Pastoral imagery, such as “sun”,”bells”,”spring”,”green” and “birds” is consistant throughout the poem, and is also a major clue that the poem is one from the “Songs of Innocence”. There is nothing complicated about the poem, which resembles innocent life where complications are non-existant. This pastoral imagery is also apparent in many of Blake’s other innocence poems, such as The Lamb – “bright”,”wooly”, The Chimney Sweeper – “little” and also in The Blossom poem – “happy”,”green”.
“The merry bells sing to welcome the spring”, suggests that at this point religion is in the backround with the “bells”. Religion is apparent, but is providing music and not laying down rules. This could also be a sign of celebrating life, religion is not a great influence on the people here. “Spring” suggests growth and new beginnings.
Then Blake mentions the actual green, “While our sports shall be seen on the echoing green”. The fact that the green is “echoing” is a sign that there is plenty of noise and action here, suggesting children’s laughter and close families. The village green is the centre of the community. “Old John with white hair does laugh away care”, the fact that the word “old” is used suggests that everybody knows him, and that he likes being there because he is “laughing”. Also the fact that he is laughing shows that the echoing green is all about having fun, innocent activities take place there.”Among the old folk” is showing us that people of all ages use the green, the “old folks” are sharing wisdom, and maybe there is a sense of experience here too, maybe the old folk are warning the younger ones of times to come. The fact that there is such a mixture of people and characters on the green shows that the green has always belonged to the people. The next line suggests maximum happiness, “They laugh at our play, and soon they all say”. Everyone is in sync in this image.The word “all” shows all of them which gives a feeling of community, as does “our”, the plural person gives a feeling of community togetherness, the green is the heart of the village. “Such, such were the joys when we all girls and boys”, yet again the word “all” is used to represent that communial feeling. “In our youth-time were seen on the echoing green”. Here the older generations are remembering back to their youthful times full of innocence. These lines also maintain the fact that the green has always been there.
The first two stanzas are oozing childhood, memories, laughter and innocent activities. This continues into the beginning of the third and final stanza. “Till the little ones weary”. The word “little” yet again is used to maintian innocence, like “little lamb” in The Lamb. “No more can be merry, the sun does descend, and our sports have an end”. Although this could show the innocence yet again, “the sun does descend”, signifying the end of the day, and that the children are tired and safe with their families, there is also a slight element of experience here. It shows that the village, and its people are getting older.“No more can be merry” could signify the end of the innocence, or even an end to life. Innocence then becomes apparent again as simple language and light rhythm is used, “round the laps of their mothers many sisters and brothers, like birds in their nest are ready for rest”. This is a key sign that it is the end of the day, and words like “mother” suggest family units, happy and youthful. They are comfortable in their surroundings. However, there is a definite change in the last two lines – “And sport no more seen on the darkening green”. The word “echoing” gets replaced with a negative word “darkening”, signifying that night is closing in. This could have a wider meaning however, old ages and all good things coming to an end. It shows an end of an era and the end of life and is a hint at a darker atmosphere, which becomes very apparent in the experience poems.
The Echoing Green’s “partner poem” is The Garden of Love. Like other “Songs of Experience” poems, the poem deals with the repression of joys, desires and instincts by the church and it’s prohibitive morality. The speaker, presumably no longer a child, returns to the ‘Garden of Love’ , and sees the earlier pastoral and natural vision of love transformed by the influence of the church and by “priests in black gowns”.
The language of the poem is simple, but the symbolism is so compressed and complex that every word is vital in enforcing the poet’s sense of outrage at the unhealthy effects which the church has produced in society.
By reading the title of the poem, unlike the ‘Echoing Green’, where it was clear that it was an innocence poem, we are unsure whether ‘The Garden of Love’ is actually an innocence or experience poem. The poem begins with “I went to the Garden of Love”. The personal pronouns here suggest isolation and loneliness. Already, therefore, just from the first word, we are aware of the misery of the experience poems. In the ‘Echoing Green’, there were many first person pronouns such as “our”, but we see that in the ‘Garden of Love’ these have been replaced with first person plurals. The way that Blake uses the word “I” also makes the experience a more personal one, making it far more poignant for the reader. “And saw what I never had seen”, this line clearly shows that church and religion has taken over and stated rules and regulations, whereas in the ‘Echoing Green’ religion did not play a big part, therefore people weren’t very aware of it. However, as an adult he sees the influence of the church destroying his childhood memories. “ A chapel was built in the midst, where I used to play on the green”. The word “used” is a direct link here to the ‘Echoing Green’ poem, showing time and how it has progressed from when the speaker was young, and how much has changed.
