William Blake was a religious man, yet did not believe in the common religious structure. Blake, also, did not believe in the God that most people believe in, but instead believed in a universal man. He believed that God was ideal and that God was this universal man, which man could become if he reached this goal. Blake was putting man and God on the same level, which many people disagreed with. His religion had a major influence on his writings, and can be seen throughout the two poems selected. Another thing Blake believed in was the two contrary states of the human soul, innocence and experience. Innocence was more ignorant, simple and sincere, while experience was mature and was what one accomplished when committing an immoral action. Blake …show more content…
These virtues are represented by God and man, “For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love/Is God, our father dear/Is Man, his child and care” (Blake 5-8). During times of blessings or sufferings, one would pray these virtues of delight. Blake writes that everyone, no matter religion, must respect these four virtues, because where these faiths dwell so does their God; “...In heathen, Turk, or Jew/Where Mercy, Love, & Pity dwell/There God is dwelling too” (Blake 18-20). William Blake wrote this poem to express his belief in the divinity of nature. If man was able to achieve all of these virtues, he would be ideal. By being divine, one could be considered innocent or in the state of innocence because there is no sin occurring amongst them, unlike in experience. People would be like God, who is one of the highest representations of innocence. The mood and tone of this poem set more examples of how the reader can view Blake’s incorporation of one of the states of human soul. The mood is graceful, while the tone is sincere but yet simplistic. This poem is a great representation of innocence, due to the way Blake states if we achieve the four virtues we will be more like …show more content…
This poem starts to degrade the virtues, instead of putting them on a higher pedestal. The poem discusses how there would be no virtues without certain things. For example, “Pity would be no more if we did not make somebody poor/And Mercy no more could be/If all were as happy as we” (Blake 133). Blake writes how the human brain could be compared to a tree that grows bitter things, such as humility, mystery and deceit. William Blake writes against “The Divine Image” in this poem, by criticizing the virtues and saying that they do no exist among either contrary state. When Blake discusses love in this poem he describes it as “selfish love” and readers may infer that love in experience is different than in innocence. Love in experience is found in everything no matter good or bad, fear and hostility are a few examples, while love occurring during innocence is only found in joyful things. This poem is a great example of Blake’s idea of experience because it has to do with actions and emotions that exist among people who have reached this human
Many Romantic works come from both the poet’s individual perceptions as well as the social consciousness of that era. “The Garden of Love” is no exception. This poem functions to brutally satirize both the oppression of the Church, which had a societal impact, and the urbanization of Lambeth, which had a personal impact on Blake’s life. As Blake has been known to do, he utilizes contrast to make the decay of his world blatant to the reader. Such contrasting is visible when the image of a life-giving garden decays into an image of death. This parallels the events that took place in Blake’s own life, when his rural home became swallowed up by urban sprawl.
... Through the plot of the speaker, Blake clearly states the dangers of enmity and how acting on these emotions can damage the human soul.
William Blake, was born in 1757 and died in 1827, created the poems “The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” and Proverbs of Hell. Blake grew up in a poor environment. He studied to become an Engraver and a professional artist. His engraving took part in the Romanticism era. The Romanticism is a movement that developed during the 18th and early 19th century as a reaction against the Restoration and Enlightenment periods focuses on logic and reason. Blake’s poetry would focus on imagination. When Blake created his work, it gained very little attention. Blake’s artistic and poetic vision consists in his creations. Blake was against the Church of England because he thought the doctrines were being misused as a form of social control, it meant the people were taught to be passively obedient and accept oppression, poverty, and inequality. In Blake’s poems “The Lamb,” “The Tyger,” and Proverbs of Hell, he shows that good requires evil in order to exist through imagery animals and man.
William Blake is a literature genius. Most of his work speaks volume to the readers. Blake’s poem “The Mental Traveller” features a conflict between a male and female that all readers can relate to because of the lessons learned as you read. The poet William Blake isn’t just known for just writing. He was also a well-known painter and a printmaker. Blake is considered a seminal figure in the history of poetry. His poems are from the Romantic age (The end of the 18th Century). He was born in Soho, London, Great Britain. He was the third of seven children. Even though Blake was such an inspiration as a writer he only went to school just enough to read and write. According to Bloom’s critical views on William Blake; one of Blake’s inspirations was the Bible because he believed and belonged to the Moravian Church.
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'.
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 critiques 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.
His spiritual beliefs reached outside the boundaries of religious elites loyal to the monarchy. “He was inspired by dissident religious ideas rooted in the thinking of the most radical opponents of the monarchy during the English Civil War” (E. P. Thompson). Concern with war and the blighting effects of the industrial revolution were displayed in much of his work. One of Blake’s most famous works is The Songs of Innocence and The Songs of Experience. In this collection, Blake illuminates the naive hopes and fears that inform the lives of children and follow them into adulthood.... ...
Blake and Wordsworth both used their childhood experiences as a basis for their poetry. In the...
The attitude that Blake brings to this poem is astounding. It shows how people feel during the 18th century. The tone usage throughout this poem displays how Blake along with many more feel about society and children. He uses many different emotions from the beginning to the end in his poem. He writes, “Could scarcely cry 'weep! '
In his work, Songs of Innocence and Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul, William Blake uses the aforementioned contrasting states of being to illustrate his unique view of the world around him. Through this work, Blake lays bare his soulful views of religion and ethics, daring the reader to continue on in their narcissistic attitudes and self-serving politics. While Blake's work had countless themes, some of the most prevalent were religious reform, social change, and morality. Philosophically, one would think that William Blake was a Deist; however Blake rejected the Deist view of life. He was a devout Christian, yet he also wanted nothing to do with the church or their teachings. These views give Blake a refreshingly sincere quality with regards to his art and writings. Blake frequently alluded to Biblical teachings in his work and, more often than not, used corresponding story lines to rail against the Church's views and accepted practices. One may say however, that Blake's universal appeal lies within his social commentary. Similar to a fable, Blake weaves a poetically mystical journey for the reader, usually culminating in a moral lesson. One such poem, "A Poison Tree," clearly illustrates some of William Blake's moral beliefs. With his use of imagery, as well as an instinctive knowledge of human nature, William Blake shows just how one goes from the light to the darkness (from innocence to experience) by the repression of emotions.
To illustrate, Blake displays imagery throughout his poem. These descriptions leave a picture in the reader’s mind. With great detail, the
A Poison Tree by William Blake is metaphorically describing the idea of life and the
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).
LaGuardia, Cheryl. "WILLIAM BLAKE: SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE." Library Journal 128.9 (2003): 140. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 13 July 2011.