In the ‘Song of Innocence’ life is delighting and free. Although fear is not necessarily totally absent from this world, but when danger threatens parent figure is at hand to console and to comfort. But the protective guardian that we find in the ‘Song of Innocence’ is absent from the world of the ‘Songs of experience’. Instead of protective guardians – father, mother, God or angel—there we find the tyrants. For instance, ‘The Little Boy Found’ conveys the paternal security:
“The little boy lost in the lonely fen
Led by the wandering light,
Began to cry; but God, ever nigh
Appeared like his father, in white
He kissed the child, and by the hand led
And to his mother brought.”
Here we find that the cry for help is answered by God who appears in the guise of the child’s father and restores the child to the mother. Whereas in the ‘Songs of experience’ ‘A Little Boy Lost’ depicts the cruelty of the Church and the priest, and the little boy is turned to death. There is no protective figure to save him.
In the state of innocence there is carefree happy life for the children. But in the state of Experience, a child is not carefree, irresponsible and thoughtless. Children are not allowed to pass their time freely. Even parental love is repressive and priest-like. In the ‘Songs of Experience’ when experience destroys the childlike innocence, it puts many destructive forces in its place. To show the extent of this destruction Blake places in the ‘Songs of Experience’. For instance, in the first ‘Nurse’s Song’ he tells how children play and are allowed to go on playing until the light fades away and it is time to go to bed:
“Well, well go and play till the light fades away
And then go home to bed.
The little ones leaped and shouted and laughed
And all the hills echoed.”
Here the poet symbolizes the carefree play of the imagination when it is not spoiled by senseless restrictions. But in the second ‘Nurse’s Song’ we hear the other side of the matter; when experience has set to work:
“Then come home my children, the sun is gone down
And the dews of night arise.
Your spring and your day are wasted in play
And your winter and night in disguise.”
The voice that now speaks is not that of loving care, but of restriction, envious of happiness. It sees play as a waste of time and cruelty tells the children that their life is a sham passed in darkness and cold. The first and most fearful thing about experience is that it breaks the free life of the imagination, and substitutes a dark, cold imprisoning fear, and the result is a deadly blow to the blithe human spirit.
In the ‘Songs of Innocence’ the dominant symbol is lamb, which is an innocent creature of God and which symbolizes Jesus Christ. In the ‘Songs of Experience’ the main symbol is the tiger burning bright in the forest of the night. The tiger burns metaphorically with rage and at once become a symbol of anger and passion. The tiger represents the violent and terrifying aspects of the universe. It also symbolizes the violent and terrifying forces, which exist in man. Thus the tiger and the lamb are symbols for two contrary states of human soul.
The world of the ‘Songs of Innocence’ is governed by pity, love and mercy. It is a state of bliss, free from all discord and irritations. In this state even wild animals like wolves and tigers become tame and rather than being cruel. They look after the innocent ones. It is only in that state that the tiger can lie down beside the lamb and sleep. But the world of the ‘Songs of experience’ is full of dangers. There is no glance of God in the infant eyes. The very smile of the child breeds discord. Infant wiles and infant cries. In ‘Infant Sorrow’ we find,
“My mother groaned, my mother wept;
Into the dangerous world I leapt.”
It would seem that fear has infected human being in this state.
Religion is not imposed upon innocence from without by authority of the church and the priests. The religion here is self-expression, not repression. But in Experience religion is repressive and cruel. In this state religion is a source of oppression. Here the church and the priests destroy the joy and freedom that we have in the state of Innocence. As for example, in the first ‘Holy Thursday’ children sit “With radiance of their own”, while in the second ‘Holy Thursday’ children have to uniform of their own and charity is based on selfish consideration. The innocent song ends on a positive note with parching a sermon; while the experienced song parches a sermon that is negative in note.
In the state of innocence, there is unity everywhere, and each is involved in all. Here the children and the aged come together in the communal meeting place. In a word, the songs of Innocence are sweet, smooth and solace giving. There is spiritual development in this state. But the world of experience is directly related to repression and separation. In this state mankind never gathers together into a community. Division is there everywhere. Even in cities men isolate themselves one from another. There the unity lies in its diversity. We see sexual jealousy, envy and callousness on human instinct. In this state the happy and confident child becomes the jaded adult; the joyful bride becomes the hard worked housewife; the idealistic youth becomes a man of the world with all its characteristic hindrance. We find this real aspect in the ‘Divine Image’:
“Cruelty has a human heart
And jealousy a human face
Terror the human form divine
And secrecy the human dress.”
The ‘Songs of Experience’ are more powerful and more magical than the ‘Songs of Innocence’ because they are born of a deep anguish, from a storm in the poet’s soul. Blake knows that one kind of existence is bright with joy and harmony, but he sees its place taken by another, which is dark, sinister and dead.
Thus we find that the two contrary states of human soul have clearly been reflected in Blake’s ‘ ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’. In spite of being contrasted in tone and mood, the songs are more understandable and significant. In these Songs Blake has presented images of youth and manhood, of domestic sadness and fireside joy, and happiness of childhood. Their apparent simplicity of diction and pattern has been their chief passport of popularity.
