Thursday, July 18, 2019
Innocence and experience in Blakeââ¬â¢s Songs Essay
A Romantic as he was, William Blake created his rather simple songs as an opposition to the poetry the eighteenth-century poets tried to impose, the so called ornated word,poetry of beautiful words saying very little. Songs of Innocence and Experience are about the ââ¬Å"two contrary states of the human soulâ⬠as Blake put it. To confirm this he wrote some of the poems of Innocence with their pairs in Experience. Such a pair is ââ¬Å"The Lambâ⬠from Innocence and ââ¬Å"The Tygerâ⬠from Experience. ââ¬Å"The Lambâ⬠consists of two stanzas, each one of them based on simple rhyming scheme like the childrenââ¬â¢s songs. The first stanza poses the questions while the second one is left for the answers. The questions are for the lamb, the speaker, presumably a child, asks the animal who has made it. The whole description of the animal supposes a meek and good one, the use of soft vowels makes the perception stronger. The second stanza gives the answers, although obvious, they are given in the form of a childââ¬â¢s puzzle, showing a bit of naivete. After a bit of a puzzle-playing the answer is crystal clear, the creator of the lamb is God. With the lines ââ¬Å"For he is called by thy name/For he calls himself a lambâ⬠Blake reminds the reader of the Bible and more specifically of Jes us, who after his Crucifixion becomes the Lamb of God. Following this, the lamb is a symbol of naà ¯ve innocence, also suffering one. ââ¬Å"The Tygerâ⬠is the ââ¬Å"experiencedâ⬠poem of the pair. The lines ââ¬Å"Did He smile His work to see?/Did He who made the lamb make thee?â⬠may be considered a symbolic centre of the poem. The persona asks the tyger if his creator is the one who created the lamb. The questions are seeking an answer and at the same time are showing deep disbelieve, how can God who created the meek lamb create also the fierce tiger and frame his ââ¬Å"fearful symmetryâ⬠. If innocence is naà ¯ve and suffering then experience, according to ââ¬Å"The Tygerâ⬠, whose eyes have burnt in ââ¬Å"distant deeps or skiesâ⬠, should be dark and fierce having collected all the darkness ââ¬Å"in the forests of the nightâ⬠as is presented the life of the grown-up people in ââ¬Å"The Tygerâ⬠. If ââ¬Å"The Tygerâ⬠from Experience is the opposite poem to ââ¬Å"The Lambâ⬠, ââ¬Å"To Tirzahâ⬠doesnââ¬â¢t have a particular opposite in Innocence, it may be considered as a single poem opposing the whole of Songs of Innocence. Tirzah is one of the five daughters of Zelophehad, also the name of the capital ofà Israel, which is in opposition with Jerusalem, the city of God. The first stanza begins with the well-known fact that ââ¬Å"Whateââ¬â¢er is born of mortal birthâ⬠dies. And ends with the question ââ¬Å"Then what have I to do with thee?â⬠, it seems it is directed exactly to that mortal part of humans. The second stanza is a reminder of Genesis, the fall of Adam and Eve when looking for knowledge and their curse when drown out of Heaven, men to work with sweat on their foreheads and women to cry of pain while giving birth to their children. In the third stanza Tirzah proves out to be the mother of the ââ¬Å"mortal partâ⬠of humans and thus mother of death. The persona of the poem seems to be a young man who is angry with his mother for giving him life that inevitably ends in death. The young man may also be afraid to break the bond with his mother and live in the world of experience on his own. The last stanza opposes life on earth whose ââ¬Å"tongue is made of clayâ⬠and life in heaven whose symbol is Jesus and his crucifixion. Experience understands the simple rules of life that what is born dies and canââ¬â¢t accept them, while innocence accepts and amuses in everything even in perceiving experience. The bond between innocence and experience when judged from ââ¬Å"To Tirzahâ⬠seems to be the bond of a blissful student to his desperate teacher. Such blissful innocence is presented in the ââ¬Å"Introductionâ⬠of Songs of Innocence. The poem begins with a piperââ¬â¢s song, the persona sees a child on a cloud, an ordinary symbol of blissful innocence, the child/angel is enjoying the piperââ¬â¢s song, which in Blakean times is considered to be the purest of all. The child nearly orders the piper to ââ¬Å"Pipe a song about a Lamb!