The Poems of William Blake
What have you understood, from reading the poems of William Blake?
William Blake, a late 18th century English Romantic poet uses
traditional forms for his poetry in that he blends the ballad, the
nursery rhyme and the hymn. The meaning he constructs from these forms
however is far from traditional. His style was to express very complex
ideas in very simple language and compressing a lot of deep meaning
into often very short poems. Blake was a rebel and was over enjoyed
when the French revolution liberated the repressed underclass. He
wanted social equality but the industrial revolution just widened the
gap between the rich and the poor. He often criticised the
Establishment, especially the Church, for its hypocrisy and he was
against things that prevented the human spirit from being free,
therefore he disliked the rulings of kings and priests. All that
surrounded him had an influence on his poetry.
His poems are separated into innocence and experience, both opposites
as Innocence has the sounds of laughter and joy the images of
simplicity, children being protected, unthreatening animals like the
birds and the lamb also beauty of nature, the roses and the non scary
daylight, brightness and sunshine reflecting the creator's warm love.
Next, experience which is something which you bring to yourself as
time passes; here we hear sounds of crying, weeping, sighing and
cursing. We see frightening animals like the tiger also the night
which we associate with darkness, evil and sin. Blake compares
innocence and experience by using; happiness and sadness, health and
sickness, day and night, positive and negative emotions, beautiful
nature and scary nature also the peaceful country a...
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...in. I have learnt about the two
opposite natures and the different states of being, it shows you how
the times have changed and today's children have many more rights, but
nature in all its excellence and beauty is still there and will never
change. It portrays realism and the hardship that not only the
children of that time had to face but all the poor, under privileged
people. He captured his time using realism and the drudgery. He shows
us unspoilt innocence and its saddening and moving how innocence can
never last! Although Blake was not very well known throughout his
life, he became a part of history creating some of the most passionate
poetry of all time. He was an artist of great ability creating amazing
pieces of work with profound simplicity encouraging and inspiring
people around the world. Exercising the minds of many of us still to
this day!
godly misery. But it could also be the pain of the people as not only
The poem mainly deals with anger. The beginning of the poem begins by depicting a scenario in which a man told his friend he was angry with him, yet they were able to work out their differences and resolve the issue. His anger dissipated shortly afterwards, and the friendship continued to grow like a seedling soon becomes a tree with strong roots. Blake was also angry at his enemy, but Blake could not do the same as he did with his friend. He keeps his anger secret from his enemy. Blake made a mistake by not allowing his anger to escape. His anger grew both day and night. H...
The Romantic period brought a new outlook on how people viewed the world. The fight for individual rights was a major cause for the sudden change. There were too many rules that held people back from being able to express themselves. Once they began to broaden their ideas and practice new motives whether it was political, or emotional, it brought freedom of expression. Many poets took the chance to enlighten their readers on their works. They would write in order to paint a picture and gave more detailed descriptions of the conscious mind. For these poets it brought many people to enjoy their freedom of speech and encouraged a new way of thinking.
Northrop Frye, in his critical essay, "Poetry and Design," states; "In a world as specialized as ours, concentration on one gift and a rigorous subordination of all others is practically a moral principle" (Frye 137). William Blake's refusal to follow this moral principle by putting his poetry before his art, or vice versa, makes his work extraordinary as well as complex and ambiguous. Although critics attempt to juggle Blake's equally impressive talents, they seem to land on either one side or the other; failing to transcend, as Blake did, that moral principle of concentration. Blake, not only controlled his art and poetry through innovative printing techniques, but controlled how his readers interacted with it. By activating the reader's imagination through images, Blake's poetry is no longer words on a page, but it is alive; his visions and ideas made real through the integration of design and text.
William Blake, an artist and poet, wrote to on the dark and bright side of society. Growing up, Blake at the age of four thought he had seen God. With this said, his parents wanted to nurture his gift. His father, a very poor man, sent him to an art school. Believe it or not, William Blake was a rebel. After studying at the Royal Academy, Blake dropped out and opened his own printing shop. At the age of thirty-two, Blake published multiple poems in two series of texts, Song of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Thus, the difference between these two series of texts was that Song of Experience explored more of the dark side of society; however, Songs of Innocence explored more of the innocent side of human society. Both of these texts were a critique of human society. In the texts The Lamb, The Tyger, The Chimney Sweeper, and Infant Sorrow critique society with innocence and experience, child labor, and finally the rebels of society.
The theme of William Blake’s poem, “The Lamb,” conveys that Blake wanted children to know that God created them. He wrote the poem, like a song to appeal to children and utilized rhymes to entertain them. In addition, Blake used allusion to lure the reader toward a higher power. He repeated an important question as he asked the reader who made him; this emphasized its significance in the poem.
