Literature 12
William Blake
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Born in London
Never sent to school, apprenticed to an engraver – a dying art
Wrote Doctrine of Contraries: attraction – repulsion; reason – energy; love – hate as
necessary to human existence
His favourite subject – the destiny of the human spirit
Songs of Innocence: by recapturing the imagination and wonderment of childhood,
we could achieve the goal of self-awareness. Thus the poems view the world filtered
through the eyes of a child
Songs of Experience: return to innocence was not – at least by itself – sufficient for
us to attain an awareness of our true identity – and that we must recognize and
attempt to understand the evils around us
Thus – his credo that there must be a union of opposites – a fusion of innocence and
experience
Poetry operates on two levels: symbolic and literal – both serve to address a single
purpose – the renewal of the human spirit
Blake heralds the end of eighteenth-century neoclassicism. For Blake, the essential
universe is not physical and rational, but spiritual and irrational and must be
understood through imagination and intuition
for years was not considered a major literary figure - although most Romantic Era
poets truly enjoyed his poetry, Wordsworth, "There is something in the madness of
this man which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron..."
does not fit into a literary era - some consider him a pre-Romantic, some a Romantic,
some an era unto himself
went against everything
reconstituted the ideas of symbolism and Christianity
paradox, enigma - he is skillful in using ambiguities
chilren are an important symbol, their innocence gives them a purer view
of the world ( a view which is lost with age - except for him as a writer... )
philosophy of the complexity of simplicity
ie. that simple imagery had a great effect on people
Blake trusted his ear
was prepared to break meter - felt that a pattern could become tedious
Jesus (lamb) and innocence images that compare with children
often used simple images of light and darkness ( day and night ) for symbolic value
Songs of Innocence: Only 27 copies - complete and incomplete - exist. No two
copies are the same
Songs of Innocence & Songs of Experience included engravings coloured by Blake
and his wife
the books were published by a process revealed to him - he said - by his brother
Robert's spirit
A widely held interpretation of Blake is that the state of innocence in not humanity's
highest state. Blake makes clear that one who is innocent, cannot appreciate his or
her condition. It is only through experience that we come to appreciate the blessings
of innocence. Blake's conception of "man's highest joy" is a state of renewed
innocence, gained only through experience.
The Lamb
 Begins by asking a question
 Most words are monosyllabic, with a simple rhyme scheme
 Lamb symbolizes innocence and Christ (from the Bible, John the Baptist in the Book
of Revelation 5:18 and …. John,…)
The Tiger
 Tiger is asked who created its frame in stanza one
 Stanza two it is asked about its eyes
 Stanza five the tiger is asked if the creator was pleased with his work
Human Abstract (from Songs of Experience)
 Exploitation, cruelty, conflict, and hypocritical humility
 In Songs of Innocence “The Divine Image” is the complement (antithesis) which
celebrates: mercy, pity, peace and love
Infant Sorrow: (from Songs of Experience)
A Poison Tree
 This poem is a symbolic depiction of the psychology of unresolved enmity (hostility,
hate, antagonism)
 Meter of the first stanza, then mixed meter in the concluding stanza (builds and
relieves tension)
 Symbolism: apple, garden, tree