â⬠, innocence enjoys the song about another blissful innocent creature ââ¬â the lamb. Experience in the form of the grown-up piper praises and at the same time amuses innocence. The bond between ââ¬Å"the two contrary states of the human soulâ⬠is a mother-child relationship. Experience teaches innocence as the piper writes down in a book the songs he knows so that ââ¬Å"Every child may joy to hear.â⬠But the mother also protects her child, so does experience as is clearly seen from the poem ââ¬Å"Holy Thursdayâ⬠. Children, the most common symbol of innocence, are walking two by two and ââ¬Å"grey-headed beadlesâ⬠are leading them to St. Paulââ¬â¢s cathedral, experience protects innocence and leads it to a place where God will guide and protect it. In the second stanza of the poem innocence is a multitude, children are like ââ¬Å"flowers of London townâ⬠, ââ¬Å"multitudes of lambsâ⬠, innocence is being united with nature. Following the flow of thought innocence seems to glow with its divine image as is presented in ââ¬Å"The Divine Imageâ⬠from Songs of Innocence. The first stanza of the poem states that Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love are the four most important virtues that every man prays to. The second stanza reveals that the virtues symbol of innocence and purity are God and human ââ¬Å"His child and careâ⬠. Reading on the poem shows that man is made up of virtues and possesses the human form divine, the purest and Godly innocence. If innocence is ââ¬Å"the human form divineâ⬠then what is experience and what have they to do with one another? Does ââ¬Å"Londonâ⬠from Songs of Experience give the answer? ââ¬Å"Londonâ⬠is symbol of fallen humanity, symbol of the dark face of the industrial revolution that Blakeââ¬â¢s contemporaries so much prided on. The personaââ¬â¢s journey begins with ââ¬Å"I wanderâ⬠, he walks through ââ¬Å"each chartered streetâ⬠, in Blakean times charters were given to rich people as a permission to rule given city. A city, in our case London, may be chartered, but Blake uses irony when defining the river Thames as chartered because a river cannot be put under human rules. The whole city, even the river, look like prisoners thatââ¬â¢s why the persona can observe ââ¬Å"marks of weakness, marks of woeâ⬠on every face he meets. From the first stanza his journey seems to be a sad walk through experience. In the second stanza the poet uses repetition in order to make the impact of his words stronger. He mentions manacles that were an ordinary thing to be seen on the hands of prisoners that were sent to Australia. But Blakeââ¬â¢s manacles are ââ¬Ëmind-forgedââ¬â¢, a symbol of moral rules and laws that restrict ââ¬Å"civilizedâ⬠people. This image is also an allusion to Rousseauââ¬â¢s statement that ââ¬Å"Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains.â⬠The third stanza gives more specific examples of weakness and woe. The image of the child chimney-sweeper crying is a symbol of the unlawful use of childââ¬â¢s labour; the second ââ¬â the blackening church appalls every one, the church is blackening as a symbol of stagnation, injustice, wrongly used power of not helping those that most need its caress ââ¬â the poor. And last but not least the sound of the hapless soldierââ¬â¢s sigh; Blakeà uses hyperbole in this particular image when describing that the sigh ââ¬Å"Runs in blood down palace wallsâ⬠. Being a reminder of the French revolution the poet warns the king and the people who rule the ââ¬Å"chartered streetsâ⬠and ââ¬Å"the chartered Thamesâ⬠that the misfortunate British may rise following the example of their soul mates ââ¬â the French. The action in the last stanza takes place at midnight, the time when all monsters come out to haunt the living, this is the time of full darkness, symbol of impurity. At midnight the young harlot is forced to sell her body in a society where money is God. Blake uses a rather strong