–Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
–Compare the mode of creation described in “The Lamb” with that of “The Tyger.” How are they similar? How are they different?
–In “London” the speaker says he hears “mind-forged manacles” (line 8) What do you think that phrase means?
–What differences do you see between the two “Chimney Sweeper” poems?
–The introductory poem to Songs of Innocence refers to a poet/singer/piper who composes “…happy songs,/Every child may joy to hear.” To what extent does this line describe the poems in Songs of Innocence?
22 thoughts on “William Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience”
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Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
Blake describes innocence as representing the point of view from a child. A child is unaware of the evils of the world and is pure of thoughts pertaining to sex, violence, and other adult themes. On the other hand, experience represents an adult lifestyle where one is more knowledgeable. This ability to comprehend complex aspects of society differentiates an adult between a naive child. An experienced adult is aware that the world is not perfect and harmful things could happen. However, Blake does not state which one is better because it is subjective despite Romantics idealization of childhood.
Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
Blake sets a clear demarcation between innocence and experience as each represent two very different stages of one’s life. Innocence is childhood, where the child is still pure and ignorant about the evils and temptations, or simply reality, of life. A child has a very blissful approach to life. They do not think about the different aspects of a situation but instead, accepts it as it is. On the other hand, experience defines the mature adult who has now understand the reality of life. The adult is capable of thinking and understand situations. The former is now aware of the evils and threats life pertains.
In “London” the speaker says he hears “mind-forged manacles” (line 8). What do you think that phrase means?
I think that the line “The mind-forged manacles I hear” is symbolic of fear, as well as restricting forces in London. Manacles are handcuffs, and the ‘mind-forged’ aspect of the line allows us to realize that they are not actually there. The speaker feels as though himself and the people he encounters are in chains, or restricted, without actually being so. This speaks volumes on the amount of hopelessness and weakness they feel as a whole, and it shows that while the restrictions may not be physical ones, they are certainly present on the mind. The Speaker’s imagination of chains shows the fear that is instilled into the people, as well as their impulse to be compliant.
Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
When Blake talks about innocence and experience in his poems, he is basically talking about the difference between childhood and adulthood. Innocence is being associated with childhood. When everyone were kids, we had that feeling that there was no type of worry in the world. We actually didn’t really know that much about the world back then. All we knew is that as long as mommy and daddy were here with us that everything will be just fine. Eventually all that changes because of the experience that we gain as we grew up. Experience is associated with being an adult and having more knowledge of the world. At this time we find out that the world can be a really scary place. Our parents will not be able to watch over us like they did when we were young so by now we learned how to take care of ourselves. Blake is showing us that when innocence is being talked about, it feels like you’re in a fantasy world because you feel like nothing can ever go wrong. However, once you gain experience life hits you hard and you realize the sad truth of the ways of the world.
What differences do you see between the two “Chimney Sweeper” poems?
Even though these two ” Chimney Sweeper” poems are different in some ways, there are also many ideas are connected to each other. “Chimney Sweeper” from Songs of Innocence” I believe is from the voice of a innocent and inexperienced child who was forced to sweep the chimney in a very young age and always holding a hope that god will save them if they work hard. On contrary, despite the facts that “Chimney Sweeper” from songs of experience is also the voice of a young innocent child, the poem seems more focus on how the child critics his or her parents for being ignorant and stupid by praying for kings and priest instead of taking care of them. However, both children from songs of innocence and songs of experience reveal the dark side of industrial revolution and cruelness of child labor. For instance, children from songs of innocence are being revealed as ” locked up in coffins of black” while children from songs of experience are being describes as “black thing”, which is not even a description of the human beings. One difference which I believe is significant is that Children from songs of innocence are seems to be holding a false hope and perception of changing their lives since there is no hope for them in reality, while children from songs of innocence are having a clear understanding of their situations.
Though both “The Lamb” and the “The Tyger” carry a child like poetic rhythm, they also hold the central idea that there is indeed a creator. Blake uses these two poems to illustrate God’s abilities in creating diversity.
