This poem reminds me of a song written by John Lennon, Imagine. His song was a call to end violence and oppression of every kind. I believe the biggest oppressor is our material positions and ourselves.
             The first stanza is bright and happy, a picture of what life could be. The slave could be anyone in today's society, the workaholic businessman, and the man working for minimum wage to support his family of three, or the single mother unable to find work whose house was broken into. Blake shows what life could be like for these people.
             The second stanza recaps the first in illustrating that without country or problems in society, everyone is shown to be beautiful and "holy" as Blake puts it. His reference to the lion and sheep is the same as the proverbial "rat race" that we all live in.
             The third stanza talks about the price of experience. Blake says that experience is obtained with great cost, such as the solder going off to war. He buys his wisdom with the horrific images that he witnesses. Or the child that witnesses his parents fall out of love and divorce and the student that thrusts themselves into financial debt to attain knowledge for their future. Wisdom and experience is found in these places of hardship.
             The fourth stanza tells about when you are in a time of prosperity and everything is good for you, it is easy to look down your nose at the poor and misfortunate, and preach your own values to them instead of helping them become better people. I think this is a good example of talk shows like Jerry Springer. To look upon others as lower class and uneducated makes us feel better about ourselves.
             The fifth stanza recaps the forth in that it gives different examples of how people are unwilling to share in what they have. That people that have a good life are unable to see what people that are suffering are going through. The fortunate are able to loo
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