A unique way of getting a reader’s attention it’s by the illustration and printing of the book itself. William Blake had an extraordinary way of showing his work in this manner, by illustrating and printing the book himself. As described in the Norton book he had “etched, printed, painted, and then sewn together by hand” (Norton, 1022). He eloquently wrote the songs of innocence and songs of experience making the reader wanting to read more than once to understand its meaning. Even though his collection analyses the different values and limitations of two different perspectives on the world, most of the poems are parallel to each other, so that the same situation or problem focuses on innocence first and then experience.
In an article of The Fly it describes that in 1789 when Blake wrote about Innocence at the time he had not yet been exposed to the social discrimination in his time. At least a mind that was more innocent than the state of mind he had when he wrote the Experience poems. It consisted of 19 poems, engraved with artwork. After five years he then wrote the songs of experience a collection of 26 poems and published in1794 (The Fly).
Both sections start with an introduction poem and were intentionally written this way to have a comparison between them. He used the rhyme in all his poetic texts to make a sound of affection in every end letter which was in different, while the meaning and tensions increase by finishing reading the poems. In a way the two poems are contrary state of human soul. Innocence is the considered to be the characteristic of the child, and experience is the characteristic of the adult.
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Per the analysis by the editors of Sparknotes on songs of innocence and experience “The style of the Songs of Innocence and Experience is simple and direct, but the language and the rhythms are painstakingly crafted, and the ideas they explore are often deceptively complex” (Sparknnotes). The style of the Songs of Innocence and Experience poems is straightforward and candid, but the language and the rhythms are meticulous designed, and the ideas they explore are often complicated These poems allows the reader to explore the point of view towards the author about his imagination of an innocent life that he warbles for: the sun, childhood, boys and girls are some of the words that it is manifested into Blake’s songs. The author also uses paragraphs in all his poems to give each paragraph a positive meaning so that isn’t boring to the reader by not repeating the same interpretation and content.
Songs of Innocence and Experience gives the reader a meticulous point of view towards the author about his imagination of an innocent life that he warbles for: the sun, childhood, boys and girls are some of the words that it is manifested into Blake’s songs. Songs of experience contains similarity context as the songs of innocence, but they are divide in its meaning. Blake leads the reader into words such as earth, holy, god, green that are considered key words to understating the experience that is related to nature of creation.
The way the author wrote the poems made me wonder if there was a comparison between them. I found that they are similar and although the book combines the two they are yet very distinct from each other. The parallels exist between two sets of poems compared to each other, is the understating of message that each poem conveys to the reader. For example, there are two poems that had the same title “The Chimney Sweeper” in both Innocence and Experience, but they had completely different meaning “both depict a young boy working the deadly job of a chimney sweeper but in startlingly different ways” (William Blake). Another example would be “The Lamb” which represents the submissive integrity of a person, and “The Tyger” on the contrary it is a symbolic tiger which represents fierce forces of soul of a human. These examples are considered symbolic throughout the poems in both innocence and experience.
“The Chimney Sweeper”
Blake’s two poems that share the same name ‘The Chimney Sweeper” is about a young boy working a hard job as a chimney sweeper. In the Songs of Innocence was about a young boy that lived a sad childhood. His mother had died when he was very young, and his father sold him as chimney sweeper. Despite the boys hard life he still managed to comfort his friend Tom Dacre when his head was shaved. Blake spent a lot of time describing the situation of the little boy Tom Dacre “who cried when his head that curl’d like a lambs back (Norton,1025).
The word Lamb is a symbol that is used throughout his poems in the Songs of Innocence. While the narrator is comforting Tom he tells him “You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair” (Norton, pg.1025), he is implicating that the boys head being shaved his innocence has been stolen. Although there is great sadness in this poem, there’s still an indication of hope that lingers. Towards the end of the poem there is a sentimental message “If all do their duty, they need not fear harm” (Norton, pg.1025), meaning that even though they have suffered in their childhood there is still hope in death. There is the interpretation of heaven and happiness. The boys can still have their happiness and regain their innocence in heaven.
On the other hand, in the Songs of Experience the boy had been abandoned by the parents and left him to be a “Chimney Sweeper”. In the first line “black thing in snow” (Norton, pg.1027) is a description of the experience and misery of the boy that is an obvious comparison with the virtue and whiteness of the snow. When the boy is asked where his parents are, he answers “They are both gone up to the church to pray” (Norton, pg. 1027).
The parents had left him along and gone to the church to pray as if everything was fine. He then says “smil’d among the winter’s snow,” (Norton, pg. 1027) which he means the that despite the hardness of life he seemed joyful despite of the struggles in life. The parents were wrong to assume that he will be happy anywhere. Furthermore, in line 6 he states that he was taught to sing the “notes of woe” (Nortong, pg 1027). He had learned to be miserable rather than sing and dance happily. The child being taught to be miserable, it caused him to lose his innocence and gain experience.
At the end of the poem he mentions in the last line of the poem “Who make up a heaven of our misery” (Norton, Pg. 1027), he means that there is no hope for him. Unlike the narrator in Songs of Innocence he blames God and religion for his misery. In this poem heaven is not viewed as a place where he will be happy. In the comment of the two Chimney Sweeper Freedman mentions “When he took the fate of chimney sweeps as the subject for a poem in both Innocence and Experience, he gave us at least two ways of seeing the same social predicament (Freedman)”. The two versions of “The Chimney Sweeper” provided two separate viewpoints, but together it shows how the childhood is stolen so quickly.