oxymoron to outline her image, ââ¬Å"marriage hearseâ⬠, there can never be such a thing or it can in a London with ââ¬Å"chartered streetsâ⬠and ââ¬Å"blackening churchâ⬠; her curse damns lost innocence that can never be returned. ââ¬Å"Londonâ⬠has a simple AB rhyming scheme that is typical for nursery rhymes, its innocent representation is in ironic opposition with its content, exactly like London of Blakean time, it was considered the peak of civilization while from the inside it was rotting away. From ââ¬Å"Londonâ⬠it looks like that the bond between innocence and experience is very narrow, to enter experience one just has to be aware of evil. Experience is also understanding and accepting death, most fearful of all experience. ââ¬Å"The Flyâ⬠from Songs of Experience proves it. At first sight the poemââ¬â¢s theme is about destruction, the persona kills the fly; but as the speaker identifies with the fly in the third stanza he is also vulnerable to ââ¬Å"some blind handâ⬠that may brush him away, the hand of the inevitable, of blind providence. The perspective of the persona killing the fly is turned a bit sideways with the act of the speakerââ¬â¢s identification with the fly; his act of killing may be not aimed to the fly but to himself. The last two stanzas are the most enigmatic and at the same time most universal ones. The forth stanza toys with the idea that if ââ¬Å"thought is lifeâ⬠meaning that knowledge is life and ââ¬Å"the want of thought is deathâ⬠ââ¬â an allusion to the Bible, when Adam and Eve are repelled from Heaven for seeking knowledge, when leaving Heaven they leave innocence behind and enter experience where they learn of death. But the poet shows death as the lack of thought, the lack of life, he teaches us that the price for gaining experience is losing innocence but death may be the gate to achieving regained innocence, because if death is the lack of thought then it is the lack of experience meaningà that it is regained innocence. Experience also has its own unique form according to the ââ¬Å"Introductionâ⬠of Songs of Experience, its voice is the voice of the ancient bard who ââ¬Å"present, past and future seesâ⬠, its ears have heard the Holy Word that is symbol of Jesus who ââ¬Å"walked among the ancient treesâ⬠more than 2,000 years ago. The form of Innocence is presented in ââ¬Å"Holy Thursdayâ⬠from Songs of Innocence. The most well-known symbol of Innocence is the child, on that ground children are presented in the first stanza of ââ¬Å"Holy Thursdayâ⬠, children are walking two by two and beadles are leading them to St. Paulââ¬â¢s Cathedral, Experience is guiding Innocence to the cathedral were Innocence is to be protected by God himself. In the second stanza the children are multitude, they are like lambs and exactly then and there Innocence is united with nature. In the last stanza the children raise their voice to Heaven and the aged men, Experience, are still there to protect Innocence. Innocence is also symbol of new life being born as is presented in ââ¬Å"The Echoing Greenâ⬠from Songs of Innocence. ââ¬Å"Springâ⬠in the first stanza of the poem is symbol of the new life, of new Innocence being born. The colour of Innocence, as is easy to be guessed, according to the poem is green. The second stanza presents happy old people, sitting under an oak tree, and laughing at the youthsââ¬â¢ games. They remember their own childrenââ¬â¢s games and their Innocence returns on the echoing green. The last stanza is no more cheerful, youth is tired and everyone is returning to their homes ââ¬Å"like birds in the nestsâ⬠; the echoing green is no more, it is darkening, like a haunting experience, like a date on which Innocence will come for the last time and be gone forever. Interesting connection between innocence and experience provide also the pair of poems ââ¬Å"The Chimney-Sweeperâ⬠from Songs of Innocence and the one from Songs of Experience. ââ¬Å"The Chimney-Sweeperâ⬠from Songs of Innocence is Blakeââ¬â¢s most ironic poem if he ever intended to write such. In 18th century England the chimney-sweepers were little children, most often