The Human Abstract "The Human Abstract" has not received much critical attention on its own. Of the critical interpretations that do exist, many approach the poem by examining its various manifestations in Blake's manuscripts, reading it against "A Divine Image," a poem w hich was never finally published by Blake, or comparing it to its Innocence counterpart, "The Divine Image." Most critics seem to agree that "The Human Abstract" represents a philosophical turning point in The Songs of Innocence and of Expe rience, and in Blake's work as a whole. In 1924, Joseph H. Wicksteed observes that this "difficult" poem, "originally called 'The human Image," represents "Blake's attempt to summarize his philosophy of revolt against the ob ject of worship he …show more content…
Gillham also reads this poem satirically, but focuses on the speaker (whom he refers to as "the liar") as the object of that satire . He examines the axioms in the poem, contending that "the two axioms of the first s tanza were 'truths' told with a wrong emphasis, designed to make men easy about exploitation." With the third axiom, however, the liar is able to "feel quite easy about advantage and exploitation for it insists on the necessity of 'mutual fear.'" Gillha m suggests that the poem experiences an abrupt shift in tone after the first six lines, and that, "in the remainder of the poem Blake uses the image of the growth of a tree to describe the advanced stages of deception." Unlike Hirsch, Gillham does not lo cate Blake's (or the Bard's) voice in the second half of the poem, rather, the speaker remains the liar, and, for this reason, the invocation of "Nature" represents "a form of self-deception." He argues that "Blake exposes the concealed claim made by the mystery-mongers of 'nature' that their suppositions have a basis in fact, that their views have an objective validity," which is, of course, a lie. Also in 1966, Geoffrey Keynes observes that the poem had originally been a devil's
William Blake, a unique poet of the literary canon, is one of the most critiqued poets of all time. Having a rather unique stylistic approach to topics, especially religion, Blake seems to contradict himself in his own writing and, therefore, sparks questions in the readers’ minds on specific subjects. Two of his poems in particular have been widely critiqued and viewed in various lights. “The Tyger,” written in 1774, and “The Lamb,” written five years later in 1789, are considered companion poems due to their similar humanistic topic and stark differences of each other. Through the use of specific titillation and use of rhetorical questioning, Blake sets up an ultimatum between the two poems, creating the illusion that each creature in the poems may have different creators. In this way, Blake questions traditional Christian doctrine in such a way that initiates curiosity of the identity of the creator, or creators, and the nature of each; thus, the reader is opened up to a more broad pattern of thought.
In Songs of Innocence and of Experience, by William Blake, we come to the realization that although innocence and experience are dichotomies it’s common for a reader of songs to detect experience in a poem about innocence and vice versa. To fully understand "Infant Sorrow" a look at the definition of innocence and its relationship to experience is needed.
...t, each of us can come to know God and understand our relationship with the universe through the discovery of our poetic genius. Blake’s methodology of channeling his spiritual energy through his work is accomplished through the combination of poetry, song, and visual art. This provides the reader with a full aesthetic experience that universally encourages the illumination of the human soul. Through his poems which identify various types of people and situations, Blake adds that this religious experience is not limited to the creative arts. In fact, he suggests that the poetic genius is attainable through focused manual labor, intellectual conversation, and philosophical reflection, among other activities. Man’s universal ability to find God through his poetic genius is Blake’s inspiration, philosophy, and theological message in Songs of Innocence and Experience.
Blake, William. “On Another’s Sorrow”. Classical Poetry: Songs of Innocence. Passions in Poetry Foundation: 11 Nov. 2008. .
William Blake was an influential English poet during the mid 18th and mid 19th centuries. He is still known as a prominent figure of the Romantic Period. In Blake’s early years as a teenager he began writing poetry, and in 1794 he published Songs of Experience. Songs of Experience is a collection of twenty-six poems, and it formed the second part of Songs of Innocence. One of these twenty-six poems in Songs of Experience is “The Angel”. In this poem, Blake used the maiden queen, the angel, and the dream as symbolic figures in order to portray this poem as a tragic love story. My interpretation of “The Angel” is how a person’s view of love can evolve over time.
In conclusion, one is able to see through this critical analysis of the three poems and etchings of Blake’s “songs of innocence and experience” that he has successfully shown the contrary states of the human soul.
Musante, R.. “Embracing the divine: The life of spirit in William Blake's "Songs of Innocence", "Songs of Experience", and "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell". Diss. Middle Tennessee State University, 2007. Dissertations & Theses: A&I, ProQuest. Web. 26 Nov. 2010.
