William Blake: Innocence and Experience Presentation

“Title page for Songs of Innocence” from Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy A, 1795 (British Museum)

"Title page for Songs of Experience" from Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy A, 1795 (British Museum)

Above are the original covers of the songs of innocence and experience. Blake makes a connection between innocence and children, and between experience and loss. Ideas of children and the concept of childhood changed greatly in the Romantic period. The concept of childhood as something that should be appreciated was a Romantic idea. The Romantic poets saw children as being the symbol of innocence and having a unique, important viewpoint because of their closeness to nature and not yet being affected by experience. They had not yet learnt to rationalize, so could see the world for what it really was and identify what was important. Whilst William Blake initially published Songs of Innocence on its own, he never published Songs of Experience on its own. This suggests that he believed that one cannot understand experience without first having innocence. Innocence can exist on its own, but experience is defined by the loss of innocence.

Blake handmade every copy of the Songs of Innocence and Experience published in his lifetime. Each book is unique. If we agree that the illustrations around a poem affect our reading of it, then the reading of a poem will differ slightly depending on the manuscript. With "Little Black Boy", The colors differ between each copy of the book which raises the question of whether Blake’s conception of race was changing with each etching he made. Also how is our reading of the poem affected by the images we see.

“Little Black Boy” from Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy A, 1795 (British Museum)

Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy B, 1789, 1794 (British Museum)

Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy C, 1789, 1794 (Library of Congress)

The concept of a future society, usually a heavenly one, in which inequalities are resolved, is very common of Blake in his Songs of Innocence. Blake focuses on the fact that Christ “became a little child,” suggesting that adults, men and women, must return to a childlike state to regain the innocence that was stripped away by the social cruelties of the world.

In this poem, the black child narrator speaks of a longing for validation from the white opposition. The line “but O! my soul is white,” conveys this longing and despair for recognition and understanding. This is seen again in the last line, “And be like him and he will then love me.” He is truly seeking the love of the white boy.    

The first two stanzas describe the past, stanzas 3-5 is the mother speaking in the present, and the last two stanzas are the black boys words that he will say to the English boy in the future. The poem progresses as a timeline from past (the learning), to the present (the lesson itself), and then to the future (the practical outcome of the lesson).

The equality of people is the main message of this poem – portrayed by the image of God creating the world; the sun in particular that shines and warms everyone – a readiness for the light and heat that is His love.

The poem has a sense of hopefulness in relation to the black boy envisioning a heaven where he is equal to the English boy when they are in heaven together. Not only does the little black boy lack “light” in regard to his skin color, even though he has accepted God, the poem gives a sense that his soul is automatically judged by others to not have a holy “light” or redemption, all based on the color of his skin. This slightly ties into slavery and racism; the superiority of whites – which Blake dissolves in his works with the idea that we will all be the same in the end.

In the third stanza, the mother tells her son that God lives, and gives his “light” and heat away to all things – nature and men alike. This is the point that Blake is trying to convey through the little black boy; although he is black, he is not excluded from God’s “light” and love. Once the little black boy learns to love himself, and their souls learn to bear the heat God gives, the cloud, like a shady grove, will disappear and they will hear Gods voice tell them to come from the grove and rejoice with him in His “light” and His love. 

Sources

Black, Joseph, ed. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature- The Age of Romanticism. 2nd ed. Vol. 4. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Pr, 2010. Print

"Songs of Innocence and Experience." Blake Archive http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/work.xq?workid=songsie&java=no

The Chimney Sweeper

Not all of the poems have direct opposites, but the sweeper is one in particular that struck me.  In Songs of Innocence, poor little street urchins are making the best of their situation.  An older boy tries to console little Tom.  Tom dreams of others dying, but it's not a bad dream, it's a good dream in Tom's eyes.  It gives him hope.  In Songs of Experience, the boy is not named, but he understands he is being used.  He sees the cycle he is placed in and has no way out.  The innocent boys don't understand how badly they are being abused but as they get older, they not only know, they know they cannot escape it.   Innocence is full of hope and peace, experience is full of acceptance and resignation.

Religion and The Role of the Poet

The brief introduction to Blake in the textbook refers to Blake as "a voice crying in the wilderness", which is a phrase from the Bible that refers to John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus in the Gospels. Blake uses the line as an introduction to his poem "All Religions Are One." I find it interesting how much Blake's religion feeds his work despite his distaste for organized religion. Blake believed that God spoke to him. He seems to be positioning the poet as a type of prophet.