When describing the creation of “The Lamb” Blake paints a picture of a tender mother-like figure who is feeding her new born by a calm stream as she clothes him in soft wool. This version of the creator is nurturing and supportive, which creates an obedient and simple minded creature such as a lamb. In “The Tyger” there is a question of faith in the eyes beholding such a beast like a tiger. There is no description of how the tiger was made, but rather why the creator would make such a beast. Instead of a mother figure the tiger’s creator is portrayed as a blacksmith which explains the tiger’s ferocity and why nurturing is important. Blake focuses more on the intense presence of facing a tiger and the impact their eyes can have, rather than the fairytale style of creation which “The Lamb” holds.
–Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
Blake’s description of innocence and experience as ” the two contrary states of the human soul means that we are born as innocent child when we do not know any evil thing and completely acknowledge about this world. we are born equally and no one is born as racist until we are educated and influenced by others. Experience is really like a knowledge that you learn from this world or through things. you make mistake of something, and you learn from it, then try to prevent the same mistake to happen again. this is call the experience. it is a kind of process that you learn something from things that you see or happen to you. Innocence will be implied as childhood, and experience can be implied as adulthood when you are entering the society and become a part of it.
Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
By this quote Blake is saying that when a person is young and does not have experience on life the soul is innocent. When the person grows and has life experiences the soul starts to mature. The person stops seeing the world as only a nice friendly place and starts to be more aware of cruel realities and injustices that exist.
Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
Innocence is associated with a pure mind, childhood ignorance, free of crime and not knowing about evil in the world. Experience on the other hand is knowledge about the world, knowing what to do, having consciousness and being more mature and realizing that bad things do happen. William Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul” and I think he is alerting us to his spiritual preoccupation and at the same time two opposite things (innocence & experience) can coexist.
Compare the mode of creation described in “The Lamb” with that of “The Tyger.” How are they similar? How are they different?
The lamb, being part of Innocence, is a much more delicate and pure type of writing. This poem gives off the feeling that it is coming from a child speaker, one that is innocent. The lamb itself is also an innocent creature. The speaker of The Lamb questions the animal on whether or not it knows of how it came into existence. The same question is reiterated in The Tyger. The speaker questions The Tyger on whether or not it know where it came from. The fact that The Tyger comes from experience rather than innocence adds a more aggressive, and violent tone. The tiger is a completely different type of animal when compared with the lamb. It is a predator that is feared because of it’s violence and strength. The speaker of The Tiger also questions the tiger’s existence. He/She wonders how the same God could possibly create the lamb and the tiger when they are so different from one another.
–The introductory poem to Songs of Innocence refers to a poet/singer/piper who composes “…happy songs,/Every child may joy to hear.” To what extent does this line describe the poems in Songs of Innocence?
The poems in Songs of Innocence are about the difficult situations in which the children are. For example, the “Chimney Sweeper” describes how the child works in inhumane conditions. Yet, the poem gives the child hope that things will be better. In all the poems in Songs of Innocence, their is a sense that things will get better, there is always a reference to Christ (the lamb). This makes these poems “…happy songs,/Every child may joy to hear.” because they comfort the child in his suffering.
What differences do you see between the two “Chimney Sweeper” poems?
The differences between the poem is of tone. the Chimney Sweeper from the songs of innocence portrays the narrator a child, clueless of what his life is destined for and the poem has a sign of hope for the kids. This hope is given from the angel in Tom Darce’s dream, the hope that after this chimney sweeping, heaven will be where these kids get to have fun and live their lives. And so the poem describes the young kids and their conditions and then provides them with hope. The Chimney Sweeper from the songs of experience is one that describes the narrator as some one who knows his death is near, his death caused by the chimney sweeping choirs, allowed and sold by their parents. The narrator does not consider the kids as humans but as a “thing”. The second poem trashes the false hope given to these kids, that their life is destined for chimey sweeping and dying in hopes of a flawless heaven.
Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
Blake describes the children as the innocent state, which children are pure mind and simple and they are happy to enjoy the life around them. on the other hand, the experience state of human means the adulthood where people has knows the evil side of the world and not easily sense the joy of the life.
Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
The human goes through both states of innocence and experience as they grow up. When Blake discusses innocence, he is referring to children. When children are small, their minds are so innocent and pure and have no sense of any evil in the world. They enjoy life to the fullest extent and are as happy as they can be. On the other hand, the state of experience can be considered the opposite. Blake refers to adults when experience is mentioned. Adults gain knowledge about the world and also learn what to do when put into certain situations. They have a better understanding of everything that surrounds them unlike the children who do not.
–Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
“The two contrary states of the human soul” means that human born with ignorance. They do not know any cruel thing in the world. They world is wonderful. They are so innocence that they do whatever they have told to do because they do not know what is right and what is wrong. As time passed, they experienced lots of things. They start to think what the society looks like. They start to think what is right and what is wrong. They begin to complain about their life. The world is not as wonderful as it was when they were still innocence.
Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
I think Blake is saying that when someone is young they are innocent and don’t know much about the world. As we grow older and start to learn more about the world we live in we start to see corruption and bad in the world. We know that there are bad consequences that come with bad decisions. When we are little we do not have this thought process because we are naive to what is going on around us. Once we get older we learn and experience more and our brain is modified for better or for worse.
Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
The two sets of poems reveal what William Blake calls “the two contrary states of the human soul.” The presentation of these states is deceptively simple, literally childlike in the “Innocence” poems. In both series, he offers clues to deeper meanings and suggests ways out of the apparent trap of selfhood, so that each reading provides greater insight and understanding, not only to the poems but also to human life.
Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
When we are younger, we are innocence. We have the pure mind and do not fear to make mistakes and have a happy life. We do not experience the dark side of the society. However, when we grow up, we need to experience the society. So we will become selfish, even worse. we experience the different life than the childhood. Last but not least, the author just wants to tell us that we need to use heart to feel the life.
–Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
Based on reading the poems, Blake describes innocence as something associated with childhood and immaturity. The human soul is innocent when young. Children are ignorant of the hardships in life. Experience, on the other hand, is the opposite of innocence. Children grow up and acquire experience. Once they’ve reached a certain point they are considered adults and have matured with experience. The innocence in childhood is something that you can never experience again. Life can be split into childhood and adulthood. They are contrary points in life.
–Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” What do you think he means by this?
Innocence represents a youthful view of life. It is an happy state but ignorant of the problems of the world. It is experienced during childhood before the reality of life is evident to a child. This is in contrast to experience, which is the reality that is discovered as innocence wanes. He is commenting on the fact that every human experiences both of these “states” naturally, however they are completely antithetical to each other (Perhaps this is why early adolescence is such an uncomfortable time; we are moving from one state to another.)
Compare the mode of creation described in “The Lamb” with that of “The Tyger.” How are they similar?
How are they different?
The lamb is supposed to represent innocence that God created. Lamb is holly, white and fragile. The Lamb is supposed to represent a child or something that is always obedient. The Tyger is something beautiful but strong and dangerous. The Tyger is supposed to represent something similar to fire. Fire is strong and with flare. Why god the same creator that created the lamb would create the Tyger? It is a question that is very philosophical that Blake points out in the poem. Tyger comes from experience and maybe we start as out as lamb followers but as society hits us we turn into Tygers meaning knowing and cause rampage pain to us.
–Compare the mode of creation described in “The Lamb” with that of “The Tyger.” How are they similar? How are they different?
Both “The Lamb” and “The Tyger” are under God. However, these two poems described different life. In “The Lamb” of Innocence, lamb represents a pure mind of human being, associated with childhood, and free of crime. On the other hand, in “The Tyger” of experience, tiger represents having knowledge about the world, knowing what to do in this world, no longer free of sin, and no longer a child.