William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience

Trace how Flakes vox populi develops from his poesy The Lamb and The Tiger together- l adjudge no holler I am just two days old. What sh tout ensemble I c alone(a) thee? l happy am, gladden is my trope. Sweet Joy f every(prenominal) thee The good char recreateer as tumefy as the bad abstractions such as virtues and vices is straighten upd up in tokens to elaborate their suggestiveness and implications. Flakes cosmology is in any case tremendous and complex to be addicted in brief. His symbols booster to express his visions which may be obscure to a gross reader.Blake says Allegory is addressed to the intellectual powers, plot of land it is altogether hidden from the bodied. Understanding is my definition of the a simplyting to Sublime Poetry. From this it is clear that in his view metrical composition is concerned with something else than the phenomenal populace and that the accurately meaner of expressing it is by means of what he calls allegory. For Blake allegory is a system of symbols which worldly concernifests level offts in a un shtupny world. The modest Rose puts onward a t thrust, The humble Sheep a threatening horn White the Lily sinlessness shall in get it on de get a look, Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her steady glimmery. Blake imagined himself under ghostlike influences. He saw non-homogeneous forms and comprehend he voices of angels, fairies, kings of the past and even matinee idol the past and future were before him and he heard in typery, even the awful voice which called on Adam amongst the trees of the garden. In this kind of dreaming abstraction, he lived much(prenominal) of his demeanors all his s workings be plaster bandageed with it.Though this visionary aspect explains much of the religious religious mysticism and obscurity of his work, it is like judicious the element that get under ones skins his poems singular in loveliness and beauty. It is amazing that he could thus, month af terward month and year after year, lay consume his engraver after it had earned him his lily wages, and retire from s the battle, to his conceit w here(predicate) he could go steady scenes of more than-earthly splendor and animate beings pristine as unfasten dew. Like Sweeteners, Blake narrates things unheard and unobserved more purely a mystic than Sweeteners, he does non condescend to dialectics and scholastic divinity.Those who fancy that a dozen stony syllogisms seal up the unending fountain of our deepest questions, will affirm that Flakes belief was an illusion, continual and self-consistent and harmonious with the world byout the wholly of a homos bearing, can non differ from much reality. However, it is likewise central to note hat he was unlike uncouth atheists. Selfish Father of Men Cruel, Jealous, selfish precaution Can delight, Chained in night, The virgins of jejuneness and aurora bear? In the clash of creeds, it is always a comfort to remember that s ects with their sectaries, orthodox or early(a)wise, could not intersect all, if they were not in the same plane. My spiritual intelligence is certainly becoming conf wasting diseased by your speech of conflicting conclusions, therefore ascending hotshot of them please reveal definitely that by which I may obtain the greatest benefit. We find in Flakes poetry m any(prenominal) of the elements characterizing Ro worldtic poetry. The world of belief is the world of Eternity, says Blake.In his championship of license, his mysticism, naturalism, stemlization of s amazerhood, and simplicity Blake could be called a antecedent of Ro hu cosmos racetic poetry in nineteenth century England. Now enjoy. nightfall him in the river who loves water.. The busy bee has no sequence for sorrow.. The most gallant act is to pin d possess other before you The cistern contains the fountain spill. In explaining these lines we waver in interpreting the drops of tears that water the heaven a s the outcome of the passionateness of the vanquished rebelling angels or as tears of Eric.If this pettishness is one of the two aspects of divinity fudge, the tigers viciousty and wildness is only superficially venerationful. It can otherwise be meetd as a prophetic rage. But after, all temper and mercy meld at the same draw where the ultimate reality of idol is felt. There argon two meaner for the achievement of the goal, the first being through the sinlessness of the honey and other being through the gravel of the tiger. The close of the poem gives us the clue the daring of the oerlord whether god or man is the cleansing rage of the tiger. Blake is first and foremost a poet of visions and mysticism.But of, his visions be not confined to a narrow streamline of legal opinion about futurity alone they take the save into consideration and unfold those aspects of contemporary society de permiterious to free growth of the mental powers of man. He ridicules the sch maltzy ethos of devotion that professes a complete negation of mans sensual flavor and vehemently argues for a more complete vitality which combines the aw atomic number 18nesss and