BLAKE WEEK THREE: "Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul."
I think as each week passes by I enjoy reading Blake more and more. Was he a lunatic? Was he a few sandwiches short of a picnic? Well whatever he was, he was a guy who had a higher knowledge than others of his time and used this knowledge for the good of humanity. He wrote poetry and painted pictures based on this knowledge of the human condition. He was a deadset guru. You all know my LJ's by now, if I don't like something that a poet has written I'll put it up for a roasting. I can't say I have come across anything worth a roasting yet though in Blake's work. I am liking this unit very much. The lectures are kool because we have a pretty laid-back group of students who don't get on eachothers cases and always back one another up when someone is struggling with an answer. Keep it up guys because there will be plenty more times when I am struggling this semester and I'll need someone to have my back lol.
Correct if I am wrong Boo-boo but I believe I read something about sandwiches and a picnic?
Oh Yogi, Blake likes his picnics in the nude. You are wearing a hat and tie. Sorry but you don't meet the dresscode.
This is bullshit Boo-boo!
This week I want to discuss the Songs of Innocence and try and show how Blake contrasted this to the Songs of Experience. I hope I make sense of it all. I was reading the preface to the Songs of Innocence and Experience and once again it was just so JUICY that I feel I will start by talking about what I learnt from that. It is obvious that Blake was setting up a contrast between the two states of being. Innocence and Experience are two different notions and if Blake wasn't trying to reveal the direct contrasts like young and old, then he was trying to depict the shifts in tensions between the two (direct quote there and not my own profound statement). I think this is where Blake made his genius evident to the world by not focusing on the obvious but the whole picture (he didn't suffer from the CAVE mentality where your back is turned and you only see the shadows).
To begin discussing the Songs of Innocence I think it is really interesting how Blake chose his main images to represent Innocence. What Blake thought about innocence was that it should be a clear vision of how life ought to be. Blake represents this notion with the images of the lamb, the child, piper, shepherd and the flower. I think if you read his poems you just don't realise how powerful these simple images can become. "I a child & thou a lamb, We are called by his name. Little Lamb God bless thee. Little Lamb God Bless thee." So simple but so effective. Blake stated that innocence is a state of mind and spirit; it was not directed at the vulnerability of children that one might initially think. It aims to reveal that even though children might be hard-done-by in certain circumstances, they seem to still possess a deep joy and love their enemies and want a better world. He did however suggest in his poetry that with innocence does come cause for concern. Innocence is open to danger and corruption.
"Little Lamb God bless thee. Little Lamb God Bless thee."
Click on painting above to visit Artist William Hallmark's homepage to see his other brilliant work.
Songs of Experience take us to a different level of being that is seen to Blake as dark and closed to change. It is a pretty deep contrast seen to that of Innocence and Blake did a splendid job of getting his message out to the world. Instead of images of the lamb and the child, he used less appealing images of dark forrests, sick flowers and wild beasts. He even went as far to use the images of embittered children and hostile adults. This is a big shift in mood from that of Innocence isn't it? I think I was a little taken-a-back because when I think of Experience I think of words like sensible, mature and responsible. Wasn't I wrong? I am faced here with images of woe and distress. It doesn't look too rosey for the experienced people of the world. I think maybe this was what Blake was getting at. If the Innocence of the world is corrupted and stripped and pruned of its joy and imagination then times of experience will be bleak, lost and dark. I think however Blake does leave a few rays of faith with the poems The Lilly and The Little Vagabond; maybe there is hope for love and reconciliation?
One of the Songs of Experience that caught my eye was The Chimney Sweeper. This really touched the inner-emotions. I read it and looked at the image beneath the poem of the young boy and deep sorrow came over me. I just thought about orphaned children and neglected youth and just felt bad for them. I don't deserve the blessings that I have in my life. A loving family who will do anything for me, a roof over my head, clothes on my back. I think these elements of life are blessings and I take them for granted on a daily basis. That is why this poem in paticular caught me off-guard and it did hurt a little. "A little black thing among the snow: Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe!" The two first lines are harsh to even picture and I think this sets the mood for the rest of the poem.
