Write an essay in which you explore the different ways in which Blake uses images of animals, plants and natural world.

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Hardik Patel ©

Q) Write an essay in which you explore the different ways in which Blake uses images of animals, plants and natural world.

        William Blake was born in 1757 in London and died in 1827. His most famous works are called "Songs of innocence" and "Songs of experience". "Songs of innocence" written in (1789) were easy to understand, very simple vocabulary, simple verses, with ideal, happy and pastoral locations. In Contrast "Songs of experience" written in (1794), had more difficult ideas and vocabulary, with negative views, which where realistic and sad. In this essay I will be studying how Blake uses animals, plants and the natural world to create pictures for the reader of what he thought life was like in eighteenth century England. I will be comparing, “The Echoing Green”, “The Garden of Love” and “Laughing Song”. These poems contain an extensive amount of visual images of “Green” which will help me compare the different ways in which Blake uses the images of animals, plants and natural world.

To embark on “The Echoing Green”, this poem is a very calm, joyful and positive poem. It consists of happy people, happy children and a beautiful natural landscape, which is pastoral. Pastoral is another word for the rural location, where there are animals and other natural life such as trees and plants. At the location there are many different sporting games in progress and children under the supervision of parental figures. I can also see from the poem that the people have been at the location for the entire day as the poem starts with “The Sun does arise”, and ends with “On the Darkening Green”. This shows how much they must have enjoyed themselves to be at the same location for the entire day. The title “The Echoing Green” tells you that this is a location where communities come and converse with each other, where the subject is set to happiness and being optimistic.

Even from the opening stanza we can sense the importance of natural forms, plants and animals. This creates an opening picture for the reader and places them right into the poem itself, which is a very good technique adapted by Blake to attract attention towards the poem, also which has been used in number of Blake’s poems. Some examples of this technique are, “Skies,” which shows that the sky must be blue, as it has been used in this context, hinting towards the fact that it’s sunny and hot. Also we have “spring” as another example that backs up my previous point of the location being sunny as the season that is currently running is “spring”. “Birds,” show that there are not just people there but also animal life forms that give the location a natural and more rural feel. Lastly moving on to a quote which is also used within the title, “Echoing Green.” this quote constantly reminds the reader that the is masses of green around, almost as if it was “echoing” to you. Furthermore this is a very vital time of the year as it is the time of new life and new flowers, this is the time when the birds start to chirp, and then the flowers start to blossom. Also this is more the reason why this poem has been included in the innocence section, as it shows time of joy and happiness. These are all from the first stanza, which already creates a pastoral scene. The first stanza has an AABBCCDD rhyme scheme, or also known as rhyming couplets. This type of rhyming poetry was very ‘in style’ during time period that Blake wrote his poems. Another reason why this type of language was used in the poem is because the poem came from “songs of innocence,” Blake has to make it seem simple and childlike. Also we find out at the end of the poem that a child is the narrated, which is linked to another one of Blake’s poems “The Lamb” where the narrated was also child.

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In contrast, in “The Garden of Love”, a picture is created in the first stanza by using a different method. Blake has used descriptive content of a Chapel, which is a holy building to create a sense of the location. But differently to “The Echoing Green” this poem does not give a hint of joyfulness, happiness, and green. This is what Blake had set out to create, and has done very effectively. In comparison the opening stanza in “The Echoing Green” does not have any signs of holy elements or any kind of holy location. “The Garden of Love” is ...

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