In "Introduction" in Songs of Innocence, the piper is told to "Pipe a song about a Lamb", and then to "sit thee down and write in a book that all may read." I'm reading this as the Lamb referring to Jesus. It seems the knowledge of Jesus begins in art, then the poet writes it down so that all may know it too. In "Introduction" from Songs of Experience, it is the bard "Who Present, Past & Future sees/Whose ears have heard the Holy Word." If the poet is a prophet, then poetry brings the reader closer to God. Poetry then, is not mere art. This idea might explain why Blake's work is quite different from other poets. Blake has no fluff poems that are merely entertaining. Each poem has a message that it is trying to convey. and, as corny as it may sound, a higher purpose.

Presence of the Yew Tree in "All Alone"

Throughout Mary Robinson's poem "All Alone", I noticed the amount of imagery used throughout the work. In particular, I noticed the presence of the yew tree and how it is mentioned twice in this poem. This brought to mind the question, what is the significance of the yew tree and what does it symbolize in this particular piece of poetry?
Traditionally, the yew tree is noted to having a "longstanding relationship with man-kind" according to Davies, (who wrote "The Iconography of Landscape") and they typically grow in church yards. As seen in line 33, "And still, the yew-tree shades amoung, I heard thee sigh thy artless woe," while the child is sitting in front of his mother's tomb stone. The yew tree appears again in line 64 and also includes the moon. In class, we discussed that the image and appearance of the moon is a staple of gothic literature and gothic works. Is the appearance of the moon and how it "peeps through the yew-trees shadowy row" more impactful than just saying that the moon is shining through the branches of a tree?

The Problem with A Poison Tree

Of all the poems in the songs of Experience I thought the Poison Tree was a good take on explaining how hatred and envy can destroy someone. I thought it was very odd  though how in this set of poems with such a clear message of morality would have a poem about destroying another person, even if that person is someone you don't like and killing them without it being admonished or shown in a light of horror or disgust. The only reason I can think of to do this is that it's a allegory that the foe is killed but the narrator is just as "dead" as their foe because they had to "feed" the seed of hatred with tears of fear and deceit a clear showing of that hatred and wrath change a person yet their are no ultimate consequences for the narrator. The religious symbols of a snake and a apple are clear references to Lucifer and the ultimate sin of pride and envy that got him and a third of the host kicked out of heaven, so perhaps the narrator is lucifer with the fow being humanity, a very disturbing idea.

What is true?

As I was reading the Songs of Innocence and Experience, I just had this replaying thought of innocence pounding in my head matching to the drumbeat of a song I was listening to. Clearly, this is a theme that is evident in the poems. It is even in the title, but the twists that Blake uses with innocence caught me off-guard with both of the chimney sweepers. At first, I thought that the child in the Songs of Experience was the depiction of innocence. After all, that's how most children come into the world, innocent, naive and free from the troubles and the hardships of life, but then I saw the depiction of experience and innocence in the Songs of Experience being stripped from his innocence by his parents so that he may know the woes of the world. It was as if they were saying that innocence can only be truly innocence if taken away first. This is seen in both poems. In the Songs of Innocence, the chimney sweepers endured great hardships and were near death cleaning the chimneys. These were but small children forced to do the hard labors of man. They had no one to protect their innocence because it was taken away from them forcefully. Yet in both poems, it was God and heaven, the holiest of holies,  that brought back their innocence that had been stolen from them. Innocence was eventually returned to them but only after death and only after hardships. I thought to myself, could this truly be what innocence is? I always thought that innocence had always been that pure untouched spirit. That word untouched was the key to innocence. You had to be untouched by the deeds of the world; but in these poems, innocence was found after trauma, after experience, after being soiled so what is innocence after all? It's a fragile state of being, but once broken, can it really be brought back to its pure state even after death? Perhaps that is the point. Perhaps, this was just the hope that the chimney sweepers had to hold onto through their hard times as slaves to keep them going, that someday they would eventually return to their blissful state in heaven when they are children again without care in a world full of blissful innocence under the arms of their God once more.

