ipl-logo

William Blake Research Paper

835 Words4 Pages

Emma Lynch Mrs. Oliveros British Literature H February 1, 2016 Once Innocent, Now Exposed Influential English poet, William Blake, wrote during the Romantic era, and coined and integrated the term contrary states into his works. Blake’s two most popular works Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience express his profound concern, in which he labels “the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.” Blake’s term, contrary states, refers to the differing conditions of the human soul. His poems express this thought as the first describes the naïve side of the human soul, and the second describes the knowledgeable state. Blake effectively depicts “the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul” in his poems, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, by …show more content…

To begin Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, Blake appropriately titles the first poems of each collection, “Introduction.” The introduction pieces share different point of views, as one is from the voice of a naïve persona and the other is from the voice of an exposed and knowledgeable persona. In Songs of Innocence, a child’s voice is discerned, “And I wrote my happy songs / Every child may joy to hear” (Blake, Lines 19-20). It is apparent that the narrator is listening to the voice of a child. In contrast, Songs of Experience is listening to the voice of a Bard. It becomes clear that the narrator has lost all characteristics of innocence and youthfulness. It is focused on the past, awaiting a change for the future, rather than Songs of Innocence, which is entirely focused on the present. Blake effectively delivers the different aspects of the human soul through setting descriptions. In Songs of Innocence, the setting is friendly like the narrator, “Piping down the valleys wild / Piping songs of pleasant glee” (Blake, Lines 1-2). Conversely, Songs of Experience sets place in an aged placed, also like the narrator, “That walk’d among the ancient trees” (Blake, Line 4). Innocence …show more content…

His poems, such as “The Chimney Sweeper” in both Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, serve as excellent parallels to demonstrate his beliefs. In Songs of Innocence, “The Chimney Sweeper” is told from the perspective of a young child. The voice of the narrator is apparent due to the use of the lisp, “Could scarcely cry ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!” (Blake, Line 3). The child has lost both parents, and doesn’t know any better than to say that they are with God. They do not fully understand the concept of death, and therefore, do not face hardships from their parents’ deaths. As a result, these children do not fear harm. All they know and look forward to is that when they die they will be reunited with God and with their families. On the other hand, Songs of Experience looks at the true identity of the chimney sweepers. Blake tells tales of woe, as the children on this side of the soul understand their parents are dead and that they are left to a life of labor and danger. In a sense, the children from Songs of Experience feel all of the emotions that the innocent children did not. Instead of lightly discussing the issue like in Songs of Innocence, Blake strikes directly at the problem in Songs of

Show More
Related
764 Words | 4 Pages

In the final analysis, most readers of this poem tend to deduce a dark theme of physical violence due to its tone, word choice and imagery. Nonetherless, Roethke balances positive and negative tones of the poem to give it a rich and ambiguous quality. The exceeding tendency to paint the picture of child abuse deprives it, of this quality. “My Papa’s Waltz,” illustrates a special and powerful moment, shared between a father and a son through a waltz.

Read More
566 Words | 3 Pages

The key feature of this poem shows how one’s point of view can change from looking through the eyes of a child to an

Read More
1250 Words | 5 Pages

1.) I would argue that the speakers of the “The Chimney Sweeper” poems are fairly ambiguous, but their levels of experience and innocence are quite apparent. Also, I think think that the age of the narrators (generally) are clear. For example, I think the poem’s narrator in “Songs of Innocence” is a child.

Read More
437 Words | 2 Pages

The figurative language Robert Hayden uses further expresses the regrets the child had after the child realized how horrible the father was treated. In every stanza of the

Read More
890 Words | 4 Pages

There are times when an archetype might be a setting, and in this case it was a very emotional one. His point was to create a pretty emotional mood in the poem, because of how bad being a chimney sweeper was. There were children who were sold off to people so that they could do their dirty work. On lines 3 and 4 of the poem, Blake explained, “Could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep. So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.”

Read More
803 Words | 4 Pages

In “The Chimney Sweeper[s],” both settings begin gloomy. The first poem begins with “when my mother died I was very young and my father sold me,” (1-2) while the second begins out as “little black thing among the snow crying ‘’weep,’ ’weep,’ ’weep,’ in notes of woe” (1-2). These settings portray a feeling of

Read More
937 Words | 4 Pages

His first printed work was Poetical Sketches. “Thanks to the support of Flaxman and Mrs. Mathew, a thin volume of poems was published under the title Poetical Sketches” (Poetry Foundation). This poem was six pages long and it was written to protest against the war and the way that King George III was treating the American colonies. His most known work is Songs of Innocence. Like many of Blake’s works he used watercolor paints to paint a picture around the poem.

