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Examine Blake's attitude to religion with reference to the songs of innocence and experience
compare and contrast song of innocence and experience
compare and contrast song of innocence and experience
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Recommended: Examine Blake's attitude to religion with reference to the songs of innocence and experience
William Blake composed two series of poems: Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence. The poems are intertwined as to compare the thoughts of children and adults on the same issues. The innocence of children is discussed on topics of religion, love, and justice. The opinions of adults are also experienced on these topics, but are given from a more experienced viewpoint. William Blake comparatively writes two series of poems to address the controversy of God, love, and justice from pure thinkers and from corrupt thinkers. Religion is defined differently by different cultures and experiences, therefore; children and adults views differ greatly. Songs of Innocence was written from the point of view of children who only knew of “innocent wonderment and spontaneity in natural settings” (Literature). In The Lamb, Blake questions who is the creator of life: “Doust thou know who made thee?/ Gave thee life and bid thee feed” (Blake 909). The poem gives the answer that God was the creator of life. In contrast, Blake called upon the question of the Son of God’s existence: “And did those feet in ancient time/ Walk upon England’s mountains green?” (Blake 915). It is believed that Blake compared the thinking of children with those of England’s working class. The working class was encompassed by poverty and was often driven …show more content…
The value of the experience of heartbreak will sway the viewpoints from the two groups. “And then I will stand and stroke his silver hair, / And be like him, and he will then love me,” the boy learned from his mother that their should be no differences in a friend because of race (Blake 910). Blake described how adults view love in “London”: “And mark in every face I meet/ Marks of weakness, marks of woe” (Blake 914). Blake implied that adults would often only see the sorrow and pain that an individual expressed instead of seeing the love and
In William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, many of the poems correlate in numerous aspects. For example, The Chimney Sweeper is a key poem in both collections that portrays the soul of a child The Chimney Sweeper in Innocence vs. The Chimney Sweeper in Experience In William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, many of the poems correlate in numerous aspects. For example, The Chimney Sweeper is a key poem in both collections that portrays the soul of a child with both a naïve and experienced persona. Blake uses the aspects of religion, light versus dark imagery, and the usage of the chimney sweeper itself to convey the similarities and differences of the figure in both poems. The Chimney Sweeper is an excellent example of how William Blake incorporated religion into his poetic works.
In this essay I am going to be looking at two poems from the Songs of innocence and experience works. These poems are The Lamb and The Tyger written by William Blake. Both these poems have many underlying meanings and are cryptic in ways and both poems are very different to each other. In this essay I will be analysing the two poems, showing my opinions of the underlying themes and backing them up with quotes from the poems. I will compare the poems looking at the similarities and differences between them and also look at each one individually focusing on the imagery, structure and the poetic devices William Blake has used. Firstly I will look at the Tyger a poem about experience.
Blake wrote two poems with entitled “Chimney Sweeper.” One version was found in his ‘Songs of Innocence’ and the other was found in ‘Songs of Experience.’ Although the first was told with a child almost in mind, and the second was told in a darker, colder point-of-view, they both contain the same concern. This concern is having very young children working as chimney sweepers. Blake talks about how you boys are almost forced into this career
two entirely different worlds, but it is my belief that it is not the Lamb
The theme of authority is possibly the most important theme and the most popular theme concerning William Blake’s poetry. Blake explores authority in a variety of different ways particularly through religion, education and God. Blake was profoundly concerned with the concept of social justice. He was also profoundly a religious man. His dissenting background led him to view the power structures and legalism that surrounded religious establishments with distrust. He saw these as unwarranted controls over the freedom of the individual and contrary to the nature of a God of liberty. Figures such as the school master in the ‘schoolboy’, the parents in the ‘chimney sweeper’ poems, the guardians of the poor in the ‘Holy Thursday’, Ona’s father in ‘A Little girl lost’ and the priestly representatives of organised religion in many of the poems, are for Blake the embodiment of evil restriction.
Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience portray creation ? as they portray most themes ? in entirely different ways. The innocent child in The Lamb automatically answers his own question when he asks ?who made thee?? It was, of course, God. But the child?s simple reply conceals more ominous symbolism. By linking himself to the lamb and Christ, we are reminded uncomfortably of Christ?s great sacrifice and the slaughter of animals in honour of pagan gods. The simplistic, idealistic version of creation in Innocence veils the darker face of a sub-textually present knowledge involving ritual or religious sacrifice, perhaps the inevitable surrender of innocence in favour of experience.
Overall, it is apparent that Blake is extremely critical of the exploitation of children during his time period. Blake’s Songs of Innocence provides more implicit social commentary which forces the reader to think deeply about child exploitation. Songs of Experience presents a direct social commentary due to the mature nature of the child speaker. Although both texts provide similar social commentary, Songs of Experience expresses social commentary more directly due to the outspoken and mature nature of the child. Songs of Experience was likely written as a follow-up to Songs of Innocence at a later date in order to solidify the implicit ideas presented in Songs of Innocence.
In his work, Songs of Innocence and Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul, William Blake uses the aforementioned contrasting states of being to illustrate his unique view of the world around him. Through this work, Blake lays bare his soulful views of religion and ethics, daring the reader to continue on in their narcissistic attitudes and self-serving politics. While Blake's work had countless themes, some of the most prevalent were religious reform, social change, and morality. Philosophically, one would think that William Blake was a Deist; however Blake rejected the Deist view of life. He was a devout Christian, yet he also wanted nothing to do with the church or their teachings. These views give Blake a refreshingly sincere quality with regards to his art and writings. Blake frequently alluded to Biblical teachings in his work and, more often than not, used corresponding story lines to rail against the Church's views and accepted practices. One may say however, that Blake's universal appeal lies within his social commentary. Similar to a fable, Blake weaves a poetically mystical journey for the reader, usually culminating in a moral lesson. One such poem, "A Poison Tree," clearly illustrates some of William Blake's moral beliefs. With his use of imagery, as well as an instinctive knowledge of human nature, William Blake shows just how one goes from the light to the darkness (from innocence to experience) by the repression of emotions.
The imagery of nature and humanity intermingling presents Blake's opinion on the inborn, innate harmony between nature and man. The persona of the poem goes on to express the `gentle streams beneath our feet' where `innocence and virtue meet'. This is where innocence dwells: synchronization with nature, not synchronization with industry where `babes are reduced to misery, fed with a cold usurous hand' as in the experienced version of `Holy Thursday'. The concept of the need for the individual's faithfulness to the laws of nature and what is natural is further reiterated in `the marriage of heaven and hell' in plate 10 where Blake states `where man is not, nature is barren'. The most elevated form of nature is human nature and when man resists and consciously negates nature, `nature' becomes `barren'. Blake goes on to say `sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires'. This harks back to `the Songs of Innocence' `A Cradle Song' where the `infants smiles are his own smiles'. The infant is free to act out its desires as it pleases. It is unbound, untainted. Blake's concern is for the pallid and repressed, subjugated future that awaits the children who must `nurse unacted desires' and emotions in this new world of industrialisation. Despairingly, this is restated again in `the mind-forg'd manacles' of `London'. The imagery of the lambs of the `Songs of Innocence' `Introduction' is developed in `the Chimney Sweeper' into the image of `Little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, that curl'd like a lamb's back, was shav'd'.
In Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Blake differentiates between being experienced and being innocent. In the poem "Spring," the speaker focuses on the coming of spring and the excitement surrounding it which is emphasized by the trochaic meter of the poem. Everyone, including the animals and children, is joyful and getting ready for the new season, a season of rebirth and a new arrival of nature’s gifts.