Juxtaposition of Blake's Artwork

I found it interesting to compare the frontispieces, title pages, and introductions of Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Looking at the artwork didn't necessarily give me any insight that I couldn't have gained from reading the work alone, but it did reinforce the difference between the two books. Several poems are contained in both Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience but told from different perspectives, the artwork mirrors this. The frontispiece for Songs of Innocence shows a musician or bard at the beginning of a journey looking up curiously at an angel. The frontispiece for Songs of Experience shows a figure walking forward with eyes ahead, grasping an angel firmly and carrying it. The introduction page for Songs of Innocence reminds me of a children's book while the introduction page for Songs of Experience shows a figure floating on a cloud in the night sky which gives me a feeling of loneliness. The title page of Songs of Innocence shows children gathered around their mothers lap reading what I think is a book. The title page of Songs of Experience shows two young people mourning a dead woman which I believe is the same mother and children from the Songs of Innocence title page. These images impart to me the same feelings I get from reading the text but they use no words. The images from Songs of Innocence are more whimsical, bright, hopeful, and of course innocent. The images from Songs of Experience are more focused and somehow darker than their counterparts. Maybe Blake was telling us that the price of gaining awareness, intelligence and experience is the loss of some of our innocent optimism. All of this artwork and more is located at the William Blake Archive.

Songs of Innocence Frontispiece

Songs of Experience Frontispiece

Songs of Experience Introduction

Songs of Innocence Introduction

Songs of Innocence Title Page

Songs of Experience Title Page

The Horror of Parallels

In both the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience, there exists the poem of The Chimney-Sweeper. This tale of chimney sweepers is a far darker thing than the rosy falsehood portrayed in Mary Poppins. The life of a chimney sweep was hard. Young boys were essentially sold into slavery to work as chimney sweeps. When young Tom dreams of fellow sweepers "locked up in coffins of black" this is more than a simple nightmare. Being suffocated or burned alive in chimneys as narrow as 9 square inches was a common fate for these children. The flues were so narrow that only small bodies could climb them, often nude, or clog them if the child was unlucky, or lucky, depending on your perspective. These were narrow, sometimes burning columns of jagged angles and suffocating blackness that became the world for these young unwanteds. Young Tom is dreaming of fellow children he knows who died in those flues, whose short life was suffocated in that searing blackness. Tom awakes and goes about his duties. Tom is happy and warm, and fears no harm because even that suffocating blackness brings relief from the life he knows. And this is the song of Innocence. An innocence ripped from these children. An innocence that only death will preserve.
In the Songs of Experience, we see the loss of this innocence. Death blankets the child in this story, His clothes stained black with soot, his face ashen and woeful due to his duties. This child may "dance and sing," but it is the song of the doomed.  Even sweeps that survived the flues were deformed by their cramped work, and developed cancer in their late teens and 20's. This was a short, brutal, and woeful life. The boy notes that his parents have gone to "praise God and His priest and king," but this God has abandoned this "little black thing," or at least this is what he believes. The song of the damned is his only song; the dance of the cursed is his only dance. He has no use for the pretty nightmares that Tom finds respite in. Death has not found him, though it has marked him as Its own. Their parents abandon them, their bodies betray them, and death has yet to take them. That is their experience, not life but a living death.

Innocence Versus Experience

Blake has an interesting way of defining innocence and it relates closely to why he links Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The distinction between the two is seen in The Chimney Sweep; however two separate poems written under the same title in books with two separate motives. The version of The Chimney Sweep told in the Songs of innocence speaks of a young boy sold after the death of a parent. He does his job and finds joy and peace in his dreams of freedom granted by God. However, The Chimney Sweep in Songs of Experience speaks of a young boy who has two living parents who basically force him into misery. The end of the poem speaks of heaven as the cause of misery on earth due to the authoritative figures of the time. The link between misery and heaven could be a cynical statement often linked as far back as medieval religion in which a more miserable life on earth ensured prosperity in the afterlife. Perhaps Blake is using this as a way to define innocence as one’s undisturbed thoughts versus the cynic and corrupted effect of society on a person’s attitude. The authoritarians use religion to keep the civilians enslaved in a self perpetrated and pitiful life to retain power, causing the boy’s repressed childhood and loss of innocence through the gaining of experience. Also making an underlying statement that innocence is known until it is lost through experience, otherwise meaning we cannot acknowledge and appreciate our innocence until it is gone.