the spirit. He probes beneath the surface of things and exposes the roots of centerfieldy vices, the hidden sores and scars of a tradition-bound society. Can a catch sit and hear An infant groan, and infant precaution? No, no Ever can it be Never, neer can it be Flakes maxim that the homophile soul is make of contrary elements can be utilise here likewise. Indistinct and imagination or the diabolic and manufacturing business spirit of man is necessary for a fuller breeding of the soul and for its progress. It is a with fry(p) mistake to sanctify the love and turn an marrow of defiance towards the tiger. Blake opposes such a view and gives catch prominence to sense and soul, the wild and meek aspects of serviceman beings. Does spring hide its Joy When buds and blossoms grow? What h olds our tutelage is not merely the brutes beauty however the arcanum and repose foundation its creation.In The Lamb the poet visualizes the holiness of the de arst and barbarian and unifies them with Jesus deli trulyman. It is obvious that the link that connects these figures is pureness. The harmlessness of the birth and the goodness of the heart of a tiddler be nobody but the manifestation of heart nor does he act premeditatedly. The air of purity is clearly viewable on the face of all the three of them. How lovely is the Shepherds sweet lot From the morn to the evening he strays He shall foldepression his sheep all the day, And his tongue shall be fill up with extolment. More than this element of naturalness there is some other thread of connection between the birth and Christ. Christ refers to himself as the Lamb of God The lamb of God that take away the sin of the world. In the give-and-take Christ is referred to two as a lamb and as a shepherd. In this aspect the lamb has a religious consequence too. (The whole introduction is a symbol, and God is the essence behind. ? Swami Vegetarian ?) The Tiger displays the poets excellence in craftsmanship and descriptive skill. In the fo reliever of experience Blake finds the bright- spunkd tiger which appears to involve all the cosmic forces.The tiger has made its appearances in the Prophetic books of Blake. The poets creed in the cosmic and preternatural forces is increasingly exemplified and assert when he describes the creation and the originator of the tiger. The causation is a supernatural being and not necessarily the Christian God. The creation, according to another elucidation takes place in an extraordinary cosmic commotion. When the constellations turn round in their course there is a move from light to immorality. The pattern and method of filling questions here atomic number 18 quite different from those employed in The Lamb.In The Tiger the questions atomic number 18 put in a terrified and awe-inspired tone. It is also held that The Tiger deals with the colossal problem of detestation, but in Blake evilness does not exist as an abstract quality. Instead, the evil is embodied in the animosity of God. Christ, like all other Gods, has a dual duty. He punishes the sinners and offenders and loves the fol depleteders. and then Christ or God becomes the God of both(prenominal) love and unkindness. The fire is a popular symbol of wrath. Milton and Spencer have described wrath as fire, but we are not to misapprehend Flakes use of wrath as one of the deadly sins by the miracle and devotion plays.Blake finds virtue in wrath and what he describes in the righteous indignation or the wrath of a pious soul. In addition to this, if we also envision the symbolic meaning of the forest, then we can back up the meaning of the lines. Tiger Tiger burning bright In the forests of the night. The poet is struck with surprise and awe to discern the wild animal s majestic elegance and grandeur. Its residual is cowardly and the glow of its eyes is u in force(p)thly. When the serve up of creation is over, a terrible beauty is born. The strength of the animal and its moves/ are its peculiar features.The tiger beyond its superficial shabby is a prototype of God whose harsher aspect is present n the wildness of the creature. It is a cable and twin to the innocence of the lamb. The poet wonders Did he who made the Lamb make thee? In the poem The Tiger a description of the summons of creation is given, but no clarification is given about who the originator is. In the first stanza the creator is described as having wings by which he may have reached the skies to bring the fire for the grandness of the wild beast.The creation of the tiger is conveyed in words and phrases which, though meaningful in their totality, do not yield any explicit elucidation of the creator. We sense the strong shoulders thrusting forward in the process of forgi ng the body of the carnivore. The dexterity of the strokes is further conveyed in the misgiving put across which is gifted with unprecedented craftsmanship. If the dread feet and dread hand are applied to those of the busily eng aged(a) creator we can elicit the fact that those limbs are busy in working diligently.At the arcsecond of achieving the perfection of his sublime creation the poem grows tense, the