William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience were written in the 18th century. Blake used parallel versions of his poems to construct an ideal form of human existence which he later compared against the contemporary society. His works, which were sometimes considered deeply spiritual, caused some of his critics to dismiss him as a Lunatic and his work as the rantings of a lunatic. Blake was also an artist and his images accompanied most of his poems. Blake used parallel poems to respond to the decay in the human values in the society (Vines 116). Many people during his time considered his poems dangerous in a time when England was facing a lot of political upheavals. Very few considered Blake as a person without a mask and whose purpose in his writings was straightforward. Blake has been acknowledged as the master of the English verse in literature as a well as the king of imagination, who used contrast as one of his most prominent stylistic devices.
An analysis of Blake’s introductions paves the way to his intended parallelism and the major symbols that motivated his writings. Like most artists, Blake employed the use of related symbols. These symbols include the child to represent innocence, the father who represented experience, and Christ who represented a higher form of innocence (Kapitulka 118). In the ‘Introduction to the songs of innocence’, imagery is used with the symbol of a child. The child depicts a child of God, and the symbol also creates the assumption that people are the children of God. Blake had a pre-existing notion regarding the origin of creation. In his notion, the lamb is created in a God-like image which is also manlike. In the poem, Blake join’s the two worlds although he is more concerned with the world of mankind. Nature also responds to the feelings of nature, an aspect that can only be expected of a meek and innocent being. He used the words laughing streams to express the unspoiled joy of a child (Kapitulka 118). The poem is void of the material world and focuses on the spiritual world which can only be reached through imagination. He uses the word 'song' in his poems on several occasions to symbolize simplicity. He uses a simile to describe ‘the moon as a flower’. Personification is also used when the moon is given the human attribute and the ability to smile. The stylistic device also implies the calmness of the night which also gives the illusion of a happy child. In the second cycle, the gloomy nature of the moon is used to demonstrate the diminishing hope for humankind. He later creates the image of beasts being washed down the ‘Life River’ (Kapitulka 118). The ‘Life River’ gives human beings salvation by washing away their sins and evil deeds. The aspect of the need for human beings to seek salvation sets the pace for the poem in the ‘Songs of experience’. ‘The poem, however, retains innocence up to the last minute. The poem is written in the form of a ballad with alternating rhymes which symbolizes the singing of a child. Repetition and imperatives which are common with children are also used in the poem. The poetic inspiration is associated with the innocence of a child. The piper in the poem is naked, which is another symbol of innocence. In the songs of experience, the poet becomes the bard. The first verse of the poem commands the audience to ‘Hear the voice of the bard (Teach It 14).’ Unlike the piper who is driven by his imagination, the bard is an omnipresent creature who sees into the future and the present. He is a representation of a prophet. The term ‘ancient trees’ is used to symbolize the ‘tree of life’ in the religious context which is associated with the cross and redemption. Unlike in the ‘Songs of Innocence’ where he assumed people were innocent, he sees people who are blinded by their materialistic nature. He used the term ‘mind-forged manacles’ to symbolize man’s overreliance on material things. The ‘Starry Pole’ is expected to act as a guiding light for mankind (Teach It 16). Blake urges humanity to turn back to the light and embrace their spirituality.
This religious optimism is also evident in the poem ‘The chimney sweeper’. Social indignation is the main theme in this poem. The imagery in the poem relies on the use of colors which are contrasting and well defined throughout the poem. These two colors are black and white, and their use is equally distributed in the poem. The image of a ‘black coffin’ is used to symbolize the chimney sweeper’s troublesome life as was represented by the humanitarians of the time (Kapitulka 121). This image contrasts the angel’s bright key which brings hope to the people with the use of light. Illustration and imagery are used in a unique way in the context of the daily activity of washing a young boy’s hair. “There is little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head, that curled like a lamb’s back, was shaved” (Kapitulka 121). The poem undergoes an undeniable evolution. The poem which begins in a religious context become humanized when the lamb is given the attributes of the human insight such as shaving. The religious context is rather an imaginary one, but the poem becomes more physical when Blake describes the lamb as an animal which exists in the physical world (Kapitulka 121). The same poem in the ‘Songs of experience’ has a more somber mood. The child’s parents seem jealous of the child’s innocence and happiness. The metaphors black of the soot and the white of the snow are used to compare good and evil (Teach It 19). Irony is used when the child is forced by his situation to seek work, and when asked of the whereabouts of his parents, he says that they are in church praying. The theme of the poem is to demonstrate how parents are driven by jealousy to cut short a child’s happiness and freedom.
