William Blake in Contrast of Songs of Innocence and of Experience
EN 222-Intro to British Lit. II
April 21, 2012
William Blake in contrast of
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
William Blake, an engraver, exemplified his passion for children through his many poems. Blake lived in London most of his life and many fellow literati viewed him as eccentric. He claimed to have interactions with angels and prophets, which had a great influence on his outlook of life. Blake believed all prominent entities, those being church, state, and government had become sick with greed and hatred; and Christianity had somehow failed. According to Jeffery Bell in Industrialization and Imperialism, 1800 – 1914 “Blake’s simple language and use of vernacular spoke to the rebellion against established order and authority. Blake’s reputation seems to be firmly established in the counterculture as a prophet, visionary, and exemplar. Critics and scholars have also placed him as perhaps the first poet of the Romantic movement as its themes and concerns developed in England”(38). Blake, happily married to Catherine Boucher nearly 45 years, never had any children; yet children are an eminent theme throughout many of his poems. Blake’s compassion for children allowed him to see the world through the innocence of the young, which inspired the poems of Songs of Innocence. This same passion prompted the poems of Songs of Experience. Essentially, Blake illustrated through comparison the striking contrasts between companion poems that portray common scenes. Blake wrote Songs of Innocence, a collection of poems as seen through a child’s point of view. According to Blake in The Longman Anthology British Literature, “childhood is a time and a state of protected innocence, but not immune to the fallen world and its institutions”. (163) Blake exemplifies the innocence and purity of a young child in his poem The Lamb, from Songs of Innocence. The child believes that he and the Lamb are the same. The Lamb, in this poem, signifies Jesus, Lamb of God. What the child
April 21, 2012
William Blake in contrast of
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
William Blake, an engraver, exemplified his passion for children through his many poems. Blake lived in London most of his life and many fellow literati viewed him as eccentric. He claimed to have interactions with angels and prophets, which had a great influence on his outlook of life. Blake believed all prominent entities, those being church, state, and government had become sick with greed and hatred; and Christianity had somehow failed. According to Jeffery Bell in Industrialization and Imperialism, 1800 – 1914 “Blake’s simple language and use of vernacular spoke to the rebellion against established order and authority. Blake’s reputation seems to be firmly established in the counterculture as a prophet, visionary, and exemplar. Critics and scholars have also placed him as perhaps the first poet of the Romantic movement as its themes and concerns developed in England”(38). Blake, happily married to Catherine Boucher nearly 45 years, never had any children; yet children are an eminent theme throughout many of his poems. Blake’s compassion for children allowed him to see the world through the innocence of the young, which inspired the poems of Songs of Innocence. This same passion prompted the poems of Songs of Experience. Essentially, Blake illustrated through comparison the striking contrasts between companion poems that portray common scenes. Blake wrote Songs of Innocence, a collection of poems as seen through a child’s point of view. According to Blake in The Longman Anthology British Literature, “childhood is a time and a state of protected innocence, but not immune to the fallen world and its institutions”. (163) Blake exemplifies the innocence and purity of a young child in his poem The Lamb, from Songs of Innocence. The child believes that he and the Lamb are the same. The Lamb, in this poem, signifies Jesus, Lamb of God. What the child
Cited: Bell, Jeffrey A. Industrialization and Imperialism, 1800- 1914. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2002. Hamlyn, Robin and Michael Phillips. William Blake. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2001. Harmon, William. The Classic Hundred All-Time Favorite Poems. Ed. William Harmon. New York: Columbia University Press, 1992.