Read More
444 Words | 2 Pages

Blake also uses onomatopoeia in both poems. He uses the word “weep” in a pattern to fully emphasize the sorrow the child has and perceives. In the second poem,

Read More
575 Words | 3 Pages

The only way to learn about the world and oneself is through experience, and this often comes only with age. With the passing of time, an individual’s perception of the world, their environment, and self becomes secure. As one becomes sure of themselves the world will become manageable and not require concrete definition. In “Loud Music” by Stephen Dobyns the difference between child and adult identity is seen in the speaker’s diction, use of colour symbolism, and in the imagery. From the beginning of this poem, diction juxtaposes the man’s simple and comfortable perspective of the world to his stepdaughter’s distant, sedated perception of self.

Read More
1521 Words | 7 Pages

The dangers and widespread injustice of the chimney sweeping profession caught William Blake’s attention, causing him to compose two similar works titled, ‘The Chimney Sweep.’ The first belonged to the book ‘Songs of Innocence’ published 1789 and the second, to ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’ published in 1793. Both poems show the joys of childhood innocence as the main subject. It highlights how childhood innocence was destroyed, taken away or ruined by adults. Blake saw innocence as a joke.

Read More
794 Words | 4 Pages

The universal theme of the loss of childhood innocence and the coming of age is explored in the two poems ‘Blackberry Picking’ and ‘The Early Purges’. Both poems express a sense of change and maturity as the harshness of reality hits the speaker. In the poem ‘Blackberry Picking’ the sense of the loss of childhood innocence, is conveyed through the speaker’s delusion as the speaker comes to age and matures from an idealistic child, to a more realistic adult. In ‘the Early Purges’, this motif is expressed as the poet looks back at the speaker’s childhood. The speaker starts off as being young, idealistic and impressionable and then matures, taking on the persona of a stoic, practical adult.

Read More
2286 Words | 10 Pages

William Blake’s writing promotes the concept of the human being accessing what Blake sees as the very purpose of life the poetic genius. Blake essentially condones breaking through the shackles society has put on its citizens. Blake, in his writings, All Religions Are One, The Book of Urizen, and Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Great Albion explores both actions of accessing and separating from the poetic genius. Blake contrasts the concept of poetic genius with the divisions such as time and space created from the human beings separating from it, effectively, keeping human beings from eternity. Therefore, Blake’s writing values the human being’s ability to access the poetic genius to the highest importance believing it will allow humans to

Read More
1861 Words | 8 Pages

From the overtly moralistic original oriented poetry that may well have been handed down as folk tales across the generations. Poetry is now more heavily concerned with the entertainment of children, using playfulness that children hopefully take into the playgrounds and share with their peers. Encouraging them to experience and experiment with language and to wonder, as Jane Taylor hoped. Michael Rosen however does not take poetry in just a light hearted form, he takes verse and explores realistic subjects frequently taking the form of unfinished conversations and adopting the voice of the child. (Styles, 2009)

Read More
2079 Words | 9 Pages

This essay will discuss how William Blake represents poverty and suffering throughout his poetry in Songs of Innocence and Experience. “The Chimney Sweeper” from Songs of Innocence and “London” from Songs of Experience are the two poems that will be discussed in this essay. Both poems express poverty and suffering that concern with people, particularly the people who are more vulnerable in society. They also represent suffering and the hardships that are associated with it. They also reflect on what the hierarchy of England was and how it affected people, which would have also been an influenced as to why people and children were living in poverty.

Read More
1648 Words | 7 Pages

William Blake and William Wordsworth both present views of the obtaining, losing and regaining of innocence within their work. From Blake’s perspective, ‘Chimney Sweeper’ reflects the belief that it is possible to regain innocence once it has been lost, hence appearing in Songs on Innocence by taking away a child’s innocence through trials on this earth, returning it to him in death. Whereas, Songs of Experience the sweeper is aware of the idea that the church and king manipulate people causing him to criticise religion, just like Blake criticises religion for being the root of the problem. On the other hand, Wordsworth reveals his reflections of innocence through ‘Anecdotes for Fathers’. ‘Chimney Sweeper’, is a poem that first appeared in

Read More

More about William Blake Research Paper

Related Topics

Open Document