• This is where the sword comes in. Yes, the speaker's sword will not sleep, by which he means he will keep fighting the good fight. But that good fight will be conducted by engaging in powerful, mental, revolutionary changes in his outlook.
• Or something like that.

Lines 15-16

Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.

• Speaking of the good fight, the speaker makes his commitment clear in the poem's final lines: his sword will not sleep until Jerusalem is built (again) in England's "green & pleasant Land."
• But who is this mysterious "we" anyway? That, friends, is not clear by any means. 
• We're gonna go ahead and guess that the speaker is thinking about getting a little revolutionary band together, and that together they're gonna make England right. Somehow, they plan to make the present, or the future, just like the past so that Jerusalem is once again in England.
• Now, the whole process of building Jerusalem again is a metaphor for changing the world for the better .
• The world is full of "dark Satanic mills," and those need to be done away with, plain and simple.
• This isn't going to be easy because, well, building is never easy. It will be a "fight," that's for sure, but there's no point in doing it unless Jerusalem is built again.