In the poem ‘Holy Thursday’, Blake uses rhythm to create the illusion of innocent happiness and gratitude, just like in the poem ‘Introduction in the ‘Songs of Innocence’. Blake creates a picture of thousands of happy children walking into the cathedral. The simile like ‘Thames water flow’ is used (Teach It 9). The children are compared to lambs, flowers and angels in their innocence. Beneath the pleasant sight of these children, Blake also paints another image. He represents Grey-headed beadles carrying wads white as snow. The children are differentiated from the Beadles with the colors blue, red and green. The Beadles represent the office and the beatings that these children received in the charity schools. The blue red and green uniform though smart also represented the strict rules that these children were expected to follow and abide by, or risk being thrown out into the streets to starve. The charity schools are described a “wise guardians of the poor.” “Then Cherish pity; lest you drive an angel from your door” (Teach It 10). The charity schools were strictly run on donations and had to demonstrate high moral standards. Although they saved the children from starvation, they failed to help the children to raise above their situation as they were only taught basic skills, and in some schools, they were mistreated.
The poem undergoes a great evolution in ‘Songs of experience’. Blake demonstrates how the rich in the country have chosen to ignore the real needs of the children. Those who give help to the needy are described as people who expect great returns from their benefactors. These returns were in the form of gratitude and absolute obedience. This evolution demonstrates Blake’s mastery of satire as a stylistic device. Metonymy is used in the poem with the term ‘hand’ used to represent the city’s social responsibility to the needy children in the society (Teach It 18). Contrast is used in the poem with the term ‘the land of wealth’ used in a poem which denotes ‘spiritual poverty’. Usury which is a major theme in the poem was prohibited by the church. Symbolism is used in the poem with the term the light of God used to denote God’s love, and rain used to symbolize the water of life. The two poems describe Blake as a social reformer who demands justice for those in the society who are too weak to fight for themselves (Teach It 19). He shows the wide gap between the poor and the rich in the society, and how the rich who assist the poor are self-righteous by expecting returns for their gratitude.
The parallel poems by Blake demonstrate that Blake understands that both innocence and experience have an impact on the human life, but he hopes that human beings can learn from the two situations and become wiser. ‘Without contraries, there is no progress (Teach It 2).’ One of the two qualities on its own would lead the society to a fixity. The poems demonstrated how the status quo which was brought by the French Revolution led to materialism and led to the collapse of the justice systems. The two parallel texts represent the society we live and hopes that we can learn from the contrasts and become wiser. The parallel texts ensure that we do not lose sight of our goals and purpose in life. His critics focus on the myriad of voices in his texts and not the themes of his poems (Martin 1).
In conclusion, the parallel texts by William Blake demonstrate his literary skills and his ability to fit into the context and use imagination, imagery and illustration among other stylistic devices to represent both the ideal world and the contemporary world. One of his most remarkable skills was his ability to be two completely different personas. Those who failed to see his ability to achieve this purpose and understand his overreliance on the religious world deemed him a lunatic and his poems the rantings of a lunatic. As a poet, Blake did a great job of creating contrast both in the same poem and in parallel texts.
Works cited
Kapitulka, Krytina. "An Interpretation of Some Images and Metaphors of 'The 'Songs of Innocence and of Experience.'." n.d. Web. 1 August 2016. <http://wa.amu.edu.pl/sap/files/1/10_kapitulka.pdf>.
Martin, William J. "The Unspoken Voice in William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience." International Journal of Language and Literature (2013): 1-7. Web. <http://ijll-net.com/journals/ijll/Vol_1_No_2_December_2013/1.pdf>.
Teach It. "Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake." 2006. Web. 1 August 2016. <file:///C:/Users/JEDDY/Downloads/6109.pdf>.
Vines, Timothy. "An Analysis of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience as a Response to the Collapse of Values." Cross-sections (2005): 115-122. Web. <http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.625.3510&rep=rep1&type=pdf>.
