Blake Comparison

Interestingly enough, William Blake's poems from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience usually provide common topics but opposite perspectives; each perspective accomplished my means of unique writing techniques. "The Shepherd" from Songs of Innocence and "The Garden of Love" from Songs of Experience have in common the experiences of a shepherd but "The Shepherd" creates a joyful and friendly mood through the word choice of Blake while "The Garden of Love" creates a sorrowful mood by means of imagery.

In "The Shepherd" the sweet and love-filled diction creates a joyful mood while in "The Garden of Love" the juxtaposition of bright and gloomy imagery creates a depressing and negative mood. In "The Shepherd" the bright diction creates the positive mood whereas in "The Garden of Love" it is the juxtaposing imagery that creates the negative mood. In "The Shepherd" the pleasant setting is established through the opening line: "How sweet is the shepherd's sweet lot!" This rhetorical question exemplifies the sweetness and charm of the atmosphere. The rhetorical question, which is obviously rhetorical due to the lack of a question mark, shows that it is impossible to put into words the true serenity of the environment. On the other hand, the juxtaposition between what the land used to be with what land became, imposes a negative and gloomy mood in "The Garden of Love." Contrasting imagery between the two descriptions allows for the juxtaposition to create a negative mood. The first stanza describes the setting as a place of love and it describes the shepherd's memories of where he "used to play on the green," brining back childhood innocence and thus creating an initial positive mood. The verb "play" assists in creating this moo...

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... this mood. This word choice shows that the land emphasizes that the land once possessed such beauty but does not anymore. But primarily, the dark and depressing images of "The Garden of Love" create a gloomy mood while the bright and love-filled diction of "The Shepherd" creates a lively and friendly mood.

The purpose of the sorrowful imagery in "The Garden of Love" was to create a negative mood and the purpose of the love-filled diction was to create a positive mood, but to take it one step further one must ask what the purpose of establishing these contrasting moods in each poem? "The Garden of Love" contains depressing images and has a gloomy mood to portray hell as the epitome of depression and negativity whereas "The Shepherd" contrasts this setting by using friendly diction to create a joyful mood to portray heaven as the quintessence of joy and peace.