In his time, Blake spent in both country and town, and his work is full of metaphorical dichotomies along those lines. First and foremost among these is Songs of Innocence and Experience (1789-1994), published in two parts, As with his other books, the poems were engraved on copperplate, printed, and hand-colored, many of them by his wife Catherine. The Blakes sold these tiny "chapbooks," as they were called, for a few shillings each, many to friends.
These tiny masterpieces now fetch -- when they become available at all, tens of thousands of dollars. Facsimile editions -- replicating every detail -- are available, and some of these have become collector's items in their own right. Happily, in this electronic age, scanned copies can be had for free, and the William Blake Archive offers scalable versions of almost all their images.
The poems themselves seem oddly ageless, almost as though they were suspended in time. With many children as their subjects, and what may seem a child-like simplicity to their verses, they are all the same uncannily complex. Have a look at the poems I've selected for this week -- but go further if you can. I've also made the poem "Jerusalem" available above, and if you haven't seen it, don't miss the famous Monty Python sketch -- or, if you're in the mood for something a bit more solemn, you can hear the massed choir version of Sir Hubert Parry's musical setting, which became a famous English anthem, adopted with his permission by the Women's Suffrage movement, and later used as an elegiac hymn for the dead of two world wars.
UPDATE: It's worth noting that this book has also inspired multiple musical settings and adaptations. The earliest was undertaken in the 1950's by the composer William Bolcom; you can learn about his efforts in this NPR story. Then, in the 1980's, folk musician Greg Brown put forth his own entirely different version. Most recently, in 2012, the African-American singer-songwriter Martha Redbone released her Garden of Love: The Songs of William Blake.
The difference between the two versions of "The Chimney-Sweeper" stood out to me the most. The first version, from the “Innocence” section, struck me as uplifting. The Chimney Sweep, though he has been sold by his father very young, still seems to be able to find the silver lining on the storm cloud. He is finding moments of personal joy (that come to him in dreams) and hanging on to them. He also seems to believe that God is watching over him in a sense, and therefore he will be alright. The Chimney Sweep is finding something good in the work and holding onto that joy, that innocence. I finished this poem thinking more positively about the chimney-sweeps world and thinking that he was still finding joy in the world and making the most of what he had been given
ReplyDeleteHowever, the second version of “The Chimney-Sweeper” left me feeling almost exactly the opposite. Instead of feeling excited and/or positive about the world around him, the chimney-sweep has now looked back on his life and his work and realized honestly, what a crappy hand he has been dealt. He has lost his sense of joy, his hope that God will improve his life, and any other positive outlook he once had on the world. Now, there is a feeling of loss and despair– the loss of innocence in the world. Throughout all of the “Experience” poems that I read, Blake seemed to be taking not only a physical experience, but also the experience of simply being on the Earth for a longer period of time and losing one’s childlike innocence and belief in the world. The chimney-sweep is looking back and realizing that he has been putting on a brave face for all of these years and that people have been believing it. Which is what everyone wants, right? Except for the person who must continue to hide their true emotions and pretend that they still have their joy and belief in the world when they truly do not have it anymore.
In reading the “Innocence” poem before the “Experience” version of the poem, I was able to almost watch the chimney-sweep grow up and find himself in the world. They started out trying to make the best of their situation and trying to be happy, but have come to the realization that they have been pretending and that no one is going to come turn their life around any time soon.
William Blake’s “Songs of Innocence and Experience” are the dualities of religious faith using the child’s perspective or that of their parents or guardians. Particularly in the Songs of Innocence is self explanatory, as it shows images and concepts of happiness, joy, love, life where they are all connected to the coming of spring. They also represent religious faith and how in practice and prayer can bring prosperity to a child and their parents even if the circumstances are dire; a religious ideal or figure will always be there as guidance. Songs of Experience however, show the same poems but in a darker setting. It is the opposite, showing imagery of hate, doubt, jealousy, confusion, resentment. Also a desire of wanting more or expectations falling short. It shows that life even in a child’s eyes is not perfect and as innocent as children are, they may experience things that scare them or that they do not quite understand yet. How I interpret these poems is that innocence comes first and then it is tainted by the environment that it resides in. In other words, the perspective of a child is vibrant and playful but is taken away little by little from the world their parents or guardians have created for them.
ReplyDeleteAgustin Custer
The works of William Blake have been studied and used for as long as they have been written and published. They comment on the human intrigues of life, death, and religion—as well as countless other shared human experiences. Personally, I found out about the works of William Blake when I was in high school. However, it was not through his poetry necessarily that I was introduced, but through the adaptations of his poetry through the video game series “Devil May Cry.” Otherwise known as DMC, the fifth installment of the series introduced the character V. V is largely inspired and representative of Blake’s poetry, the character going so far as to quote many of his poems. One such example is when he quotes “Infant Joy” with the line “I am but two days old…”
ReplyDeleteI wanted to bring this idea to light as I find it incredibly interesting that centuries-old poetry can be given such a new life in the modern age. Much of the lore and worldbuilding of the DMC universe can be traced back to William Blake, such as the antagonist Vergil having a shared form with V and antagonist Urizen, a figure from the works of Blake. I would love to dive further into the use of William Blake’s exploration of religion and the blend of human and supernatural experiences further in a longer essay. Perhaps this will become a topic of conversation for my midterm paper.