There are often two sides to everything: chocolate and vanilla, water and fire, woman and man, innocence and experience. The presence of two opposing items allows for harmony and balance in the world. Without water, fire cannot be put out and without woman there can be no man. William Blake’s poetry collection Songs of Innocence and of Experience draws parallels between poems of “innocence” and poems of “experience”. His poem The Lamb is mirrored by his poem The Tyger.
The imagery of nature and humanity intermingling presents Blake's opinion on the inborn, innate harmony between nature and man. The persona of the poem goes on to express the `gentle streams beneath our feet' where `innocence and virtue meet'. This is where innocence dwells: synchronization with nature, not synchronization with industry where `babes are reduced to misery, fed with a cold usurous hand' as in the experienced version of `Holy Thursday'. The concept of the need for the individual's faithfulness to the laws of nature and what is natural is further reiterated in `the marriage of heaven and hell' in plate 10 where Blake states `where man is not, nature is barren'. The most elevated form of nature is human nature and when man resists and consciously negates nature, `nature' becomes `barren'. Blake goes on to say `sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires'. This harks back to `the Songs of Innocence' `A Cradle Song' where the `infants smiles are his own smiles'. The infant is free to act out its desires as it pleases. It is unbound, untainted. Blake's concern is for the pallid and repressed, subjugated future that awaits the children who must `nurse unacted desires' and emotions in this new world of industrialisation. Despairingly, this is restated again in `the mind-forg'd manacles' of `London'. The imagery of the lambs of the `Songs of Innocence' `Introduction' is developed in `the Chimney Sweeper' into the image of `Little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, that curl'd like a lamb's back, was shav'd'.
William Blake composed two series of poems: Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence. The poems are intertwined as to compare the thoughts of children and adults on the same issues. The innocence of children is discussed on topics of religion, love, and justice. The opinions of adults are also experienced on these topics, but are given from a more experienced viewpoint. William Blake comparatively writes two series of poems to address the controversy of God, love, and justice from pure thinkers and from corrupt thinkers.
Nurmi, Martin K. "Fact and Symbol in The Chimney Sweeper' of Blake's Songs of Innocence." Blake: A Collection of Critical Essays. Northrop Frye ,ed. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1966.
The Romantics “traversed the dark side of existence. They were intrigued with the grotesque, the malignant, the horrific, and the fearful” of both nature and the human mind. They believed life could not be beautiful without death because “all beauty is fleeting and eventually withers away” (“Romanticism: Imagining Freedom”). It is from this approach that the majority of English Romantic poet William Blake’s works of art stem. “The Tyger,” one of Blake’s most famous and most debated poems, can be interpreted in various ways, but greatly relates to this doubt in ...
William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience are a collection of poems, which view two aspects of the human soul: innocence and experience. Blake constructs a parallel in his poems of Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. His poems juxtapose the innocence and sweetness of childhood with the reality and harshness of the adult world. Blake’s writing suggests that ‘innocence is not sufficient on its own; it is necessary for the individual to make the journey towards experience.’ (Duncan Wu)
Although both Blake and Wordsworth show childhood as a state of greater innocence and spiritual vision, their view of its relationship with adulthood differs - Blake believes that childhood is crushed by adulthood, whereas Wordsworth sees childhood living on within the adult. In the William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, the vision of children and adults is placed in opposition to one another. Blake portrays childhood as a time of optimism and positivity, of heightened connection with the natural world, and where joy is the overpowering emotion. This joyful nature is shown in Infant Joy, where the speaker, a newborn baby, states “’I am happy, Joy is my name.’” (Line 4-5).
... that it belongs to the “Songs of Experience” shows the cynical and critical nature of the tone, which quickly shifts from idyllic to tragically oppressed. Although Blake’s main focus and main target to criticize is formalized education, there is an echoing of a more broad social issue that Blake also despised: industrialization and a world ruled by rationality. The poem is fundamentally a criticism of a society that has been numbed by numbers and machines and have been stripped of all creative endeavors. This powerful social denunciation is conveyed by the willowing natural metaphors, symbolic natural imagery, paralleling structure and contrasting diction. Blake uses a voice of experience and vision to sympathize with the plea of the every child who wishes to keep playing in the summer, not as a sign of laziness, but as a sign of much needed imagination and freedom.