William Blake
William Blake Critical Analysis Paper In 1794 William Blake issued a two- volume collection of poems in a book titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience. This book included hand painted illustrations along with the poems mounted on copper plates. These poems have been called "the most remarkable collection of poems written in English (C. M. Bowra 25) ." The intent of these works was to show the two contrary states of the human soul. Though this goal differed from that of Blake's prophetic works, there are no doubt some distinct similarities. The characters and situations in Blake's poems represent the mythological characters found in Blake's prophetic works. For example, in the poem The Garden of Love the narrator sees the garden where he used to play now transformed into a chapel. He sees the priests in black gowns who "bind his joys and desires." In this poem the priests represent Urizen from the prophetic works who binds th
This poem counters the innocence of infancy showing "that even in the beginnings of childhood there is a spirit of unrest and revolt (Bowra 38). " Using the two poems Infant Joy and Infant Sorrow Blake shows how the imaginative state of childhood innocence is destroyed by experience, gained from society, economic situations and life's hardships. Into the dangerous world I leapt: Helpless naked piping loud: Like a fiend in a hidden cloud. " The infant no longer seems innocent. In Infant Joy the infant knew happiness from birth, being only two days old and saying "I happy am, Joy is my name. The poem Infant Joy opens with the infant speaking to the narrator. the pure 'state' of Innocence that can be seen symbolically, in infancy. He she tells the narrator that he she has no name then when asked "what shall I call thee? " he she replies "I happy am. " The infant continues saying "Joy is my name" as Blake shows the content found in innocence. The reader no longer draws joy from the infant but has sympathy for it because it "bound and weary" and oppressed by limitations. In the contrary poem Infant Sorrow the opening lines blast the reader with pain and struggle.
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