“New life is given to the poetry of William Blake as it becomes a pillar of lore in modern age video games, making his worldly concepts more accessible to a new generation” could pose as a working thesis.
Well, I'm delighted to see that there is a vein of Blakean sensibility within a video game, and the quote from "Infant Joy" is a surprise. "Urizen," one of Blake's angelic figures, comes from a different part of his output, known today as the "prophetic books," which are a mythology unto themselves, much like Tolkien (at least the Tolkien of the Silmarillion, the Valar, and the Undying Lands). It's a lot to take on -- I wonder how deep the videogame's designers have probed into that body of literature? But certainly a fascinating connection.
Delete"London" seems to me quite conducive of a Marxist reading highlighting the fragility of legal ownership and class. Ownership, hierarchy, even language to some degree, are all non-material boundaries that are enforced, acting like “mind-forged manacles” to the natural human animal. It could be critiquing the idea of enlightenment or stoicism—that such unnatural laws are preferred to baser “marks of weakness, marks of woe” like guttural sounds of pain or exhaustion; the “blackening church” is “appal[led]” by “the chimney-sweeper’s cry” and the palace, or nobility, is covered in the blood of the “hapless soldier[s]” that enabled them to amass their wealth and build their opulent structures; yet even such a staining liquid as blood doesn’t follow its nature–it harmlessly runs off the glossy surface of the stone—which itself is usually rough and absorbent until artificially processed. Their being disowned or belittled by the institutions that they help upkeep.
ReplyDeleteI don’t quite understand the part about the harlot disrupting the infant—something about corrupting innocence I suppose—but marriage is obviously another social construct, an exchange of goods if you will, that could be seen as the death of someone, thereby requiring a “hearse.” It doesn’t seem likely given Blake’s religious inclinations, but it could be critiquing the unnaturalness or restrictiveness of monogamy.
I notice there’s also a lot of talk of language – perhaps Blake sees language as inherently natural or good. He is, through poetry, capturing the anguish of the city folk and assigning meaning to their dull lives, sort of like a shepherd and his herd.
On second thought, perhaps the harlot being referenced is the idea of a harlot. The harlot, herself once an infant was cursed with the burden of a label, through language, because she refused to give herself up to death in marriage. But her verbal cursing is all that can be heard through the darkness, a faint hope as she corrupts the youth of today with her vulgarity, thereby blighting the institution of marriage.
Great comment, Austin! I think what Blake is getting at is the whole rough and tumble world of the city, one in which marriages, births, deaths, and afflictions of all kinds are, as it were, rushing along one after the other pell-mell. His "mind-forg'd manacles" are, I think, what we could call "ideology" generally, which includes our received ideas about everything, including morality and social roles.
DeleteIn William Blake’s collection of “Songs of Innocence and Experience”, there are two poems of the same name “The Chimney-Sweeper”. In the songs of innocence collection Blake’s poem is about a boy who has been sold into labor by his father. The sweep meets a new recruit to the chimney sweeping gang named Tom Dacre, who arrives terrified. After the speaker tries to reassure Tom, Tom dreams of an angel who sets the chimney sweeps free, allowing them to play in green fields and then ascend to heaven. This dream seems to suggest that if the boys are obedient workers, they'll get into heaven. Implicitly, though, the poem takes issue with this idea, suggesting that it's a form of indoctrination for the Church. This poem makes it seem that the promises of heavenly salvation are simply a means to exploit child labor. In the songs of experience collection there is a poem of the same name, and it works as a kind of update on the plight of the chimney sweeper. Unlike in the first poem, this sweep can take no solace in organized religion, he is too experienced for that. He is so covered in soot that he is barely recognizable and explains to the reader that society has oppressed and exploited the natural joyfulness of his youth.
ReplyDeleteThe readings from the first section have been nothing but a pleasant hopeful feeling of uplifting notions. I read “Holy thursday” and reading it gave be the imaginative ability to see the children in different clothes, happily going along with the day. And singing the songs of the day. The way I read it was a pleasant unbothered way that made it feel completely fine with reading. Then the imagery of it all was also a nice touch to add on to the further effect that it is giving.
ReplyDeleteThen reading the experienced version of “Holy thursday” the first section of the reading really sets the mood of shock. How could this be such a big difference from one another. How could it go from one to the other and still be the same. It is also descriptive in this version too but in a way that no one will want to imagine it in the first place. Then talking about another place where children don't starve and how no one is poor there.
I like the shift in tone and the way it goes from 1 to 100 pretty quickly.
