In many of Blake’s poems he renders social ills to be responsible for the restrictions imposed upon children. In ‘The Schoolboy’ Blake sees school as the factor that takes away freedom of children because it prevents children from developing into rounded individuals at their own rate. When Blake writes,
‘The little ones spend the day
In sighing and dismay,’ it gives the impression that school takes away enjoyment and pleasure. The language used is relatively simple which seems appropriate as it is about young school children in general. There is a simple, regular rhyme scheme throughout the poem, which follows the pattern of ‘ABABB’. The straightforward rhyme scheme is effectual because it highlights the simple message contained within the poem.
As well as child labour, poverty and slavery are other social ills that takes away children’s freedom and causes them to work. Slavery influenced Blake’s writing in ‘Little Black Boy’ because slavery and prejudice towards black people was an issue when the poem was written. Religion is an important theme in ‘The Little Black Boy’. The child’s mother is teaching him a lesson about God, love and how to value nature, ‘Look on the rising sun! There God does live’. She teaches him to look forward to an improved life after death,
‘For when our souls have learned the heat to bear
The cloud will vanish; we shall hear his voice’. The black boy accepts his mother’s view on God and life and what he is taught, ‘ To lean in joy upon our father’s knee,’ and ‘be like him, and he will then love me.’ The language used in this poem is of a biblical tone, which seems appropriate, as God and religion are main themes of the poem. This language is powerful because it is used to provoke emotions of pity and anger for the reader. There is a simple ‘ABAB’ rhyme scheme, which suggests that the author is dealing with the complexes message in subtle ways.
Religion is also seen as a restriction in ‘The Garden of Love’. Religion is portrayed as a negative aspect and the impression is given that it is just rules saying what not to do, ‘Thou shalt not’. The word ‘And’ is repeated in the last stanza which gives the impression of an endless and continuous list of negative aspects of religion. Blake presents religion to be morbid and depressing, ‘priests in black gowns,’ and ‘binding with briars my joys and desires’. This quotation suggests that religion constricts pleasure. Alliteration is used here to foreground the eliminated happiness and a rhyme is present in the line, ‘briars’ and ‘desires’ which also highlights the constricted pleasure. The phrase ‘binding with briars’ also indicates that religion is organised and brain washing. In the first two stanzas the poem has a regular ‘ABCB’ rhyme scheme but in the last stanza there is no obvious rhyme scheme apart from in the last line, which makes it irregular. This is effective because the irregularity indicates a fault in the church and religion.
Religion is also featured in ‘London’ when Blake writes ‘Every black’ning church appalls’. This quotation portrays the church to be tainted and corrupted. The word ‘black’ning’ creates an image of smoke and filth, which could be a result of the city or Blake, is trying to expose the message that religion was corrupted.
Blake often uses rural and natural images to represent freedom and innocence in his poems. An image of a lamb is created in ‘The Little Black Boy’ when Blake writes, ‘And round the tent of God like lambs we joy’. A lamb stereo-typically symbolises freedom, innocence and youth and it is effective in creating a contrast to restricted children. In ‘The School Boy’ birds are used to foreground freedom and restrictions. The quotation, ‘the skylark sings with me,’ represents the child being free but ‘sit in a cage and sing’ symbolizes the boy with no liberty. He also uses descriptions of plants and trees to portray innocence and freedom, ‘blossoms blown away’, ‘buds are nipped’, ‘summer fruits appear’ and ‘tender plants are stripped’.
In ‘The Garden of Love’ Blake writes, ‘many sweet flowers bore’. This quotation contrasts with other phrases of death and sadness to indicate the lack of freedom, ‘filled with graves’. This technique is effective because it places emphasis on how the author’s views on religion have changed from when he was a child. On the first line of the first stanza Blake uses the title of the poem, ‘the Garden of Love’, to represent a beautiful and peaceful place like the Garden of Eden in the bible. But on the third line of the second stanza Blake uses the words ‘Garden of Love’ with a sarcastic and cynical tone. The reason for this is that Blake again wants to accentuate the restrictions of the church and how the ‘Garden of Love’ has changed into a place of organised religion. Rural images are also used in ‘London’, Blake writes ‘where the chartered Thames does flow,’ the word ‘chartered’ is effective because it emphasises that a natural river is not free. The word ‘chartered’ is repeated in the poem to highlight the restricted city and the minds of the people in London. ‘Marks of weakness, marks of woe,’ suggests that people have been scarred as a result of the restrictions and indicate that it is a depressing and miserable place.
Death and implications of this subject are referred to in many of Blake’s poems that I have studied. In ‘London’ the words ‘marriage hearse’ connect the happy idea of marriage with an element of death. This proves to be powerful in emphasizing that everything is restricted in London. There is a theme of death in the ‘Garden of Love' when Blake mentions that the garden was ‘filled with graves’ and that there was ‘tombstones where flowers should be’. In ‘The Little Black Boy’ the boy believes that he will feel better when he is dead and with God, ‘Lean in joy upon our father’s knee’. All these references to death highlight the lack of freedom in these poems and contrast with the theme of innocence and rural images.