questions are broken in midway and the speakers hindered gasps let out incomplete bother of exclamation. The star floor. The watery shore. Is given thee till the divide of day. In the world of innocence even the meanest creature such as a lamb (which is low only in the eyes of valetskind beings) is toughened as having unbound divinity. Here is an exclusive merger of the three characters- Christ, pip-squeak and the Lamb who constitute the Christian pattern of Trinity in the world of innocence. Flakes concept of God is closely aligned to his mysticism.He conceives of G od as the very epitome of characteristics which man is capable of developing. If he nurtures these qualities, an can attain godliness-it merely depends on what placed of qualities a man develops. A baby bird asks a lamb if it recognises its merciful creator, its feeder or the giver of its delightful and coos attire of fleece. He also asks the lamb whether it knows who gave it its tender voice that fills the valleys with pleasant Joy and music. sooner childlike, the lines Little lamb who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? are repeated, presumable with wonder in the eyes of the child. The speaker does not wait for any answer.He tells the lamb that its creator is one who is called after the name of the lamb itself. He is one who calls Himself a lamb. He is meek and mild and came on earth as a little child. The poem comes to have a meaningful pause at this juncture. The questions are asked, answers make and the child (or the poet) turns to conclude the lines in a wise hymna l vein or spiritual implication. He says l a child, and thou a lamb, We are called by His name Blake intends to suggest that the great employment of wrath is to consume error, to annihilate those stubborn beliefs which cannot be removed by the tame horses of instruction. It is typical of Blake to ask questions when he is overpowered by wonder ND perplexity and it is effective peculiarly in the case of this poem, where it results in an intense improvisation. The phrase fearful symmetry- whatever is possible in symbolic suggestions- is clearly the initial puzzle the symmetry implies an ordering hand or intelligence, the fearful throws doubt about the benevolence of the creator. The forest of the night is the darkness out of which the tiger looms brilliant by forbiddingk line They also embody the doubt or murkiness that surrounds the origins of the tiger.In the case of the lamb the creator is meek and he is mildHe became a little hill. In the case of the tiger creator is over a gain like what he creates. The form that must be supplied Him is now that of the Promethean Smith working violently at the forge. The tiger is an image of the Creator its dreaded scourge must be His. In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thin eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare seize the fire? There is just any poem in Songs of naturalness and of pay back which does not have a symbolic or allegorical or allusive implication.Though these poems are rendered in the round-eyedst possible poems is somewhat scriptural- elemental and rebound at the same time. The Biblical allusions add prodigious significance to his poems when foe example, we read the The Shepherd it commemorates Christ as the strong Shepherd and reminds us that the parables are clad in uncouth elements. Without reference to the Bible the poem, The Shepherd is meaningless and insignificant. Furthermore, Blake makes use of Biblical phrases too, as we tick off in the poem The Lamb. Gave thee life history, and bid thee feed, By the stream and oer the mead Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing, woolly, bright Gave thee such a tender voice, devising all the vales rejoice? In Songs of Innocence and of make out, Flakes symbols are not as obscure or composite as we find them in his other poems. In his later poems (Prophetic Books) they are rather incomprehensible. The principal symbols utilize by Blake have been classified by critics as innocence symbols. umpteen of these, of course, overlap, and among themselves weave richness into Flakes poetry. hence come home, my children, the sunshine is gone land, And the dews of night rally In the first, the word dews evokes an image of harmlessness but in the sec context it evokes a tactility of boot and damp. In the first there is a feeling that the eight will pass, but in the second poem the word dew assumes further ramifications of meaning. It implies materialism, the philosophy of experience, the sto lidity to spiritual truth. Knowledge of these symbolic meanings enriches our understanding of the poem. Blake gives his receive interpretation to traditional symbols.The rose traditionally associated with love and modesty assumes the aura of sicknesses and disease in Blake for he considered love to be free and honest and hold in order to be good. The lilys purity assumes added enlightenment in Flakes poetry, not because it is chaste but because it feels honestly. The sun flowers movement with the sun has deep meaning on the one hand it represents a search for spiritism on the other, it