Joining of Two

One of the things always wondered on was why does the Mariner tell his story at a wedding. With the talk being about the slave trade why would you want it to take place there. Having the talk at a wedding seems like such an inappropriate place for this to take place but it makes sense when you look at it as a joining. A wedding is a joining of two people into one and a celebration. I think this fits with the slave trade because England is so intertwined with the slave trade it is like they are married. Getting out of it is hard, takes time and a lot of money. With the Mariner stopping a guest from going into the wedding and joining in with the celebration he is trying to enlighten the guest and broaden that guests thinking because staring with the base of the people and having those thoughts work there way through the people slowly changing how they think is how social change happens.

Songs of Innocence - The Little Black Boy

William Blake's poem The Little Black boy upholds the reoccurring concept in which he believes in a future society, usually a heavenly one where inequalities are resolved. The poem has a great sense of hopefulness and faith in regard to the little black boy envisioning a heaven where he is equal to the English boy when they are both in heaven together. However, even though the little boy has accepted God, the poem conveys that the little black boy lacks "light," the holy "light," or redemption - based on the color of his skin. This also ties back to abolition and slavery; the superiority of whites - which Blake dissolves in his writings; maintaining the idea that we will all be the same in the end - that God gives his "light" and his love to all things, both men and nature.

a clod of pebbles

In this poem, Blake describes the concept of love through a piece of trodden clay who is depicted as innocent.  The clay has a selfless attitude towards love and finds composure in the malleable nature of adapting.  The clay's passive viewpoint makes sense that love "builds a heaven in hell's despair" because it is use to being shaped by the forces of others.  However the theme of Innocence takes a turn with a 'But' when Blake introduces the pebble from the brook, hard-minded and desensitized.  The pebble declares that love is selfish, wishes to please only itself, and takes joy in the losses of others.  The pebble represents an Experienced persona and through human's natural selfishness "builds a hell in heaven's despite."
The balancing lines of "heaven in hell's despair" and "hell in heaven's despite" along with the neutral 'But' cancel out any noticeable bias in Blake and allow the readers to think for themselves.  The irony for me is that if selfishness dominates selflessness in nature, and selflessness dominates selfishness in spirit, who is right in the end?  Who wins in the end?

We Are Seven

In "We Are Seven" Wordsworth argues that children are capable of understanding death on a more abstract level than adults.  Wordsworth starts by having the speaker inquire into the limits of knowledge children have when it comes to death.  Wordsworth then sets up a mock philosophical discourse between the speaker and a child to explore this question.  What is interesting, is that the speaker is mostly concerned with facts, namely, how many of her siblings died.  When the little girl replies "we are seven" over and over again...it's not because she can't count, despite what the speaker might think, I think the meaning behind "we are seven" is more abstract.  The little girl does not make the same distinction between the alive and the dead; for her it is possible to be with someone who is no longer alive.  Whether this is just in memory no one really knows, but she feels able to be with the dead in a way the speaker cannot grasp.

Tyger, Tyger, Tyger Tyger Tyger!

William Blake's Poem "The Tyger" makes an interesting point with the line "Did he smile his work to see?" in which the poet seems to be asking God if He deployed the Tyger upon Earth as a means for humanity to discovering God's divine plan. It is ambiguous if the "smile" is that of God or that silly smile the Tyger wears on the accompanying engraving; however, the aim of the question is made clear from the following line "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?" which  expresses that the Lamb is clearly Good while it is hard to find the purpose or virtue of the Tyger in the mind of God. In a way, the Tyger is what makes the Lamb virtuous but this relationship is symmetric as the poem implies; that is to say, both animals or modes of existence (fierce or passive) are Good insofar as one cannot defined in allegory without the presence of the Other. In this case, they are both Good because of faith. Faith in the Lord leads one to believe that their is deeper meaning in what inspires terror into our hearts such as the Tyger and that God has given the Tyger to humanity just as God has given us the martyring Lamb. It sounds almost as if the poet is implying that things seem Evil only because we do not have an adequate understanding of their cause (God).

Songs of Innocence and Irony

While reading these poems it made me think of how ironic in the Songs of Innocence a poem about a child working in miserable conditions as a chimney sweeper would be in this set of poems meant as an ode to the innocent ways of children. To me this was a deliberant way of shocking the audience with the hopelessness situation the child was in, and bringing awareness of the plight that these children were suffering. The hopeful way the boy describes life after their work, either death or a imaginary world where their all safe and happy shows the resilience that the narrator has that his life and those of his friends gives the reader, or atleast myself a sense of cynical hopefullness.