In William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, the gentle lamb and the dire tiger define childhood by setting a contrast between the innocence of youth and the experience of age. The Lamb is written with childish repetitions and a selection of words which could satisfy any audience under the age of five. Blake applies the lamb in representation of youthful immaculateness. The Tyger is hard-featured in comparison to The Lamb, in respect to word choice and representation. The Tyger is a poem in which the author makes many inquiries, almost chantlike in their reiterations. The question at hand: could the same creator have made both the tiger and the lamb? For William Blake, the answer is a frightening one. The Romantic Period’s affinity towards childhood is epitomized in the poetry of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. "Little Lamb who made thee/ Dost thou know who made thee (Blake 1-2)." The Lamb’s introductory lines set the style for what follows: an innocent poem about a amiable lamb and it’s creator. It is divided into two stanzas, the first containing questions of whom it was who created such a docile creature with "clothing of delight (Blake 6)." There are images of the lamb frolicking in divine meadows and babbling brooks. The stanza closes with the same inquiry which it began with. The second stanza begins with the author claiming to know the lamb’s creator, and he proclaims that he will tell him. Blake then states that the lamb’s creator is none different then the lamb itself. Jesus Christ is often described as a lamb, and Blake uses lines such as "he is meek and he is mild (Blake 15)" to accomplish this. Blake then makes it clear that the poem’s point of view is from that of a child, when he says "I a child and thou a lamb (Blake 17)." The poem is one of a child’s curiosity, untainted conception of creation, and love of all things celestial. The Lamb’s nearly polar opposite is The Tyger. It’s the difference between a feel-good minister waxing warm and fuzzy for Jesus, and a fiery evangelist preaching a hellfire sermon. Instead of the innocent lamb we now have the frightful tiger- the emblem of nature red in tooth and claw- that embodies experience. William Blake’s words have turned from heavenly to hellish in the transition from lamb to tiger.
In the William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, the vision of children and adults are placed in opposition of one another. Blake portrays childhood as a time of optimism and positivity, of heightened connection with the natural world, and where joy is the overpowering emotion. This joyful nature is shown in Infant Joy, where the speaker, a newborn baby, states “’I happy am,/ Joy is my name.’” (Line 4-5) The speaker in this poem is portrayed as being immediately joyful, which represents Blake’s larger view of childhood as a state of joy that is untouched by humanity, and is untarnished by the experience of the real world. In contrast, Blake’s portrayal of adulthood is one of negativity and pessimism. Blake’s child saw the most cheerful aspects of the natural wo...
There are often two sides to everything: chocolate and vanilla, water and fire, woman and man, innocence and experience. The presence of two opposing items allows for harmony and balance in the world. Without water, fire cannot be put out and without woman there can be no man. William Blake’s poetry collection Songs of Innocence and of Experience draws parallels between poems of “innocence” and poems of “experience”. His poem The Lamb is mirrored by his poem The Tyger. Although Blake’s poem The Tyger revolved around the idea of a ferocious mammal, its illustration of a sheepish tiger complicates and alters Blake’s message in the poem by suggesting that good and evil simultaneously exist.
In the poem, “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake, the author attempts to educate the reader about the horrors experienced by young children who are forced into labor at an early age cleaning chimneys for the wealthy. The poem begins with a young boy who has lost his mother but has no time to properly grieve because his father has sold him into a life of filth and despair. The child weeps not only for the loss of his mother and his father’s betrayal, but also for the loss of his childhood and innocence. Blake uses poetry in an attempt to provoke outrage over the inhumane and dangerous practice of exploiting children and attempts to shine a light on the plight of the children by appealing to the reader’s conscience in order to free the children from their nightmare existence.
In the poem, The Chimney Sweeper by William Blake (1789), the poet attempts to shine a light on the social injustice inflicted upon children by appealing to the reader’s conscience in order to free them from their nightmare existence. He uses a child’s voice as the vehicle to deliver his message in order to draw attention to the injustice of forced child labor. The speaker is a young boy whose mother has passed away. He has no time to properly grieve because his father has sold him into a life of filth and despair. The child weeps not only for the loss of his mother and his father’s betrayal, but also for the loss of his childhood and innocence. Blake cleverly uses sound, imagery, irony, and symbolism in an attempt to provoke outrage over the inhumane treatment and exploitation inflicted upon young children by forcing them into the chimneys.