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Songs of innocence and experience analysis
Songs of innocence analysis
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“Holy Thursday” is actually two poems. The two poems have two completely different tones. “Songs of Innocence” has a happy rejoyceful tone and beautiful imagery, while the “Songs of Experience” has a mournful and somber tone. “Song of Innocence” emphasizes the beauty children bring to the church. In contrast, “Song of Experience” states that there are a number of poverty stricken children in the church and nothing is being done to improve their situation. In “Songs of Innocence,” the children walk into the church in rows of two. They are freshly bathed and they all seem to be healthy. They sit down in the pews. This reminds the speaker of a company of lambs sitting by the thousands. The children are “raising their innocent hands in prayer” (“Song of Innocence” 8). When they begin to sing, the sound they create is like a “mighty wind” or “harmonious thunderings” (“Song of Innocence” 9-10). The speaker reminds the reader that these people are actually the children of God. In “Songs of …show more content…
The two poems have two completely different tones. “Songs of Innocence” has a happy rejoyceful tone and beautiful imagery, while the “Songs of Experience” has a mournful and somber tone. “Song of Innocence” emphasizes the beauty children bring to the church. In contrast, “Song of Experience” states that there are a number of poverty stricken children in the church and nothing is being done to improve their situation. In “Songs of Innocence,” the children walk into the church in rows of two. They are freshly bathed and they all seem to be healthy. They sit down in the pews. This reminds the speaker of a company of lambs sitting by the thousands. The children are “raising their innocent hands in prayer” (“Song of Innocence” 8). When they begin to sing, the sound they create is like a “mighty wind” or “harmonious thunderings” (“Song of Innocence” 9-10). The speaker reminds the reader that these people are actually the children of
Throughout Bernard's collection of sermons, he justifies the central concerns of the “Song of Songs” within his selected works. He develops a creed of mystical contemplation, meditation, and personal connection with God. Bernard, using an allegorical approach, wrote about the “Song of Songs” and his sermons creating the metaphor of the church, stressing the importance of love in knowing service to God. The “Song of Songs” has many interpretations within the love poem, and Bernard conveys them by discussing what the “Song of Songs” is, dives into what the kisses are that indicate the progression of the soul, describes who the four kinds of spirits are, and identifies the bride and Bridegroom. With Bernard discussing what the “Song of Songs” is, he first starts with his interpretation of the title and then goes into what the book is about.
In “High Holy Days” by Jane Shore the idea of innocent youth awakening from a slumber for the first time is conveyed at a rate of infinite constancy from beginning to end. At the poem opens the tone of the speaker is childish and picayune. Throughout the eloquent stanzas filled with reminisces of the speaker, the tone becomes passionate and valiant. The writer, Jane Shore, awakens the speaker to her reality as a Jewish woman living in a world that does not condone her religion.
When the poem is read aloud, the explicit rhyme and rhythm of the lines becomes extremely obvious. In fact, the bouncy rhythm is so uplifting, it occasionally makes the audiences feel like it is too predictable and straight-forward. An example would be “bright with chrysolite”, the word “chrysolite” feels like it is forcefully implemented for the sake of the rhyme. This is somewhat similar to a children’s tale. Most children’s tale as we know it, conveys messages straightforwardly and are easily understood by children, it also has an amiable tone and a merry mood that engages the children 's attention. Similarly, the rhyme and rhythm of this poem is very obvious and explicit, creating a delightful, casual mood that appeals to a young audience. Even though the legend dealt with deep insights about parenting that are intricate and puzzling, the father delivered it in such a gratifying, simple manner that made even the most dark and dreadful matters: like the description of precarious beasts and vicious monsters to sound like a blissful adventure of friendly animals. The sole purpose of this contradiction between the tone and message is to make this seemingly strong and serious topic more tolerable and captivating to the son of the father. Unsensible, impulsive youth is very similar to restless children, a long insipid lecture about deep insights is very difficult for them to buy into. In the same time, a harsh, threatening warning will only make them obey unwillingly, and creating a doubtful relationship will make them uncomfortable to communicate or appeal to their parents. Clearly, the percipient father recognized the ineffectiveness of these unsuitable parenting methods. Instead, he conveyed the message in a uncomplicated, friendly way that made his son to accept his teachings more comfortably. A
Marian’s spectacular talents flourished with the support of her family and friends. At fourteen years old, Marian’s choir director, Alexander Robinson, moved her from the youth choir to the adult choir. Robinson was in shock of the young girl’s ability to sing any part of any hymn whenever she was requested to do so. Marian showed so much potential to the congregation of he...
"It's a child's scream, a young girl's scream..." By using the words; child, young and girl, the reader is positioned to see Rue as a small, pretty, innocent girl, as many people associate such words with the idea of being small and needing protection from the world. From the author using connotative language Rue is portrayed as an innocent
The fact that they feel they can sit about the knee of their mother, in this stereotypical image of a happy family doesn’t suggest that the children in this poem are oppressed... ... middle of paper ... ... y has a negative view of the childish desire for play which clearly has an effect on the children. The fact that they the are whispering shows that they are afraid of the nurse, and that they cannot express their true thoughts and desires freely, which is why they whisper, and therefore shows that Blake feels that children are oppressed. I feel that the two poems from innocence which are ‘The Echoing Green,’ and ‘The Nurses Song,’ display Blake’s ideological view of country life which I referred to in my introduction, and show his desire for childhood to be enjoyed.