The image of the young boy that I spoke about earlier.
Click on the image above to read The Chimney Sweeper.
I want to discuss a few of Blake's poems indepth and hopefully some sort of contrast will become evident. It is a selection of poems from Innocence and Experience that I really like and wanted to discuss as part of the LJ.
Introduction (p19)
Immediately I note there are spiritual connotations in this song/poem. "Child on a cloud" and "Lamb". I feel this is because Poetic Genius helped create these divine images. It is through poetry that Gods and Angels were created (see 1st Principle of All Religions are One). I note that the child asks for a song to be piped, then sung, then written down. What I see here is quite normal. Isn't this how a song is normally created (conventional song writing anyway)? Firstly the music is made, then the words are sung to fit the music and then it is all written down? Well that is what I felt when i read this back to myself. I also feel that the child on the cloud asked it to be written down at the end so that the song could live on and be passed onto other people. Isn't this how poetic genius works? Humanity creates songs and stories that make up a religion and pass it onto their descendants? I also note the temperament of the child. First it laughs, then weeps, then weeps in joy. I feel this reveals that with innocence does come joy but also sorrow. At the age of innocence there will be times that are good and times that are bad. This seems to be relating to human beings and how they are composed and function. Poetic Genius is the true being.
Quality efforts Blakester. You're a gun.
The Lilly (p51)
This is one of the shortest works in "Songs of Experience". It is four lines long and I have added it below to work from it.
The Lilly
The modest Rose puts forth a thorn:
The humble Sheep, a threatening horn:
While the Lilly white, shall in Love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
"The Lilly" is a little different to the mood and theme of Songs of Experience and moves away from the notion that "experience is so self-enclosed and dark that there seems to be no way out." There will always be beams of light whenever Poetic Genius is present. We are able to imagine and see that there will always be rays of hope coming through shades of helplessness. The modest rose and humble sheep, which are visions of peace, are shown to still have their negative quality (thorn and horn). These are obviously defence mechanisms and reveal that the world can be a dark place and we will sometimes need to defend ourselves. By stating that the Lilly is white and open to love, I feel that in times of experience there will be time for optimism. We need not always feel vulnerbale and helpless. Our poetic genius will aid us in getting through life and inevitably shape our "experience".
The beautiful white lilly in all its grace.
The beautiful Evangeline Lilly in all her grace.
The Clod & the Pebble (p42)
I wanted to discuss this poem because I feel it depicts the way people will always have differing opinions on love and life. People from all walks of life. People with different experiences. This poem is in "Songs of Experience" for that very reason.
The poem reveals a Clod Of Clay that has a very undesirable living circumstance. Day-in and Day-Out it is trampled on by passing cattle. How can something like this have a positive outlook on love and build a Heaven in Hell's despair? What a mystery the poetic genius is. It does happen folks. How do millions of people in Africa today who are starving and eat less than one meal a day still thank God for that one single meal? And then people who live in developed nations and eat whenever they please, never thank God once for what they have and then complain when something is taken away? Do you understand where I am coming from?
The Pebble of the brook could represent the latter half of that analogy above. Building a Hell in Heaven's despite. The pebble obviously has it better off than the clod of clay but doesnt seem to have a positive outlook on love. It believes that love is only out to please itself and is happy when others lose something. Well I must ask am I on the right path by stating that the Pebble is merely and perhaps unknowingly describing itself?
The strong contrast of experience here displays that even though we are alike and all possess poetic genius, we will all have different ways of looking at things. Even if the base or beginning is the same. This also relates to All Religions Are One in some respects.
Clod Of Clay: I get trodden on by everything but I'll still defend love to the end. Love rules baby!
Pebble: Silly clay! Too soft. Too innocent. You gotta be hard and experienced like me!
That is all the so-called "wisdom" I have this week. Hope it made sense. Week three is down and now still quite a few left. It has gone by pretty quickly though. Will see you guys in class.
Tucks signing off.