'In songs of innocence and experience William Blake reveals the contrary states of human existence - What does his portrayal tell us about his experiences and those of humanity in general?
'In songs of innocence and experience William Blake reveals the contrary states of human existence. What does his portrayal tell us about his experiences and those of humanity in general? William Blake was a madman. This is what many people believed and still do today. After all he claimed to have visions of angels and he thought himself to be a prophet. However, could someone so mad make poems full of ingenious sense? Is it possible for someone who was happily married with such creativity and artistic talent to be crazy? To determine whether Blake's sanity stayed firmly with him throughout his life, we can study his background and analyse the deeper meanings lodged within his poetry, in 17 of his poems from Songs of Innocence and Experience. 'Without contraries is no progression', Blake summed up in this one quotation what he was trying to say in all of his poems; that opposites: 'Attraction, Repulsion, Reason, Energy, Love, Hate' are partners in the structure of 'Human Existence' hence the title 'The marriage of Heaven and hell'. Blake's background plays a large part in why he was the way he was, so it is important to cover his background as well and not just what he managed to put in the form of a poem on paper. So, Blake had little money and certainly lived a poverty stricken life throughout his childhood (him and his other brother and sister). The impression is given
William Blake - Songs of Innocence and of Experience - Compare and contrast the poems indicating briefly how far you consider each an appropriate introduction to the poems that follow it.
William Blake - Songs of Innocence and of Experience Compare and contrast the following poems indicating briefly how far you consider each an appropriate introduction to the poems that follow it. Introductions In Blake's Introductions to each Song he gives a brief overview of the poems to follow them. In each overview Blake manages to engender feelings that directly relate to the collections of poems that follow them. The Introductions play integral roles in helping the reader to best understand Blake's poems. He begins his collection of poems with the first introduction, an introduction of the Songs of Innocence. He uses this introduction to give direction as to how the poems in this section came into being. While in the Songs of Experience Blake highlights the transition of man from a state of innocence to a state of experience. In the first Introduction we see a shepherd with a pipe, he is leading his flock of lambs. Blake uses the image of the lambs as an image of innocence throughout the Songs of Innocence. This image relates directly to the poems that follow where most of the poems include images of the lamb being related to Jesus Christ as humble and also innocent. There is also an image of a child, which is another image of innocence used by Blake in the writing of his Songs of Innocence. Blake uses images several times in his depiction of the presence of Christ
How William Blake incorporated his attitudes to society into his poems.
William Blake incorporated the attitudes and values of the society that he lived in into his poems. He tended to be angry in them, and his Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience collections show this view. One thing that is spread through many of his poems is the topic of religion. He believed that religion was corrupt and was distorting people's link to God. This is shown in the poems Chimney Sweeper ( both from the Songs of Innocence & Experience ) . From the Songs of Experience, the chimney sweep feels excluded by God because of the Church, which has lead to him to not believe in God anymore. Blake voices this poem not as the chimney sweep, but a passer by who talks to him. First they ask - ' " Where are thy father and mother ? Say ? " ' , which is replied to by the chimney sweep. ' " They are both gone up to the church to pray... They think they have done me no injury, And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King, Who make up a heaven of our misery. " ' If Blake put his beliefs into the child's voice, then he could be challenging his death by looking at the King in a negative way. I think this shows how strongly he believed in this corruption, to the extent that he would be willing to die for it. He also implies that God, the Priest and King made up Heaven, that it's non-existent, but is there to give the people hope from their live shrouded in misery. In
