The Work of William Blake

Romanticism was both an artistic and intellectual movement geared essentially toward emphasizing nature’s subliminal aura, the individual’s expression of emotion and imagination, and ultimately a heightened sense of consciousness. Widely acknowledged for his contributions to Romanticism, English poet William Blake is considered to be one of the most influential poets of the nineteenth century. Blake, a visionary far beyond his years, was adamant in expressing his views on the cosmos; that one cannot simply have the good without experiencing the bad nor can one have the bad without experiencing the good. Near the end of the seventeen hundreds, Blake published two highly acclaimed works supporting his claim that in order for the world to function as it does, all things in the universe must have an opposite, or a contrast. He published his poem collection entitled “Songs of Innocence and of Experience” in 1794 and finished composing his book “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”, a few years prior to it. These two brilliant works exemplify exactly just how important a positive balance in the cosmos really is. William Black depicts good and evil in his poems with the use of the reference to joy and sorrow.

The poems “Infant Joy” and “Infant Sorrow” may be companionable because both poems share the same concept, they are direct opposites. The best examples of this are the titles themselves. Within the titles one can clearly gather that the following poems will contrast each other. Just from reading the title “Infant Joy” one can presume that it will be a positive and an uplifting poem. However, reading the opposing title “Infant sorrow” one gets a negative correlation. Inside these two poems there are two perspectives; a new born baby and...

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...y.” Songs of Innocence. The Literature Network. The Literature Network, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.

Blake, William. “Infant Sorrow.” Songs of Experience. The Literature Network. The Literature Network, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.

Blake, William. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Bartleby.com: Great Books Online. Bartleby.com. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.

BORUCH, MARIANNE. "Three Blakes." American Poetry Review 43.1 (2014): 41-45. Literary Reference Center. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.

Saklofske, Jon. "Remediating William Blake: Unbinding The Network Architectures Of Blake's Songs." European Romantic Review 22.3 (2011): 381-388. Literary Reference Center. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.

Williams, John. "Building A Heaven In Hell's Despair: The Everlasting Gospel Of Revolution According To William Blake And Douglas Oliver." Romanticism 18.2 (2012): 155-164. Literary Reference Center. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.