In William Blake's poem "The Book of Thel," does the Worm actually speak?

"The Book of Thel" is a poem written by William
Blake. Some characters are "Thel," "The Clod of Clay," and "The
Worm."

Blake is thought to have written the poem with
regard to the Church of England, of which he was not a supporter.
(His connection with religion was unusual: at the age of four he believed he saw God
peering through his window, and later, he said he saw visions of angels in a
field.)

In Part Two, Blake introduces the character of the
Worm, powerless, sitting on a leaf.

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The helpless worm arose, and sat upon the Lily's*
leaf... (2.30) [*Lily of the
valley]

In Part Three, the
answer seems to come from Thel who says the weak Worm is able to
cry, but cannot to speak.

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"Art thou a Worm? Image of
weakness, art thou but a Worm?

I see thee like
an infant wrapped in the Lily's leaf

Ah! weep not,
little voice, thou canst not speak,
but thou canst weep.

Is this a Worm? I see thee lay
helpless and naked, weeping,

And none to
answer, none to cherish thee with mother's smiles."
(3.2-6)

Reading on we learn that the Clod of Clay
hears the Worm's
voice.

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The Clod of Clay heard
the Worm's voice and rais'd her
pitying head:

She bow'd over the
weeping infant, and her life exhal'd

In milky fondness:
then on Thel she fix'd her humble eyes.
(3.7-9)

This would
seem paradoxical in that Thel says the Worm cannot speak,
but it does not say the Worm is
unable to speak. The inference I draw is that Thel is telling the
Worm that she thinks it may
not speak—Thel calls the Worm "little
voice," thus acknowledging a voice. Perhaps, then, Thel is stating
that the Worm is too small, too inconsequential to be heard. It is
a lowly creature that lives in the dirt. Thel's heart may be too blinded by the Worm's
home and connect size to its importance—assuming, then, that the Worm really doesn't
matter to the world.

The Clod of Clay says Thel sees the
clod as the lowest ("meanest") thing on the earth—admitting it may
be true, but God has given it value,
anointed it with oil and blessed it.

(Anointing is a
religious ritual, using:

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perfumed oil, milk, water, melted butter,
etc.

Anointing shows an
"introduction of a...divine influence...or  href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God">god.") And even the Clod of Clay
does not understand why it has been
blessed.

"O
beauty of the vales of Har! we live not for ourselves.

Thou
seest me the meanest thing, and so I am indeed.

My bosom of
itself is cold, and of itself is dark;

But he,
that loves the lowly, pours his oil upon my
head,

And kisses me, and binds his nuptial bands around my
breast,

And says: 'Thou mother of my children, I have loved
thee

And I have given thee a crown that none can take
away.'

But how this is, sweet maid, I know not, and I
cannot know;

I ponder, and I cannot ponder; yet I live and
love." (3.10 -18)

Thel admits
that she knew the Worm was loved by God who
would punish one who stepped on it, but did not realize it was
treasured so much that God would anoint it with "milk and
oil:"

That
God would love a Worm I knew, and punish the evil foot

That
wilful bruis'd its helpless form; but that he cherish'd
it

With milk and oil I never knew…
(3.21-23)

In this is poem
Thel wonders about her life passing, and looks to nature in order to understand living
and dying; nature sees it as the cycle of life. Thel cannot hear its truths
and...

The
Virgin started from her seat, and with a shriek
Fled back unhinder'd till she
came into the vales of
Har.

Additional
Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anointing