The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.

The aphorism sets human social bonds alongside instinctive animal constructions: birds build nests and spiders spin webs as natural necessities, while humans “build” friendship as their essential habitat. By compressing the grammar (“The bird a nest…”) Blake turns the line into a proverb, implying that companionship is not a luxury but a fundamental condition of human flourishing. The comparison also suggests that friendship is an art of making—something fashioned through attention and reciprocity—rather than a mere sentiment. In Blakean terms, it can be read as a quiet defense of imaginative, humane connection against isolation and the cold mechanisms of purely utilitarian life.