There seems to be little to distinguish the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience. Discuss with reference to content, style, form and poetic technique
Blake’s songs of innocence and experience are written differently to emphasise the differences in what we find appealing at different ages. The Songs of Innocence are written in a way, which could be compared with nursery rhymes for their style and rhythm. This is shown differently in the Songs of Experience, which seem much more appealing for an older audience giving more focus on the content. In this way, the Songs of Innocence are much more similar to the Songs of Experience but our focus is taken away from the content and put more into the way in which it would be read. In this way, they abandon the cheery form by which the Innocence poems are written (regardless of their content) and give a much more sombre effect. In the Songs of Innocence, Blake often uses exclamations to emphasise a happy and joking atmosphere as opposed to an exclamation of anger. These give the impression that the subjects Blake was writing about are being portrayed in a child-like manner with laughter and sadness mixed. This is shown in all the Songs of Innocence with the exception of “The Echoing Green,” “Little Boy Found,” “The Divine Image” and “Night.” The other 15 poems in this collection all
“Father, father, where are you going? Because this is written in a basic way, this has been used in Songs of Innocence. Had it been written in a more insightful fashion, this poem could have been used in the Songs of Experience due to its content. The same poem title “Little Boy Lost (Nought loves another as itself),” is also about a lost boy but not in the physical sense as he has appeared to have lost his faith in God, or lost his faith in the equality of man. The image portrayed is that of a child who does not love anyone more than he loves himself. A priest punishes him, although due to the nature of the punishment, we are led to sympathise for the “lost” boy. The “lost” children Blake writes about are lost in a different way to those in Songs of Innocence. In “The Little Girl Lost,” the feeling of being lost is shown in a little girl’s parent’s dream. As a paternal instinct they have dreamt about their child, Lyca, only 7 years old being alone and lo! His innocence is lost by the recognition of religion’s sins and that his learning them was not of his own will. His strength to be able to evaluate the situation in such a manner shows that his experience has taught him why it happens. It is also noticeable that the repetition of “weep! weep!,” also used in Innocence, is followed by “in notes of woe!” In the Innocence version, he does not explain why he was weeping, and perhaps does not know why. In the Experience version, it is explained because it shows that he is experienced in feeling woe and therefore knows why it happens. And taught me to sing the notes of woe.” In most of the poems in Songs of Innocence and Experience, Blake seems to blame adults and religion for the loss of children’s innocence. In “The Chimney Sweeper” (Experience) for instance, the child knows why he’s unhappy and it’s due to his parents forcing him to learn the sins introduced by religion. h in God shows they have no one else to turn to. Therefore the boy’s narrative style and the nursery-rhyme style in which it is written are the only elements of innocence as his naivety is so clear. Songs of Innocence and Experience - William Blake
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1597
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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