expresses regret for being attached to the ground. The simple vocabulary and movement of Flakes verse should not settle down us into a feeling that the thought too is childish.Indeed there is a complex thread of syllogism in his poetry that gives multiple layers of meaning to his words. Sometimes this syllogism even lends obscurity to his poems because it evolves out of Flakes own system of symbol s. The manner in a particular mood is a remarkable illustrated in the Nurses Songs in Songs of Innocence and Songs of gravel occur in both poems yet the feelings elicited because of the accompanying words are in nippy demarcation. To this day they dwell In a sole(a) dell. Nor fear the wolfish howl Nor the lions growl. The world of Experience welcomes a child of sorrow, who rather than being a demigod himself is also born into a monstrous world of totems and taboos. Strange to notice, it is not authenticly upon the ripening male child that the shadows of prison house close on the other hand, the shadows spread on the infant at the moment of birth itself. Predictably enough, there is no orbital cavity of a heaven lying about its infancy. Its struggle begins from the very moment of its birth, it is choked from the very start of its life and it finds its only rest on its mothers breast.As a contrast to Infant Joy here the child is not a Joy but a fiend and incomplete its mothe r nor the father, though it is not explicit from Flakes poem, accords a warm s welcome to him. The child hides behind the cloud. The speaker is evidently the child himself who laments against life. But to go to school in a summer morn, Oh It drives all Joy away Under a inhumane eye outworn The little ones spend the day In sighing and dismay. Admittedly, the poem brings out Flakes ideas on love and hints at his well-known belief that sex is not sinful.For Blake bareness is a symbol of pure innocence and he lauds uninhabited love. The Golden Age is that in which the mountain have love for their fellowmen and mingle with one another freely. In the Golden Age love is not a crime but a embellish and beauty signaling unbridled innocence, but in the present age the most tender sentiments are frozen by the trembling fear coming from the cruel eyes of experience. In all(prenominal) cry of every Man In every Infants cry of fear In every voice, in every ban The mind-forged manacles I hea r. Flakes vision of man in Songs of Experience, especially with reference to A perceive Image can be summed up as, The human dress is forge campaign out The human form is a fiery forge, The human face a furnace sozzled, The human heart its empty-bellied gorge. The poem A nobleman Image is a contrast to The Divine Image in its very title. In The Divine Image, the definite name The shows the real, one and only Divine Image. In A Divine Image the indefinite article A points at a particular divine image which has a unique growth.The contrast is also visible in the two stanzas of these two poems. For Mercy has a human heart, Pity a human face, And delight in the human form divine. Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace Can be seen as a stark contrast to the lines of A Divine Image that run as Cruelty has a human heart And Jealousy a human face Terror the human form divine And Secrecy the human dress. This is truly terrifying. His soul (the human form) is burning with frightfulness at heart the iron body of seclusion (the condition of deceit his face is a furnace sealed up wherein Jealousy rages his heart is recklessly cruel.The imagery is similar to that of The Tiger, but where the Tiger had broken all bounds as a symbol of regeneration, man is here imprisoned in a dress of an iron suit, of his own forging and all his energies burn within it, consuming him. For I dance, And strength and breadth, And the want Of thought is death Blake is not merely a extremist thinker on mans physical or corporeal immunity he is also one who broods over the spiritual freedom or spiritual redemption of mankind.The former point, showing Blake as a humanitarian, cans be well understood from poems such as The Chimney-sweeper, sanctum sanctorum Thursday and A little Girl Lost. In all these cases Flakes fury makes him lash out at the finesse of man and the society that enslaves children to utter lifelessness. In Holy Thursday Flakes sympathetic and compassionate heart shares the agon y of the children and his pent up feelings are let out through an ironical comment beneath them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor, indeed cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door. William Blake is considered a precursor of Romantic Movement in English Literature. romance laid considerable stress on the elements of imagination, tauter worship, humanitarianism, self-direction, mysticism and symbolism. It differed from the outlook expounded by the preceding age of modern classicism which promoted the notion of reason, balance and logic with deal to prose and poetry. The Romantic creed of poetry rests on arranging the simple emotions of humanity in a simple diction. Recollections of childhood (nostalgia) are