From "Auguries of Innocence" by William Blake

A mystic is a person who believes that there is another world outside of this one, and attempts to contact that world, or understand it in ways beyond the intellectual, or even be absorbed into it. Along the way she or he may have moments where they see, in this world, hints at what the other world may be like.

The Great English poet William Blake was such a person, and he wrote these four lines (part of a larger poem called "Auguries of Innocence") about such a moment: seeing the other world peeking through into this one.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

--------

SOME WORDS:

• absorbed: taken into; dissolved into
• auguries: predictions; indications
• eternity: time without limit
• infinity: space without limit

--------

QUESTION TO THINK ABOUT:

This question does not have a "right" or "wrong" answer. It only asks your opinion.

1. Why do you think Blake chose "a Grain of Sand" to represent the World, and "a Wild Flower" to represent Heaven?