All wholesome food is caught without a net or a trap?

Question

what is the analogy is in this proverb by blake?

no its not a class question im curious.

Answer 1

By forcing or rushing something, you will probably inadvertantly damage it. Have patience, respect, and your desires will come to you untainted.

Answer 2

That is one of the 'Proverbs of h**l' from his text "The Marriage of Heaven and h**l".  To understand it best, I think we need to frame it with something he said earlier in the work:

"Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence.  From these contraries spring what the religious call Good and Evil. Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing from Energy."

So look at the quote again.  It's from what Blake identifies as h**l.  A place of activity... the enemy of the passive.  To them, a net or a trap that can be set in the woods and largely ignored is the worst kind of activity.  To a dweller in that realm, catching food should involve a hunt:  the search, the chase, and the personal sense of crushing your prey before you consume him.  It is the essence of the assertion of your will and strength over that of another.

And that's probably the sense you should take it in if you wish to expand it out as a proverb about life itself.  Hope that helps!

Answer 3

Pretty sure it's a pro-veg statement, saying that if you catch your food in a net or a trap, such as fish or wild animals or whatever, it's not wholesome, where as plants are. References to the quality of food, the benefits of a vegetarian/vegan diet, etc.

I just guessed that, so it may not be correct =]