Woven throughout the poetry of the Romantic era are major patterns or themes; one of the most prevailing themes is the state of innocence and its direct connection to the spiritual world. The Romantics used three major archetypes to represent the aforementioned theme: the child, the rustic, and the Noble Savage. In their untouched states, these characters were perfect examples of the purity to which many Romantics aspired. In this paper, I will explicate the theme of innocence (including its experience with the spiritual world) by presenting the manifestations of the theme in the poetry of particular Romantic authors. The theme of the innocent child saturates the works of William Blake. In Blake's poem "The Lamb," the speaker of the poem names himself a child and makes a direct comparison between himself and the lamb to whom he speaks. The lamb is referred to as "wooly bright" (white is the traditional color of purity) and wearing "clothing of delight" (joy is the traditional emotion of innocence). In essence, the speaker says that he is an innocent child by comparing himself to the innocent lamb. After the state of innocence is established, a spiritual connection is created:
             "He" refers to Jesus Christ, and the speaker calls him both a lamb and a child. Thus, the child and the lamb experience the spiritual world most directly by living in the same way that Jesus lived, as meek and mild creatures of God.
             Another instance of the innocent child and its connection to the spiritual world is in William Wordsworth's "We Are Seven." Wordsworth describes "a little cottage Girl" who has a "rustic, woodland air." Thus, Wordsworth lays the groundwork of both an innocent child and an innocent rustic. Throughout the poem, the speaker converses with the cottage girl, who tells of her six siblings and two of their deaths. She claims, "We are seven." The speaker tries to correct the innocent child; if two children are dead, then they are only f...