...nal family. The second poem uses harsh details described in similes, metaphors, and personification. The message of a horribly bad childhood is clearly defined by the speaker in this poem. Finally, the recollection of events, as described by the two speakers, is distinguished by the psychological aspect of how these two children grew up. Because the first child grew up in a passive home where everything was hush-hush, the speaker described his childhood in that manner; trying to make it sound better than what it actually was. The young girl was very forward in describing her deprivation of a real family and did not beat around the bush with her words. It is my conclusion that the elements of tone, imagery, and the recollection of events are relevant to how the reader interprets the message conveyed in a poem which greatly depends on how each element is exposed.
The idea of the innocence having been created or forced to exist is lost as the poem focuses on the children and how innocent they are. This stands out particularly in the second stanza which uses end rhyme and repetition to underline just how many children seemed to be going into the church. It is also in that same stanza that the children are referred to as lambs, which is a common symbol for innocence. It is not simply the multitudes of children, but the multitudes of the innocent that have been gathered. ...
Using the themes we have examined in this course discuss the situation of the children in Jonathan Kozol's Amazing Grace. Who defines them as 'other'? How? What makes them feel like 'nobodies'? What makes them feel like 'somebodies'? What is the role of religion in this daily struggle for human dignity?
The `Songs of Experience' `Introduction' appears to be a lamentation concerning the demise of innocence, the gradual loss of nature through the corollary of experience. The persona cries `calling the lapsed soul', calling the `Earth, o Earth' to `return' from `the slumberous mass'. The Earth replies in `the Earth's answer' with the remark `break this heavy chain that does freeze my bones around' suggesting the coercive forces of industry and the artificial forces of man over the Earth, over nature. The `little girl' and `little boy' grow to be `lost' in this new world governed by industry, in this new world of mechanised Christendom, in this new world absolving itself of altruistic action and concern for the individual. The `lost' boy and girl make their way back to their instinctive origin and find solace in nature. The harmony of nature and its association with man is represented well in the first stanza of `Song [2]' of `the poetical sketches':
Both poems inspire their reader to look at their own life. In addition, they treat the reader to a full serving of historic literature that not only entertains, but also teaches valuable lesson in the form of morals and principles.
In this essay I am going to be looking at two poems from the Songs of innocence and experience works. These poems are The Lamb and The Tyger written by William Blake. Both these poems have many underlying meanings and are cryptic in ways and both poems are very different to each other. In this essay I will be analysing the two poems, showing my opinions of the underlying themes and backing them up with quotes from the poems. I will compare the poems looking at the similarities and differences between them and also look at each one individually focusing on the imagery, structure and the poetic devices William Blake has used. Firstly I will look at the Tyger a poem about experience.
Both Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience provide social criticism on the dangers that child chimney sweepers endure but, Songs of Experience provides better social commentary as Songs of Experience directly identifies the potential for death unlike Songs of Innocence which implicitly identifies the dangers child sweeps endure. In Songs of Innocence, the child chimney sweeper dreams that while he was “lock’d up in coffins of black…an Angel who had a bright key… open’d the coffins…set them all free” (Blake, “Innocence” 12-14). The child’s dream of freedom appears happy and optimistic when in reality it is quite chilling that the child views death as freedom. Blake presents the child chimney sweeper as optimistic to suggest that society needs to help the children find freedom so they do not wish to die. The social commentary in Songs of Innocence is implicit in order to emphasize the child’s inability to fully understand and c...
In the William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, the vision of children and adults are placed in opposition of 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 happy am,/ Joy is my name.’” (Line 4-5) The speaker in this poem is portrayed as being immediately joyful, which represents Blake’s larger view of childhood as a state of joy that is untouched by humanity, and is untarnished by the experience of the real world. In contrast, Blake’s portrayal of adulthood is one of negativity and pessimism. Blake’s child saw the most cheerful aspects of the natural wo...
The idea of the child’s innocence is shown through their interactions with others and their descriptions in both of these writers’ poems. For example, in the introduction to “Songs of Innocence” the interaction between the child and the narrator depicts the amount of innocence he has for laughing and enjoying life up in a tree while telling the narrator to write about merry cheer and the Lamb. This example shows innocence because innocent children are usually the happiest for they do not know as many of the horrors of life yet. The child being in a tree relates to Wordsworth’s religious view of being one with nature and how children are delightful and free. Another example of childhood innocence, is in William Blake’s poem “Holy Thursday” he refers to the children as innocent looking and having clean faces. When the children are described as being clean or having something of the color white that usually means purity and innocence. Since Blake wrote many of his passages on religion, the color white also has to do with the purity of the soul and being free from sin. Another example of this would be in “The Chimney Sweeper” when the little boy lost his white hair, this refers to the child losing his innocence or