William Blake's poems aimed to expose religious corruption and refocus modern devotion on its pure origins as a spiritual writer throughout his life. His famous poem songs of innocence and songs of experience, like most of Blake's religious work, incorporates subtle sexual imagery and violence, subjects Blake addressed more fully in his "Prophetic volumes."
William Blake peeps into the inner soul
of the human character Innocence and Experience. These two opposing aspects of the
human soul or life. Although the former (Innocence) is white and the latter
(Experience) is black, the two are complementary. They are required for life to
exist – for the entire cycle of life to take place. Hence two opposing states
are represented by Songs of Innocence
and Songs of Experience. Blake sings about the exuberant delights of youth
in Songs of Innocence, in perfect harmony with God and Nature. However, while the
condition of innocence is enchanting, it is not all-encompassing and cannot
persist for long. Man must go through pain in order to reach a better level; he
must go through the actual experience of existence. Between the poem of Innocence
and of Experience, there is still a relationship.
The emotional
tensions between these two opposing states are depicted in the poems in both
groups. Blake depicts the joy and
innocence of a child's life in the Songs of Innocence, but the poems in the Songs
of Experience recall the scars and cruelties of the civilized world. Piper
wishes to sing songs of purity and happiness to make everyone happy in the
introduction to the Songs of Innocence.
However, in the preface to Songs of The speaker is the Bard, and his tone is
one of caution and alarm. He implores the Earth to break free from the shackles
of tradition, moral laws, and religious taboos.
The beyond,
present, and destiny are all awesome for the Piper and the Bard. The beyond can
simplest be the primal harmony for the Piper, the existing is innocence, and
the instantaneous destiny is experience; the beyond is innocence for the
Bard, and the instantaneous destiny (or present) experiences, with the
destiny being a better innocence. Piper`s tone is described with the aid of
using melancholy. "Mild and tender numbers" are utilized by one
singer, while "wonderful tones" are utilized by the other.
The contrast
between Innocence's lamb and Experience's tiger is stark and dramatic. These
two poems depict the two opposing aspects of the human psyche. The lamb from songs of innocence by William
Blake is gentle and kind, one with God and child, but The Tyger, its adversary, is a violent beast with
terrifying symmetry. The pastoral landscape is the home of the lamb, whereas
the jungle of Experience is the home of the wild tiger. The lamb represents the
gentler aspects of life.
The tiger represents strength and vitality, whereas the lamb
represents meekness and domesticity. The white fleece, after all, provides a
stark contrast to the tiger's tough sinew and blazing stripes. The lamb has a
gentle beauty, whereas the tiger has "terrific beauty." The poet asks
if the same God is responsible for both of these conflicting aspects of human
life:
"Did the God who made the lamb also made
the tiger?"
"Nurse's
Song" appears in two poems, one in auguries
of innocence and the other in of Experience. The nurse in the first of
these is generous and caring. It is her responsibility as a nurse to transport
the youngster’s home and safeguard them from the encroaching night. She, on the
other hand, joyfully enables the children to play until they are exhausted and
content, or until the sunsets. The children's joy becomes overt and
extravagant, and once again—'
The little ones leaped and shouted and
laughed,
And all the hills echoed.
The scene of the playing innocent youngsters
brings pleasure and peace to the nurse in the
lamb from songs of innocence by William Blake. In Experience, however, the
nurse is focused with herself and her feelings. She maintains a close eye on
the kids at all times. From her perspective, life is pointless, a waste of time
in childhood, and an embarrassment in old age. She chastises the kids by saying,
Your spring and your day are wasted in play,
And your winter and night in disguise.
Even though the conditions of their employment
were not ideal, Chimney Sweeper of Songs
of Innocence represented the innocence and content of the chimney sweepers.
The youngster who works as a chimney sweeper tells his story of suffering and
redemption in the poem. His mother died when he was a child. At a young age,
his father sold it to an industrialist. As a result, he was hired to sweep
chimneys and live a life of work and hardship. He had to sleep in a smoky
environment. The soot that attaches to his body is so choking that the
youngster sees it as a coffin in his dream. Tom, one of the chimney sweepers'
children, dreamed that an Angel would rescue all the chimney sweepers from
their dungeons.
(And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he opened the coffins and set them all
free;
Then down a green plain leaping, laughing,
they run,
And wash in a river, and shine in the Sun.
In the chimney sweeper songs of experience,
however, there is no such deliverance.The poem depicts an innocent chimney sweeper's tragic release of restrained pain. Here,
the little black thing utters a harsh remark —
And because I am happy, and dance, and
sing,
They think they have done me no
injury,
And are gone to praise God and His
Priest and King,
Who make up a Heaven of our misery.
Blake believed that in the human being, innocence
and experience coexist and that religion's mistake was to minimize or dismiss
the basic oppositions in human nature. Songs of Experience has a disillusioned and desolate tone to it. But there is a
courageous light of optimism despite all the evil and despair. In songs of innocence and songs of experience,
Blake is arguing that life must be viewed as a whole. Only by acknowledging the
existence of the harsher features is it possible to overcome them and achieve a
higher level of innocence.