The Poetry of William Blake - 1806 Words

This essay will aim to show the relationship between Innocence and Experience in William Blakes Songs. Both Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence serve as a mirror Blake held up to society, the Songs of Experience being the darker side of the mirror. Blakes Songs show two imaginative realms: The two sides to the human soul that are the states of Innocence and Experience. The two states serve as different ways of seeing. The world of innocence as Northrop Frye saw it encapsulated the unfallen world, the unified self, integration with nature, time in harmony with rhythm of human existence. Frye saw the world of Experience as a fallen world, with the fragmented and divided self, with total alienation with nature,†¦show more content†¦The poem The Lamb begins with the question Who made thee? The speaker is a child asking of the lambs genesis. The child begins to answer the questions in a riddle; he who Calls himself a lamb is meek and mild like a lamb. The childs innocence is highlighted with the question Who made thee? it is quite a straightforward question to ask. Yet at the same time the child is also asking questions adults have asked throughout time about our origins. Even though the poem is straightforward in style, because the child answers his own questions, a sense of perceptiveness is added, a foreshadowing of experience. Overall, however, the poem is quite one sided with Blake showing only the positive aspects of the Christian tenet. The Songs of Experience are much darker in tone. The poems point towards an austere reality, a bleaker view of creation itself. The poetry here is a lot more pessimistic and angry. The state of Innocence has progressed towards this state of Experience, where upheaval and menace lurks. Blakes vision is dialectical; the states of Innocence and Experience are interrelated. Blake argues that experience is not better or indeed more preferable to the state of innocence. Possibly Blakes most famous poem, entitled The Tyger, dominates Songs of Experience. The Tiger is seen to be a mixture of the striking and the perilous and a stark contrast to the vision of the lamb in Innocence. The Tiger exudes a raw sexual energy. ThisShow MoreRelatedWilliam Poetry Of William Blake And William Wordsworth1980 Words   |  8 Pagesdepends on the person. To some the definition is a time without any worry, to others, it is a more logical definition such as the period between infancy and adolescence. There are many versions of this definition, and this is seen in the poetry of William Blake and William Wordsworth. These two authors have different views on what it means to be a child and how they are portrayed in this era. Compared to now, Children in Blake’s eyes are seen as people that need guidance and need to be taught certain lessonsRead MoreCharacteristics Of Romantic Poetry By William Blake1051 Words   |  5 PagesEmily Woolverton Professor Balding English 2320 February 26, 2016 Characteristics of Romantic Poetry The start of the Romantics was the start of a new period in poetry. Romantic poetry developed after more and more people began to let their emotion become a bigger part of their life. These Romantics wanted to express how they felt, rather than what they thought about science and reason. This brought on the change in how genders, races, and different classes were viewed. Less people participatedRead MorePoetry Analysis Between Taylor Swift and William Blake976 Words   |  4 Pagestheme explored in many poems. The songs Long Live by Taylor Swift and the poems The Sick Rose and The Garden of Love by William Blake all question and explore the theme of love. The song, Long Live, by Taylor Swift, was written in 2010. At first listening to the song, we hear a fun, buoyant song about love, friendship and loss. However, careful analysis reveals a complex piece of poetry that relies on its strong imagery and upbeat tune to convey strong meaning to the audience. Essentially, the song isRead MoreWilliam Blake s The Tyger And Walt Whitman s Poetry841 Words   |  4 Pagesphilosophies of human nature are William Blake’s â€Å"The Tyger† and Walt Whitman’s â€Å"Song of Myself.† Blake’s poem is based off the Romantics and Walt Whitman is an American Naturalist that is based off free verse a form that he created. William Blake’s poetry is considered through the Romantics era and they access through the sublime. The Romantics poetry through the sublime is beyond comprehension and spiritual fullness. A major common theme is a nature (agnostic religion). In William Blake’s poem â€Å"The Tyger†Read MoreWilliam Blake s Poetry Of Innocence And Happiness1417 Words   |  6 PagesWilliam Blake was a poet, painter, and engraver, who was born in Soho, London on November 28th 1757. Blake lived in London at a time of great political and social change. The Industrial Revolution took place in 1760, the American Revolution began in 1775, and the French Revolution began in 1789, and all of these revolutions greatly influenced William Blake’s writing. Blake wrote his world famous Songs of Innocence in 1789 and later combined it with additional poems titled Songs of Innocence and ofRead MoreWilliam Blake s Poetry : Relationship Between Innocence And Experience1078 Words   |  5 PagesMichelle Kasperski James Harr British Literature II March 5th, 2015 Title William Blake explores in-depth the relationship between innocence and experience in his work, Songs of Innocence and Experience and the resulting tension between these two contrasting states. Blake demonstrates those in a state of innocence are oblivious of that state, ignorant of any other state of consciousness. However, those aware of innocence cannot honestly envision it because their perceptions of reality have been coloredRead MoreEssay on Biography of William Blake1631 Words   |  7 Pagesinspire your work and success. William Blake was a famous artist, engraver and poet. However, it was not until 1863 that he became famous when Alexander Gilchrist published his biography(Blake, William, and Geoffrey Keynes).Blake and his poetry have been compared to Shakespeare (Kathleen Raine). As an artist Blake was equated to Michelangelo. Being born during the time of both the American and French Revolution, William Blake was against both the Church and the State. Blake was a Dualist, believing theRead MoreWilliam Wordsworth And The Echoing Green905 Words   |  4 Pagesresearching about poets in the Romantic period that created beautiful poetry filled with overflowing powerful feelings designed to capture the reader’s imagination in nature. These Poets often placed the literature they were studying into a documented context by discussing the important events in which the literary works were published (â€Å"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud† by William Wordsworth and â€Å"The Echoing Green† by William Blake). However these poets both use nature around them as a symbolic meaningRead MoreIn Many Ways, Poetry Has The Ability To Shape The Minds1226 Words   |  5 PagesIn many ways, poetry has the ability to shape the minds of people and their views on a certain subject. Throughout the ages, poets and writers have been a part of social and political change due to the written works presented to the public. One such poet was William Blake. His poet ry has inspired much change in both the past and the present. An analysis of â€Å"The Chimney Sweeper,† one of Blake’s most popular works, can help many to understand the significance of his work in a time period when socialRead MoreWilliam Blake s Innocence And Experience Analysis Essay1529 Words   |  7 PagesIsha Fidai Amber Drown English 2323 14 September 2016 William Blake s Innocence and Experience Analysis The Romantic Era was a movement in literature that began in the late seventeenth century throughout the eighteenth century that was mainly influenced by the natural world and idealism. Romanticism was predominantly focused on emotion and freedom emphasizing individualism. Formed as an uprising against neoclassicism, romanticism was more abstract, focusing on feelings and imaginations, instead