Poetry Analysis - I Took my Power in my Hand by Emily Dickinson
Jacob Wang April 20, 2004 Period 5 Poetry Analysis I Took my Power in my Hand by Emily Dickinson I took my Power in my Hand- And went against the World- 'Twas not so much as David-had- But I-was twice as bold- I aimed my Pebble-but myself Was all the one that fell- Was it Goliath-was too large- Or was myself-too small? At first glance, "I Took my Power in my Hand" seems like a short, simple poem. However, the poem actually conveys the poet's puzzlement about a failure. In the first stanza, the poet reflects on her actions. This reflection serves to let the reader know that the poet did something against a greater power, something like a David vs. Goliath, but with an even more diminutive hero(ine) against an even more incredible giant. Perhaps her Goliath is a law that she opposes or a corporation she feels is corrupt. Regardless of the "enemy," the allusion to David and Goliath serves to show that the poet is clearly undertaking a difficult task. The second stanza expresses the poet's bemusement at her failure, despite the difficulty of the task. She says that she clearly aimed her "pebble," as David had against Goliath, but she was the one that fell. The reader can see that the poet cannot comprehend her failure. Finally, she concludes that there are two possibilities for her failure. Either her Goliath, or goal, was quixotic, or she was just not strong
Compare The Two Chimney Sweeper Poems, Exploring The Contrasting Attitudes
Compare The Two Chimney - Sweeper Poems, Exploring The Contrasting Attitudes William Blake wrote two poems entitled 'The Chimney-Sweeper'. The first, from Songs Of Innocence, was written in 1789. In 1794, possibly as either an afterthought of sorts or a progression, he wrote the second poem sharing its namesake. Like the Chimney Sweeper would have aged, the mindset from which the latter poem is spurned has also grown older, hence its placing in Songs Of Experience, and has become more wise yet cynical to the ways of a chimney sweeping life. The two poems are in some ways quite the opposite of each other. The general outlook of the poems is very different, the first inhabiting a positive outlook as opposed to the miserable outlook in the Songs Of Experience 'The Chimney-Sweeper'. The mood itself of the two poems is dissimilar. In the Songs Of Innocence, the easy rhyme to the poem sets a childlike, optimistic mood. This is enhanced by the inclusion of the dream sequence. The child's dream shows that there is still some presence of hope and fantasy in his mind. The poem has a gentle and soft tone. This is a contrast to the uneasy rhyme and mood in the Songs Of Experience. In that poem, rather than optimism, there is a feeling of resignation in the silence of the child; 'And because I am happy and dance and sing, They think they have done me no injury,' One of the most
William Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence’ and ‘Songs of Experience’
William Blake's 'Songs of Innocence' and 'Songs of Experience' 'The little Lamb who made thee, Dost thou know who made thee.' The lambs introductory lines set the style for what follows, an innocent poem about a amiable lamb and it's creator (God). It is divided into two stanzas, the first question about who created such a docile creature with 'clothing of delight.' There are images of the lamb frolicking in divine meadows. The stanza closes the same inquiry it began with. In the second stanza it states the lamb's creator is the lamb itself. Jesus Christ is often described as a lamb 'he is meek and he is mild,' to accomplish this. It then makes it clear that the poem's point of view is from a child, 'I a child and thou a Lamb.' The lamb's nearly opposite to 'The Tiger.' Instead of the innocent lamb you now have the frightful tiger. Blake's words have turned from heavenly to hellish, from lamb to tiger. 'Burnt the fire of thine eye' and 'What the hand dare seize the fire.' These are examples of how sombre his language in this poem is. Now he's asking if he made the gentle lamb how was he capable of making a beast. Experience asks questions unlike those of innocence. Innocence is 'why and how' while experience is 'why and how do things go wrong, and why me?' Innocence is ignorance and ignorance is, as they say, bliss. The poems have a very religious theme 'what immortal
How does Blake use a simple voice and structure to portray the differing qualities of hope and dissatisfaction with the world?
