William Blake: The Marriage of Innocence and Experience

William Blake was first and foremost an imaginative genius. He worked as both a painter and an author who beautifully illustrated not only his own works but also illustrated others writings. His artistic skill is unrivalled for diversity as he created each copy of his books with slight differences, mainly in colour and tones. He illustrates his opinions on innocence and experience through numerous poems in his work ‘Songs of innocence and experience’ and numerous other books. Much of his work deals with the concept of both innocence and experience through religion and contrary statements.
The very title of the book itself informs the reader that the content will offer an insight in to Blake’s views on innocence and experience. Blake believed

(Biography.com). Perhaps his own frustration at being unappreciated telegraphed into his poetry as many of them are shrouded in morose feeling. ‘The chimney sweeper’ in songs of experience nicely shows Blake’s concept of innocence and experience. Although the poem is included in the book ‘Songs of experience’ it is quite an innocent poem, with decidedly darker undertones. It is quite pessimistic about the afterlife and again has a religious undertone. Blake appears to have little faith in God, ‘heaven of our misery’ (Songs of Innocence and Experience, object 37). It is interesting to note that ‘The chimney sweeper’ mentioned previously is not the only poem of that title written by Blake. He wrote another by the same name in ‘Songs of Innocence’. Compared to the poem in ‘songs of experience’, this one is much more innocent but also far more upsetting. It showcases Blake’s views on the similarities between innocence and naivety as it is based around a child who readily believes that in return for their work as chimney sweeps they will be granted access to heaven when they inevitably die from the harsh and inhumane conditions. While it is not an overly heavy poem at first glance it is certainly weighed down by the presence of death as one reads closer. Human life appears indispensable to those meant to be the experienced ones whom the children can look