also a common subject of Romanticism. When the voice of children are heard on the immature And whisperings are in the dale, The days of my youth rise fresh in my mind, My face turns green and pale. But of, the flood of feelings gains more fury in the po em of the same title in Songs of Experience Is this a holy thing to see In a rich and fruitful land. Babes reduced to misery, provide with cold and usurious hand? With vehemence Blake argues for the freedom of human energy too. He deplores any religion that denies sexual and stirred up life of man. Virility and zing are divine and its free play should neer be hindered. He is called by thy name, For he calls Himself a Lamb. He is meek, and He is mild He became a little child. Many of Flakes poems celebrate the divinity and innocence of not merely the child UT also the least harmless of creatures on earth, namely the lamb. The child asks the lamb if it knows who has created out. The child does not wait but answers his questions himself. He does so, we feel, not because the lamb cannot communicate, but because the child is so enthusiastic and eager to mention the creator and his virtues.He refers to the meekness of Christ, his glorious infancy as well as his reference to himself as a lamb. He concludes with a reference to his own and the lambs affinity to God and thus establishes their oneness. Qualities of simplicity, innocence and divinity are blanket(a) even to the world of animals and the innocent creatures like the lamb are raised from their level of lowness in the human eye. Both the child and Christ are unified with the lamb and the three forms the Trinity on earth. Tiger Tiger Burning bright In the forest of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? In The Shepherd the Shepherd is depicted as enjoying vast freedom, and his dowery is praised. He is so fortunate that he can wander about in carefree way wherever he chooses and sing in praise of God. Not only is he always near his lambs, listening to heir innocent cries, bleats and answering bleats ,but he is never exposed to the world of Experience where he may be startled by roars of cruelty and fierceness. This is a simple pastoral poem in which liberty and freedom are p raised. We are again brought to look the affinity of lamb and innocence. Frowning, frowning night, Oer this retire from bright Let the moon arise, While I close my eyes. The pastoral con vent-holeion, which represents the occupations of shepherds in an consider way, against an idealized country background had to face severe admonition in the eighteenth century because of its unreality. It was held that men and women were uncomplete so Joyful nor carefree, nor so innocent, as they were be but according to Blake, young children do have these qualities, they live in a golden world of their own. This convention is apply by Blake to give us an insight into childhood, and one state of human soul.In the poem, the poet tells us about the valley along which he goes pipe and about his sudden meeting with a child. The child bids him pipe a song about a lamb- another pastoral element. The pipe is a conventional pastoral musical organ on which the shepherds play tunefully as the sheep g raze. It is also worth nothing that when the child appeals to him to write down the song, the poet says And I plucked a hollow reed, And I made a untaught pen And I stained the water clear, And I wrote my happy songs Every child may Joy to hear. The phrase reed, rural pen and Water clear contributes much to the elements of pastorals or rustic innocence. In the so-called world of experience, callousness, one-man rule and insincerity await the blithe new-comer and subject him to an entire transformation. The child -turned-youth experiences a curb on his oral instincts, by the repelling codes of sociable moralities and etiquette. There is hypocrisy in full swing and there is cruelty. In this unsanitary forge, he is reshaped and bestowed with an altered outlook. He is no more the rollicking child.His fertile imagination yields to the aged atrophied intellect and mature reason. He is in fact fallen or lapsed- fallen from his primordial nursing home of life. What the hammer? What the chain? The two diverse natures- Innocence and Experience are essential for the ultimate repurchase of his soul. From experience man moves to a world of higher(prenominal) innocence. Blake seems to argue that Joy and peace, which man had experienced in his holding, can have solid foundations only if man has experienced and overcome the impediments and unpleasant realities which day to-day life presents.That is to say, to attain a higher innocence man must be tested by woe and misery, physical as well as emotional he must go through the actual experience of life. Through the state of childhood innocence is charming it is not prefect and cannot last long. For spiritual elevation, lessons from both experience and innocence are essential. And it bears the fruit of Deceit, reddened and sweet to eat And the raven his nest has made In its thickest shade. Flakes The Tiger blends child-like innocence with adult wisdom.The child-like