orphans orà from poor families. Such is the case with the persona of the poem, when his mother dies his father sells him to be a chimney-sweeper and dooms him to sure early death because the chimney-sweepers from that time lived until they were seven or eight years old and died most often of respiratory problems caused by the soot. That is the story of the child-persona told in the first stanza while he walks the streets and cries ââ¬Å"Sweep, sweep, sweepâ⬠as a kind of commercial for his job. But the misspelling of the word is not by chance, the author chose to write ââ¬Å"Weep, weep, weepâ ⬠because misery is the true occupation of the child ââ¬â chimney-sweeper. The story goes on in the second stanza with little Tom Dacre. His head is ââ¬Å"curled like a lambââ¬â¢s backâ⬠and that is allegory to another poem from Songs of Innocence ââ¬Å"The Lambâ⬠, like the lamb Tom is meek and innocent and he cries when his hair is shaved. The child-persona consoles him that when shaved the soot cannot spoil his white hair; so far innocence blinded Tom when it is ââ¬Å"shavedâ⬠he could see the real world. So in the third stanza he is quiet and has a dream that thousands of sweepers are ââ¬Å"locked in coffins of blackâ⬠. Knowing the hard lives of Englandââ¬â¢s 18th century child-chimney-sweepers the ââ¬Å"coffins of blackâ⬠are the chimneys that buried the children. The forth stanza is left for the angel with the bright key who comes and sets all the chimney-sweepers free. But the only Angel who has such a key is the Angel of Death. Tom dreams that all are running down a green plain, washing in the river ââ¬â all these are symbols of innocence. Later on the Angel tells Tom that if he is a good boy and does his work well heââ¬â¢ll have God for his father, meaning that heââ¬â¢ll return to innocence but only after his death. The children chimney-sweepers are doomed to have entered experience and the bad part of it too early and innocence is for them only a dream. ââ¬Å"The Chimney-Sweeperâ⬠from Songs of Experience opposes the one from Songs of Innocence. ââ¬Å"A little black thingâ⬠enters the scene, the child-chimney-sweeper has become one with the soot, he has even obtained its colour. As in Songs of Innocence the perssona cries ââ¬Å"weepâ⬠instead of ââ¬Å"sweepâ⬠, it sound is part of a melody whose notes are ââ¬Å"the notes of woeâ⬠. The second stanza begins with ââ¬Å"Becauseâ⬠, the child-chimney-sweeper feels that because he was happy upon the heath and smiled his parents have given him the clothes of death and give him to it. The persona is angry, he is noà longer innocent because anger is feeling of experience, so he enters experience angry. His parents think they have done him no injury and are gone to praise the Lord who cannot save the child from singing his ââ¬Å"notes of woeâ⬠. In the last line of the poem God is frankly accused of being an alliance with church and state who ââ¬Å"made up a heaven of our miseryâ⬠. Heaven is no more a consoling place for the child-chimney-sweeper who has entered experience it is a place made up of the misery of his fellow ââ¬Å"black thingsâ⬠. Blakeââ¬â¢s Songs prove his statement that innocence and experience are ââ¬Å"the two contrary states of the human soulâ⬠, the relationship between the two is always opposition: innocence is meek and suffering while experience is fierce and dark but experience accepts and understands life as it is while innocence amuses in everything, it is united with nature. The Godly innocence is the human form divine. Sometimes the bond between innocence and experience is very narrow, to enter experience one has to be aware of evil, experience is also understanding and accepting death. The most well-known form of experience is the grown-up while innocence is the little child, the colour of innocence is green, while those of experience is black. And last but not least the relationship between innocence and experience is that they are both states of the human soul but to the first one is given the blissful life, to the second ââ¬â the angry existence.
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