“And the gates of this chapel were shut”. This is a negative sentence, once again unlike the ‘Echoing Green’, where there used to be access at any time of the day to any person, now Blake makes it clear that religion has “shut” it doors on the community, only limited and exclusive people are allowed in and only at certain times. “And ‘Thou Shalt Not’ writ over the door;” , religious language is used here, representing Christianity and the commandments/rules. The negative sentence, like “blackening church appalls” in the London poem, shows religion at its darkest manner.
“So I turned to the Garden of Love, that so many sweet flowers bore”. Here, Blake is refering back to the pastoral imagery, the beauty of the garden. The word “flowers” is used, as is “rose” used in The Sick Rose poem.
The end of the second stanza is quite positive, with use of pastoral words which is rare for an experience poem. The final stanza returns to the negative imagery of the experience poems, “And I saw it was filled with graves”.The word “graves” is used here, signifying death, which is typical of an experience poem. “And tomb-stones where flowers should be”, the death theme gets continued here, the darker, more negative side of life. Blake is trying to show that tomb-stones and death have replaced the innocent objects such as flowers, which is a definite confirmation that ‘The Garden of Love’ is an experience poem.
The final two sentences are the most poignant in the poem, “And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds and binding with briars my joys and desires”. The internal rhyme in these last two lines slows down the poem and gives a feeling of suffocation. It emphasises the sense of mechanical rituals performed by people who force rules on others. The repetition of the harsh “B” sound reminds us of the harsh rules and regulations that society as a whole now have to follow. The “Priests in black gowns” are causing all the problems here.The word “briars” is a significant word which resembles and links with Christ being crucified and creates a sense of claustrophobia. We are reminded of Christ’s crown of thorns, and this is a suggestion that conventional religion and morality are crucifying Christ all over again. Religion codified love into a set of rules and so turned the garden into a graveyeard. Imagination and instinctive human interaction are dead. Blake believed that “everything that lived is holy” (The Lamb), so in a sense, in destroying individuality, the church are crucifying Christ and contradicting the whole point of religion. “Briars” could also suggest that the briars are growing on the gravestones and are strangling them, exactly how religion is ‘strangling’ society.
The “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience” have many things that are similar. Simple language and imagery is apparent in both poems, although they have very different meanings. Regular rhythm and rhyme makes both poems simple to understand, the vocabulary is simple but meaningful. Use of colour, pastoral imagery and nature is once again used in both poems, though simple, almost child-like things such as ‘flowers’ have very different meanings in both.
Though there are many similarities between the poems, there are also many differences. Typical light and happy tones that are present in ‘Echoing Green’ get replaced with dark and bitter tones in the negative experience poem, ‘Garden of Love’. Colours vary largely between the two poems, bright colours such as green and yellow are used in the innocence poem, yellow and green symbolising hope and development. The colour scheme is changed drastically in the experience poem however, with yellow and green being replaced by black and dark colours. In the expericence poem, dark colours are used to represent darkeness and negative feelings and emotions. The most aparent difference between the poems is the change in the mood and atmosphere. Joyous atmosphere fills us in the ‘Echoing Green’, people enjoying themselves and children playing an so on. In total contrast as always, the atmosphere is gloomy and dark in the experience poem, and images of death and graves adds to the poignant atmosphere.
Other differences include the difference in scene, the green is full of life and people in the first poem but the scene in desolate and discarded in the second, experience poem. The innocent and instinctive interaction of individuals who are free to enjoy themselves couldn’t be clearer in the innocence poem. We as readers see the beautiful, natural process of development from child to adult develop right before us, whereas the effect of rules and regulations emphasise the suffocating and suffering of humanity in the experience poem.
Blake’s intentions in both the Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence can be seen clearly in the pair of poems. He has succeded to show the two very different, contrary sides of the human soul in both a poignant and effective way. Every single word in both poems has so many different meanings, and what is special about Blake’s poetry is that, depending on the life experience of the reader, different people see his poems in different ways. ‘The Echoing Green’ shows a clear portrait of innocent life, happy memories and laughter. ‘The Garden of Love’ portrays adult life in such a way that it seems almost unreal. Although the setting is exactly the same, both poems portray such a different outlook on life.
‘The Echoing Green’ is my favourite poem, because it portrays childhood in such a heavenly way. Even though it is typical of an innocence poem to see everything in a positive way, the way Blake wrote it made me remember back to when I was younger. Throughout the poem you have a constant reminder of how wonderful life can be, and it almost makes me miss the innocent way of life. The way that Blake uses so many wonderful images and meanings in such a short poem is one quality that not many poems carry succesfully, which, in my opinion, makes the poem even more unique. I also found it intrigueing that such a simple poem can mean so many different things to so many different people, a quality I have never seen in a poem before.