innocence is revealed in the volley of questions and excl amations about the fearful symmetry of the tigers body and the reactions of the stars and God to the tigers creation. Like the innocent child the poet wonders to know who framed the tigers body, fearful but well-proportioned What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? The following volley of questions bears the stamp of child-like innocence Shades of the prison-house begin to close Upon the growing boy. Like a child not contaminated by the evils of experience the poet is curious to know what instruments were used to frame the tigers fearful symmetry. With the innocence of the child the poet thinks that the angels were so amazed to see the fearful tiger created that they threw down their spears and wept. He also wonders if God smiled with satisfaction to see his new creation (I. E. The tiger) the wondering that becomes a child. logical spring and your day are wasted in play, And your winter and night in disguise. With this child-like innocence is mix adult wisdo m. The Tiger expresses the sadism (I. . Experience) that comes of age that becomes a man who has gone through his life. The wisdom sought to be conveyed is as follows. Man passes from innocence to experience. And for experience man has to pay a bitter price not merely in such unimportant things as comfort and peace of mind, but in the highest spiritual values. Experience debases and perverts noble desire. It subverts the state of childlike innocence and puts destructive forces in its place. It breaks the free life of imagination and substitutes a dark, cold, imprisoning fear, and the result is a deadly low to blithe human spirit.The fear and denial of life which come with experience breed hypocrisy which is as grave a sin as cruelty. To destroy these forces of experiences the benign creator assumes the role of a cancerous creator. In the scheme of things the tiger is as much a necessity as the lamb. So the God who created the lamb also created tiger. In other words, is not only a God of mercy, but also a God of wrath, the creator of Satan and social and political cataclysms. Flakes conception of God here betrays a striking similarity with the Hondo hydrological Avatar theory. Round the laps of their mothers Many sisters and brothers, Like birds in their nest, Are ready for rest And sport no more seen On the change Green. It is indispensable that the boy who enjoyed full freedom and liberty in innocence ought to pass into experience. This is because the design of human life gives prominence to the contrariety of human nature without which there is no progression. A complete life on earth meaner the life of innocence and experience. Without experience or innocence the life cycle is incomplete and imperfect.The memos of Songs of Innocence and of Experience are based on this viewpoint of contrariety. Why of the sheep do you not specify peace Because I dont want you to shear my fleece. The Tiger is typically representative of the most characteristic features of experience which in the poetic context of Blake involves deep meaning. From this powerful symbol we cons rightful(a) that Blake was a devotee of energy which, for him, was an aspect of true divinity. In this poem the poets irrepressible curiosity at the extraordinarily exquisite creation of God finds its vent in small broken questions.After wondering at the symmetry of its body and stripes, the luster of its eyes, the strong muscles, fair paws and its powerful strides, the poet turns to the reaction of the creator when he beholds his own creation. The poet says that God may have smiled at the forego of the rebelling angels at his own master craftsmanship in the creation of the tiger. The stars are the rebellious angels under Satan. When they failed to defeat God and were beaten they threw down their spears as in surrender and moaned for their defeat. It is after this event that God started creating inhabitants for the earth.So, at the time of the defeat of the rebelling angels, God might have Just finished the creation of the awesome tiger and smiled on his hidden purpose behind all his acts. Because I was happy upon the heath, And smiled among the winters snow, They wrapped me in the clothed of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe. The Lamb is the most significant poem in the section of Innocence not merely because it propounds the idea of innocence in the simplest way, but also because here we notice the poet extending the world of innocence even to the animals that re insignificant and base in the human eye.In this poem we see a child patting a lamb and asking if it knows who the giver of its life and brad is. He asks it whether it knows who has given it the silken fleece immaculate white and thin voice of its bleat. The child himself answers his questions. He defines the powerful God as who is known after the name of his lamb who is meek and gentle. Since God descended to the earth as infant Jesus he is also called a child. The child, lamb and God are all brought to unite to form a single divine entity. The essence of the poem lies in these