How to Understand Blake’s Poetry - Essay

 

 

 

How to Understand the Contrary States of

Blake’s Poetry

Through A World of Intellectual Ideas

 

 B

 

                                     Blake’s contrary states in between “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience” inspire readers to think about central theme of its implications. The tones are dramatically changed with paradox conveying powerful messages. As the mainstream of English Romantic Poetries, Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” and William Wordsworth’s Ode: “Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early childhood” also help us to understand the perceptions of Blake’s contrary states as a whole picture. Furthermore, Socratic Method and Plato’s Rhetoric illustrate how to analyze the answer from its implications. However, The Buddha’s “Meditation: The path to Enlightenment,” is the most beneficial idea that helps us to approach the central point of Blake’s vision, and direct our thoughts to formulate the insights with clarity.

 

As an illustration of “Songs of Innocence,” it manifests how the innocent child feels the benevolent God, with naturally peaceful mind. The little child, asking “Little Lamb, who made thee?” defines the sincere answer, “Little Lamb, God bless thee!” (“The Lamb” 4). With the same childlike ambiance, wanting to be a good boy to God, the little boy states, “He’d have God for his father & never want joy,” since then, he’d be a God’s son and be under God’s affection. He also states, “So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm,” having an assured faith to God, (“The Chimney Sweeper” 279). It carries the conviction with confidence that God is his side. The impression of “Songs of Innocence” is fulfilled with such a joy and harmony that the little boy walks into the bright light toward the sun leading to the delightful sight, furthermore forwarding to the idea of good.

 

 In “Songs of Experience,” in contrast, Blake changed to the dark tones that the experienced boy feels anger with fear not only against the dark reality, but also his omnipotent father, Almighty God. Subsequently, the boy exposes fearful faith on cruel reality, questioning essential queries of the little boy who once believed in a benevolent God. Notably stating, “Who make up a heaven of our misery,” the boy cries out his distressful feelings against the world. Also, “Crying ‘weep!’ ‘weep!’ in notes of woe!” it indicates that the boy begins to realize the unjustness of reality (“The Chimney Sweeper” 6). Moreover, in “London,” he chafes at every injustice of the world, faced with hapless, “Marks of weakness, the marks of woe,” and severely reacts to the sense-objects as if he’s in mind-prison, stating “The mind-forg’d manacles I hear” (“London” 8). Nonetheless, the most drastic conversion of “innocence” is “The Tyger.” “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” he desperately asks, questioning the fundamental solidarity once he had, with great dreadful emotions. He is even showing his untrustworthy toward God, stating “What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?” (“The Tyger” 7). Apparently, the voice of “Song of Experience” is full of resentment and fearfulness leading to the terrified scenes of adversity that he lost faithful trustiness toward God, and realizes the affliction of sensible reality.

 

In relation to composition of two sets, “Innocence” and “Experience,” Blake creates the intriguing invisible intentions for human being ultimate goals. The central theme of these sets suggests the readers to remember how blissful innocent childhood was. He also leads to the optimistic vision that even though the boy once lost his innocence, the most prominent memories cannot be forgotten. Instantly, this eminent idea reflects the perception of Shelley’s “Intellectual Beauty.” After experimenting fearfulness in a dark reality, Shelley presents how he conceives “Spirit of Beauty,” once consecrated him in his childhood. When he encounters such limited scopes as hate, hurt, and despondency, he grasps the memory of the “Spirit” to liberate him from “dark slavery.” only “Intellectual Beauty” gives him calm, solemn, and serene mind through opens his heart to the spiritual world (“Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” 145-147).

 

Similarly, Wordsworth’s “Intimations of Immortality” has the same visions of Blake’s central theme. From time to time, he is filled with human life in vain, stating, “As if his whole vocation were endless imitation.” Exceedingly, he finds himself toiling in a snare stating “In darkness lost, the darkness of the grave.” However, when he ponders his childhood as a “happy Shepherd-boy” who had felt the ‘celestial light’ while traveling in the glorious nature, he senses the heart of hearts, the good (“Intimations” 51-57). Likewise, Plato’s view of memory values the spirit first. Jacobus states, "Plato believes that people do not learn things but remember them. That is, people originate from heaven, where they knew the truth; they already possess knowledge and must recover it by means of the dialogue." (A World of Ideas 315)

 

However, Blake’s poems have a distinct different method than the others. Especially in “The Tyger,” he throws out the questions to common people who have difficult problems living in the sensory world. While he increases the emotional bitterness against the world, he purposely leaves out to the readers what the ideal world is. Even though Blake does not give the visible answer to the readers, he implies his vision in between the sets of poems. Blake leads the readers to find the higher levels of significant intention, the spiritual world, where he creates the invisible imaginations beyond his poetries. This method is similar partly with the Socratic Method: if one analyzes the answer from examining its implications, one can assert the truth, and in Plato’s method “the questioning proceeds to elucidate the answers to complex issues” (“The Allegory of the Cave” 315). Significantly, Blake’s method can be perceived by the readers’ sensitive intuitions, stimulating him or her to unthread the secular bondage.

 

From this point of view, The Buddha’s “Meditation: The path to Enlightenment” relates to Blake's paradox conflicting states of human soul. Opposing to “Experience,” pointed human from the sense in a dark reality, and “Innocence” indicates a peaceful state of mind. Buddha clarifies “a peace lies beyond human understanding.” Also, he asserts that the senses cause bondage, stating “For people are tied down by a sense-object when they cover it with unreal imaginations; likewise they are liberated from it when they see it as it really is” (“Meditation: The path to Enlightenment” 653). The primary advantage of meditation is to attain the state of absolute peace, lead to mindfulness, and ultimately attain the enlightenment, the good.

 

           In retrospect from Blake’s contrary states, the readers can reconcile his queries and today’s questions. It cannot be obtained from the surface of secular world, but the mindfulness of spiritual world. The readers cannot infer Blake’s queries reacting from the exterior, but focusing on spiritual growth, “The Enlightenment.” Blake’s contrary states imply that one distracted by a secular world pervades with constant suffering, yet once attains enlightenment, obtains eternal delightfulness. Blake’s paradox is concluded to the same destination, The Good: “Intellectual Beauty,” “Intimations of Immortality,” “The Ideal World,” and “Enlightenment.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Appelbaum, Stanley. Eds. English Romantic Poetry, An Anthology. Mineola: Dover, 1996.

Blake, William. “Songs of Innocence: The Lamb, Songs of Experience: The Chimney Sweeper, The Tyger, London.” Appelbaum 6-8.

Blake, William. “Songs of Innocence: The Chimney Sweeper.” Handout 279.

Jacobus, Lee A. A World of Ideas. 6th ed. Boston: Martin’s, 2002.

Gautama, Siddhartha. “The Buddha Meditation: The Path to Enlightenment” Jacobus 645-663.

Plato. “The Allegory of the Cave.” Jacobus 313-325.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” Appelbaum 145-147.

Wordsworth, William. “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early childhood” Appelbaum 51-57.