Blake also uses sound to deliver the meaning to the poem. The poem starts off with "My mother groaned! my father wept." You can hear the sounds that the parents make when their child has entered this world. Instead of joyful sounds like cheer or cries of joy, Blake chooses words that give a meaning that it is not such a good thing that this baby was brought into this world. The mother may groan because of the pain of delivery, but she also groans because she knows about horrible things in this world that the child will have to go through. The father also weeps for the same reason, he knows that the child is no longer in the safety of the womb, but now is in the world to face many trials and tribulations.
The theme of authority is possibly the most important theme and the most popular theme concerning William Blake’s poetry. Blake explores authority in a variety of different ways particularly through religion, education and God. Blake was profoundly concerned with the concept of social justice. He was also profoundly a religious man. His dissenting background led him to view the power structures and legalism that surrounded religious establishments with distrust. He saw these as unwarranted controls over the freedom of the individual and contrary to the nature of a God of liberty. Figures such as the school master in the ‘schoolboy’, the parents in the ‘chimney sweeper’ poems, the guardians of the poor in the ‘Holy Thursday’, Ona’s father in ‘A Little girl lost’ and the priestly representatives of organised religion in many of the poems, are for Blake the embodiment of evil restriction.
The poetry of William Blake focuses on the concepts of God and Christianity. The speaker often ponders the origins of creation by observing the creation itself and relating it to its creator. Blake’s poetry, particularly The Lamb and The Tyger, was written to make the audience reevaluate their perception of God. It was not written to undo a person’s faith, but rather the increase his or her’s understanding of faith through the observation of nature.
The vision of an angel made William Blake the most famous poet of his time. William Blake was born over his father’s modest hosiery shop at 28 Broad Street Golden Square, London in Nov, 28, 1757. His father was James Blake a hosier, and his mother was Catherine Wright Armitage Blake. William Blake being chiefly educated at home learned how to read and write by his mother. He briefly attended to school. His parents observe that he was different and they didn’t force him to attend to the school, main reason why his mother decided to teach him. “They did observe that he was different from his peers and did not force him to attend conventional school.” Later on Blake saw as a positive matter, later writing “Thank god I never was sent to school.” Apparently William Blake was a special boy, and a true believer of religion. When Blake was four years old, he told his parent that he saw a vision of god. “From early childhood, Blake spoke of having visions—at four he saw God "put his head to the window.” Couple year later around age nine William experiences new vision this time he saw an angel. “Around age nine, while walking through the countryside, he saw a tree filled with angels.” Those visions changed William life. At age of ten William expressed to his parents that he wanted to be a painter. Later on his father sent him to a drawing school. “At age ten, Blake expressed a wish to become a painter, so his parents sent him to drawing school.” Two years later William began to writing poetry.
William Blake fell under “the Romantic Period” (1798-1832) according to the British Literature timeline. The romantic period “grew out of frustration from the industrial revolution” (Parra, Mejia, Golden & Croston, 2013, pp. 7) and introduced many different Romanticism ideas. During this time, the writers focussed on “personal experience and imagination in their work” (Parra, Mejia, Golden & Croston, 2013, pp.8) rather than focussing on writing that would have an impact on society. This period in literature focussed mainly on youth and innocence (Parra, Mejia, Golden & Croston, 2013) and “questioned authority and tradition” (Parra, Mejia, Gordon & Croston, 2013, pp.8). One would agree that this is where Blake’s attitude towards religion would play a significant role in what has informed his poems and etchings. “In Blake’s time dualism had taken the Christian churches into the spiritually sterile cul-de-sac of...
Blake was a man active of mind and body, changing occupations without a minute of repose in between. ‘Apocalyptic’ is a word that can be used in describing William Blake’s works, whether it be a poem, artwork, or story. Although, incredibly relevant in his own time, I believe that his work resonates even more strongly in today’s society.
end of the second stanza Blake writes " It is a land of poverty!" Form
During the Romantic Era, William Blake demonstrated a unique way of viewing the world, that was easily separated from the normal way of thinking. His poetry along with the ideas he expressed have influenced a countless number of individuals to see the world as it truly is: beautiful yet corrupted by oppression. William Blake lived his life in poverty, finding his only comfort within the confines of his work; therefore, there is no doubt that his poetry reflected his life and ideals. Through his childhood, obsession with art, and the the various writers he came in contact with influencing him, William Blake conveyed his questioning attitude within the many stanzas he wrote.
syllables at the start of the foot (Ty - ger! Ty - ger!) introduce an