Referring closely to at least two poems in the Songs of Innocence and Experience Anthology, show how Blake explored key Romantic themes
Elizabeth Mill?n-Zaibert states that German poet Friedrich Schlegel first used the term Romantic to describe literature, defining it as "literature depicting emotional matter in an imaginative form. (Millan-Zaibert) However this is not the complete picture, romanticism includes subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism; spontaneity; freedom from rules, mysticism and infinity with nature. Some critics such as Josephine Miles place Blake as a pre Romantic poet. (Miles 1967) Others, such as Stephanie Forward place him as a romantic poet. (http://www.bl.uk) It is therefore fair to suggest that Blake was an early romantic poet and incorporated some of the themes seen in Romantic poetry into his own work. For the purpose of this essay the following themes will be used, natural instinct, visionary, morality, mysticism and childhood. Where possible, comparisons will be made to other Romantic poets who explored these themes
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?Songs of Innocence? The poems within it are generally in ballad form having a straightforward rhyme scheme and being lyrical in nature. The ballad form was a popular structure that the Romantic poets used for example Coleridge used ballad form in ?The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner?. (Coleridge) Blake uses the word Innocence in his title to reinforce his idea that his poetry was an expression of a child?s view of the world that an adult would read. Innocence is also the state we were in before we encountered original sin and left the Garden of Eden. It conveys an idea of the time before the world corrupted us. The use of the word ?Experience? in the title suggests that man has now left paradise and encountered the realities of the world. Thus the title sums up Blake?s preoccupation with the ?Two contrary states of the human
William Blake focused on biblical images in the majority of his poetry and prose. Much of his well-known work comes from the two compilations Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The poems in these compilations reflect Blake's metamorphosis in thought as he grew from innocent to experienced. An example of this metamorphosis is the two poems The Divine Image and A Divine Image. The former preceded the latter by one year.
From childhood he was unlike those around him. He went to school to study art and found his love of poetry. From his early childhood, Blake spoke of having visions. He spoke of seeing God and the Angels. He married his with Catherine Boucher in 1782. His brother, Robert died, but this is where Blake got a lot of inspiration for his work. In 1789 Blake wrote and illustrated the popular Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience in 1794. His poetry was extremely non-conformist and focused on imagination, rather than reason. Both works have many common parallels and themes. His poetry also deals with the common aspect of a romanticism work; it has moments of sin, suffering and salvation. In Songs of Innocence, The Chimney Sweeper, it is a heartbreaking poem about the young children that were forced into doing labor as chimneysweepers. Mostly because they were the only ones small enough to fit in the spaces and they were sold into that work. It was damaging and cruel how they treated these children and Blake writes about it in such a powerful way. In the first stanza alone the reader learns about the difficult life and the suffering this child has had to overcome, “When my mother died when I was young, my father sold me while yet my tongue…so, your Chimney’s I sweep and in soot I sleep.” (Songs of Innocence) This poor child is portrayed so innocently and gentle, yet leads this suffering unfortunate life. People treated
Mason, Michael. Notes to William Blake: A Critical Edition of the Major Works. Ed. Michael Mason. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
In Songs of Innocence and Experience (1789 and 1794), William Blake arouses readers' minds and leads them into a path of finding their own answers and conclusions to his poems. He sets up his poems in the first book, Songs of Innocence, with a few questions as if they were asked from a child's perspective since children are considered the closest representation of innocence in life. However, in the second book, Songs of Experience, Blake's continues to write his poems about thought-provoking concepts except the concepts happen to be a little bit more complex and relevant to experience and time than Songs of Innocence.
Blake had an uncanny ability to use his work to illustrate the unpleasant and often painful realities around him. His poetry consistently embodies an attitude of revolt against the abuse of class and power that appears guided by a unique brand of spirituality. His spiritual beliefs reached outside the boundaries of religious elites loyal to the monarchy. “He was inspired by dissident religious ideas rooted in the thinking of the most radical opponents of the monarchy during the English Civil War “(E. P. Thompson). Concern with war and the blighting effects of the industrial revolution were displayed in much of his work.
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.
two entirely different worlds, but it is my belief that it is not the Lamb
Infant Sorrow by William Blake is about the birth of a child into a dangerous world. The meaning behind this poem is that when a baby is born, they are entering a place that is unfamiliar to them and is full of hazardous circumstances and then seeks for safety and comfort by sulking on the mother's breast. Instead of blatantly telling the reader, Blake uses several poetic devices to deliver the meaning of Infant Sorrow. Some of the devices he uses are images, sound, figurative language, and the structure to bring out the meaning of his poem.
The idea of the child’s innocence is shown through their interactions with others and their descriptions in both of these writers’ poems. For example, in the introduction to “Songs of Innocence” the interaction between the child and the narrator depicts the amount of innocence he has for laughing and enjoying life up in a tree while telling the narrator to write about merry cheer and the Lamb. This example shows innocence because innocent children are usually the happiest for they do not know as many of the horrors of life yet. The child being in a tree relates to Wordsworth’s religious view of being one with nature and how children are delightful and free. Another example of childhood innocence, is in William Blake’s poem “Holy Thursday” he refers to the children as innocent looking and having clean faces. When the children are described as being clean or having something of the color white that usually means purity and innocence. Since Blake wrote many of his passages on religion, the color white also has to do with the purity of the soul and being free from sin. Another example of this would be in “The Chimney Sweeper” when the little boy lost his white hair, this refers to the child losing his innocence or
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.
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.
During the mid 1800’s was a remarkable era called the Romanticism. Some political and social milestones of this era included The American Revolution, The French Revolution, and The Industrial Revolution. During these events, the “theme” more or less was a type of laissez faire which means, “let the people do as they please.” WIlliam Blake was a famous poet in this time period, as well as Samuel Coleridge, William Wordsworth, and George Gordon. Novels and poems were written in this time to express the ways Romanticism was shown and how melancholy was trending.
by different names and as a separate category, highlighting their. differences. The. Children to Blake are extremely important, especially in the context of poetry, indeed in "The Introduction to Songs of Innocence. He says that the poems are "for children to hear" and concentrates on a child's view of life. It is not possible to say that Blake's poetry excludes women and children as so many of his poems are.
Although both Blake and Wordsworth show childhood as a state of greater innocence and spiritual vision, their view of its relationship with adulthood differs - Blake believes that childhood is crushed by adulthood, whereas Wordsworth sees childhood living on within the adult. In the William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, the vision of children and adults is placed in opposition to 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 am happy, Joy is my name.’” (Line 4-5).
Often considered by scholars as the greatest pioneer of the Romantic movement in English literature, Blake was crowned as a “glorious luminary” by the 19th century English writer William Rossetti. Blake's poetry consistently embraces the idea of rebellion against the abuse of class power. Blake encountered both the American and French revolutions and was heavily influenced by the sense of liberation in both revolutions. He was also concerned about the negative effects of the industrial revolution, which further polarized the income distribution among different classes. The British Marxist historian E.P. Thompson classified Blake as having many similar beliefs as ...