- Dylan Brazil
DeleteReading the first few Songs of Innocence, I thought that they could be nursery rhymes and questioned why I hadn’t heard them before, especially with such beautiful illustrations to go along with them. Perhaps it was because of the religious references, although I went to Sunday school so it might have been possible. Then I arrived at “The Little Black Boy” and saw why I hadn't encountered Blake’s work before. Not that the song wasn’t beautiful, but the content would be hard for young children to understand, especially if they had grown up like I had. Perhaps encouraging a song about a little boy wanting to be a different race isn’t a good idea either. Blake mentions a few times about the pursuit of “being white,” either referring to race, cleanliness, or in God’s light.
ReplyDeleteMoving onto the Songs of Experience, the language shifts into more abstract concepts and variations with form. This can be noted especially in “Earth’s Answer” with its great variation in line lengths. Blake also switches up his rhyming scheme in each Song of Experience, while every Song of Innocence has an “A-A-B-B” rhyming scheme. Blake also puts more of himself into the Songs of Experience as opposed to just telling stories.
- Spock Nardone
An excellent comment, Spock. The ideation of race, and how in poems such as Blake's, it was seen at that time is a challenging one, as "black" is associated with lack of light, ignorance, and otherness -- there were even advertisements for soap at the time which claimed to "wash the Ethiop white"! Blake, though he can't entirely avoid these issues, seems to imply that the blackness or whiteness of any child is but a "cloud" which in heaven will evaporate -- "when I from black and he from white cloud free" -- but the implication in the final stanza about how the white boy will now love him, seems to bely that purported equality.
DeleteThe theme of religion throughout Blake's poems stood out to me. It's interesting because it seems like Blake has mixed feelings on religion and Christianity and this comes through in his writing. In poems from Innocence , such as "Lamb", "The Shepherd", and "The Chimney Sweeper", there are constant direct and figurative mentions of Jesus, Heaven, and God. While the poems from Innocence have a sort of youthful naivety to them, I wouldn't say any of them are ironic. So the references to Christianity are ernest.
ReplyDeleteIn Experience, particularily in "The Garden of Love", Blake is talking about the downfalls of organized religion. In lines 9-12, Blake writes: "And I saw it was filled with graves, / And tombstones where flowers should be; / And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds, / And binding with briars my joys and desires." This imagery of the church taking away both the beauty of the local nature and happiness of people in the church certainly shows how Blake felt about the church.
This dichotomy between his love for Christianity and his hesitancy about the institution of the church is very interesting to see. I wonder if Blake was alive today, would he consider himself more "spiritual" than outright religious?
-Isabel Rennick
DeleteI found dark satanic mills to be especially empowering and interesting. I feel that Blake making these factories sound like dark and cruel places just shows the horrors that were going on in these factories such as the horrible work environment, and the inhumane work rules set upon these workers. It is also horrible as a reader to see how the country was changing from a land full of agriculture, to an industrialized society.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, when I think about the industrial revolution in relation to what I have learned from US past history, I think about a horrid time overall. The cities turned from colorful to greyish, alot of clear and clean land was taken up to become huge factories, smoke/chemicals invaded the air instead of pure air, and workers who worked in these factories worked in horrible conditions with long work days and a huge workload.
The satanic mills are Blake's idea of the industrial revolution but the line wasn't clear to me. I had trouble distinguishing if Blake's ideas of mills were actual mills or factories. Nevertheless, I had to realize that Blake was a smart and educated man, and drawing parallels between the two was probably done purposely. I also know that poems consist of many metaphors and references and his work should be no different.
ReplyDeleteI feel as both pieces were made to show the importance of perspective in general and how it can affect a person's life and emotions. It also demonstrates that when we're naive to what's going on around us it's easy to always be positive or see the good in everything; even if that means the world is falling apart around you. Especially children who don't know any better and most parents make sure to conserve their innocence. Growing up catholic I can attest that no matter what happened I was told to "thank god for everything and pray for a better day". God gave us a strong sense of hope in any situation. As I grew older, I realized that hope was important, but I also had to make moves for my future or things weren't magically going to fix themselves. Overall, I felt that I understood well the two points of views.
ReplyDelete“Songs of Innocence and of Experience” by William Blake is a beautiful collection of poems that almost appear satire in nature. Many of the poems have to do with God and Christianity - but Blake was not a religious man. The poems are separated into two parts - Innocence and Experience. The “Experience” section does not consist of any religious allusions which makes me feel as though the Innocence section was to show the naivety of blind faith when it comes to religion, only to shed this naivety once reaching adulthood and having gone through enough “Experience” to understand that the world requires a little more than that. For example, in “Innocence” there is a poem titled "Infant Joy" where the infant is named Joy because they are happy and giddy to be a part of this world. In the “Experience” section, there is a poem directly counteracting that titled “Infant Sorrow", and the infant states “My mother groaned, my father wept: Into the dangerous world I leapt” (Blake). Obviously this is much different than the initial poem in the Innocence section, which directs me to believe that Blake is displaying his evolution as an adult who has a changed perception of the world - and the poems reflect that. We normally associate innocence with children and experience with adults - and Blake’s cynical views of the world as an adult reflects that.
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