Explication of Blake

A detailed Summary of Explication of Blake

The poetry of William Blake is renowned for its critique of society and injustice as well as expressing strong religious influences. Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience were written concerning the destiny of the human spirit and the differences between how children and adults view and understand the world. Blake believed that man had the potential to attain both wisdom through experience and joy through innocence. He admired the innocence of children and thought that self-awareness could be realized through the recapturing of the wonderment and imagination of a child. Songs of Innocence reflect that innocence and joy. Songs of Experience were written to expound upon how the knowledge of injustices, evils, and confusion arrive as a result of life experience. These poems focus on understanding the evils and injustices of the world without becoming tainted by them in order to gain an awareness of our true identities.

Two of Blake's most well known poems are "The Lamb" from Songs of Innocence and "The Tyger" from S

The Tiger and The Lamb are complementary due to their examination of dissimilar, almost contradictory viewpoints. When analyzed together, we realize that there must be a union of opposites where innocence and experience are fused. Simply returning to a state of innocence and ignoring the lessons taught through experience is not sufficient for us to become aware of our own identities, but recognizing and understanding the evils around us without becoming tainted by them is how we achieve self-awareness.

"The Tyger" also deals with religious elements and creation asking, "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?" (line 20). The first stanza asks the question of what kind of being could be powerful enough to create "thy fearful symmetry" (line 4). Blake is amazed at the complexity of the animal, "what art, could twist the sinews of thy heart" (lines 9-10), the power that caused its heart to beat, and at the formation of tiger's brain. We cannot be completely positive of what the tiger represents, but with its fearsome appeara

Some common words found in the essay are:
Lamb God, Songs Experience, Lamb Blake, Tiger Lamb, William Blake, Songs Innocence, songs innocence, becoming tainted, songs experience, , understanding evils, experience written, tiger represents, line 4, create animal, songs experience written,

Approximate Word count = 697
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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Explication of Blake

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