How does Blake use a simple voice and structure to portray the differing qualities of hope and dissatisfaction with the world. The poem "Infant Sorrow," is a violent contrast with "Infant Joy, its presumed counter part. Where "Infant Joy" suggests harmony between parents and child, "Infant Sorrow" has a hint of fundamental conflict between them. It can be said that in the poem Blake is evoking the progression from innocence into experience in terms of the family dynamic. It can be argued that Blake believes the child abandons his mother's security, but must then capitulate to his father's authority. "The mother's groans", of course, are due to the fact that she no longer has any place in the child's life. Her role as guardian is over, and the child, though helpless, is on its own." The father," weeps tears of jealousy" for his child's innocence, and is impelled to initiate the infant into experience by asserting his parental authority over him or her. When the child begins to think, to reason, to identify himself as individual separate from others and from the divine, and with a will of his own, protection and love are discarded and the father exerts his power to control the child, to bind him with the man-made laws, restrictions, duties, and morals of this world, "Like a fiend hid in a cloud" the word cloud in the poem is used as a symbolic and not as a visual image the
Cider with Rosie presentation.
Cider with Rosie presentation Cider with Rosie is a memoir of a childhood by Laurie Lee. He shares with us what it was like to grow up without a father, his relationships with his mother, sisters, friends, turning into a man, sexual awakening with Rosie, innocence and naivety and what it was like when he finally lost these characteristic that made him the sweet boy. In the first chapter Lee gives a three year olds perception and misconceptions: small in relation to objects around him, for example when he got lost in the grass, on the families' arrival to their new home, "I had never been so close to grass before. It towered above me and all around me, each blade tattooed with tiger-skins of sunlight". The sense of adventure is communicated through Lee's use of metaphors and similes. Lee is showing childhood as quite a scary daunting time as well as a time when you have an extremely vivid and active imagination. Lee also portrays this time of his life as scary and daunting due to the fact it was also a daunting time for Great Britain during the war. One of Lee's major influences was that of his mother, a whole chapter is devoted to her. He had a warm and loving relationship with his mother. Lee trusted and admired her, when the stranger appeared in the kitchen Lee writes "but he was no tramp or he wouldn't be in the kitchen" and "he was a soldier, because mother said
William Blake - Innocence represents the ideal state and experience represents the reality
Abbie Taylor 'Innocence represents the ideal state and experience represents the reality'. Discuss this statement in the light of the poems you have studied so far. Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience juxtapose the innocent, pastoral world of childhood against an adult world of disappointment and corruption. Yet, the two contrasting states are never fully separated in his poems - suggesting it is not possible to be either innocent or experienced. The introduction to Songs of Innocence has a rural background and much pastoral imagery such as 'valleys wild'. The piper, on the request of a child sitting on a cloud translates his music onto paper, in the form of poetry. Utensil he uses for writing is borrowed from nature (a reed), which reflects the close, 'innocent' relationship between music, poetry and nature. However, the poem is not entirely innocent, there is some reference to experience - the adult is experienced in knowing how to write. Yet this does not seem to prevent him from being innocent. The Shepherd has two stanzas. The first stanza reveals the idyllic state of innocence. Once again, it contains much pastoral imagery, and biblical symbolism, with the lamb and the shepherd, suggesting the human race is being looked after. However, the second stanza has a sense of foreboding. 'He is watchful while they are in peace' suggests that their peace is a
How does Blake use 'songs of innocence and experience' to express his views about solidity of his day and its institutions (the church, parenting
How does Blake use 'songs of innocence and experience' to express his views about solidity of his day and its institutions (the church, parenting, child labour, industrialisations nature)? Blake expresses his views, about society in his day and its institutions such as the church, parenting, child labour and industrialisation vs nature. He does this using his poetry 'songs of innocence and experience' the poems which discuss these themes include the Laughing Song, The Garden of Love, The Lamb, The Tiger, Infant Joy, Infant Sorrow, The Chimney Sweeper and The Chimney Sweeper. Blake use's various techniques in his poems to highlight the issues of his society. The enlightenment was a period of European history spanning the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was a huge period of social, economic and conceptual change. Ordinary working people found more opportunities for work, in the new mills and factories, but these were often under strict working conditions, with long hours of labour dominated by a pace set by machines. This was the industrial revolution. Pre-industrial society didn't change and was often cruel-child labour, dirty living conditions and long working hours were just as common before the Industrial Revolution. This stayed the same for many years. William Blake was born in Golden Square, London on November 28, 1757 and died on August 12, 1827. He was born