Little Shubunkin

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

“Love seeketh not itself to please, 

Nor for itself hath any care, 

But for another gives its ease, 

And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.” 

So sung a little Clod of Clay 

Trodden with the cattle’s feet, 

But a Pebble of the brook 

Warbled out these metres meet: 

“Love seeketh only self to please, 

To bind another to its delight, 

Joys in another’s loss of ease, 

And builds a Hell in Heaven’s despite.”

Key Imagery

• Clod of Clay: Represents vulnerability, humility, and the ability to give.
• Pebble of the Brook: Represents selfishness, endurance, and hardening by experience.

In summary, the poem implies that human love is a complex, often painful mix of these two opposing perspectives—neither wholly good nor entirely bad, but part of a larger, difficult experience of life.