In Blake’s collections of poems some poems are contradicting such as “The Lamb” and “The Tyger”. If we discuss these poems further we can begin to see differences and similarities in both these poems. In the poem “The Tyger” Blake is asking, “what immortal hand” could create such a “fearful” creature, this is obviously indicating God. In another light we can see that Blake is in awe of Gods creation, such as he can create something as beautiful and yet as fearful as the tiger. In contradiction we can see that Blake also questions God in his poem “The Lamb”, however this questioning is a lot more soft and gentle as we can see. Throughout the whole poem the tones in which both creatures are addressed are completely different, such as the tiger is addressed in a firm, strict way and the lamb is addressed in a light, lenient way.
Blake was also a minister so many people think that his poems had biblical references, such as “When the stars threw down their spears and watered heaven with their tears”. This could suggest the battle in heaven, and the righteous weeping when Lucifer became Satan. To complete the biblical effect Blake asks “Did who he made the Lamb make thee”, this could also be a reference to Jesus as he is referred to in the bible as the Lamb of God. Therefore we can also take from this that Blake is asking did he who made the devil also make the saviour. Also, as Blake was against industrialisation we can see in his poem that he uses words related to the factory, such as “anvil” or “hammer”. This shows that just as the factory uses the “hammer” and “anvil” to create things, so maybe God also uses it to create the tiger, because they are just as bad as each other. This suggests that you can never tame or control the tiger and you can never stop industrialisation. When reading this poem out loud we can see that the rhythm is quite like the noise of a “hammer” and “anvil”, by repetitious words such as “tyger, tyger”.
Blake also discusses his ideas in the poem cradle song. As this is a poem from the songs of Innocence. We can see that the narrator is watching a sleeping child and this make him think of certain things. The poem uses vocabulary such a “pleasant”, “lovely” and “angel” this creates an innocent and harmonious atmosphere. The repetition of certain phrases such as “sweet sleep” gives the effect of a lullaby; it is a calm poem on the whole. Innocence is also a sleep in which the child is safe from the threats and cares of the world into ‘sweet dreams of pleasant streams”. This poem is a simple poem which shows the state of innocence as pure, peaceful and free-flowing. In this poem we can see that Blake views innocence as a simple carefree thing. He obviously doesn’t believe that innocence can be kept in a person forever as he also writes a collection of experienced poems. The songs of experience are a much harsher and stricter collection of poems. This shows that Blake feels that experience ruins and makes a person harsher. This is maybe because they have experienced the torture and severity of the world.
On the contrary to this poem we can see that Blake wrote a poem called The Little Vagabond, from the songs of experience. When reading this poem we can see that the child has already experienced the way the world works. The child is familiar to the church and the ale-house; however the child finds the latter “healthy and pleasant”. This shows that the child’s morals have become backward as he finds the “alehouse” more comforting than the church. This is alien to the Christian belief as when a person is unhappy they go to the church which should be a place of happiness. The child justifies this as he knows where he is “used well”. The child then says that if the church gave us ale we would be much happier and enjoy going to church. This shows that the child only wants the church to help him and that he is mistreated by the church and church goers such as “Dame Lurch”. The mention of “Dame Lurch who was always at church” shows to the child that cruel people go to church, and that the church does not do anything to stop him or help children.
Another poem that mimes the state of innocence is Infant Joy. This poem is about a child who is “but two days old”, and the parent is asking the child “what shall I call thee?” From this poem we can see that a child is narrating this is evident because the child says “I am but two days old”. As it is a child narrating the language used is simple such as “joy” and “sweet”. These words are monosyllabic and are often used by children to express their simple ideas. Another important aspect of this poem is the line that says “I sing the while”, this obviously shows that innocence does not last. As the child’s parent is saying that I sing while innocence lasts, we can then see that innocence is not a permanent thing.
An alternative poem written by Blake is London, from the Songs of Experience. We can tell that this poem is narrated by Blake himself, from the words he uses, such as “I wander”. As Blake is narrating this poem we can see that this is his perspective of London. Blake uses many words in this poem with many different meanings, such as “chartered”. This maybe shows that London itself has many different meanings of experience can be expressed in many different ways as it has many different meanings also.
Most of the poems in Songs of Innocence lack energy, development and are simple to understand. They mime the state of infancy in their simplicity and vulnerability. Even in those poems where there is no obvious prediction of experience, there is an element of desperation in the joy, because we cannot avoid knowing that the joys depicted are found in infancy and very short-lived.
The poems in Song of Experience have a much harder and firm way of expressing ideas. This is maybe because the people and ideas Blake is talking about have experienced torture and cruelty. These people are no longer innocent so their mind and thinking will not be sweet, humble and pure. Blake is showing his ideas on innocence and experience through his words and they way that they are interpreted we can derive different meanings from his poems.
