BLAKE
William Blake is an English writer, engraver, painter, and poet. He is recognized as a pre-Romantic. He was
born in 1757 in London, he briefly attended school and then was educated at home by his mother. The
Bible had a huge influence on his life and works. When he was very young, he became an apprentice to an
engraver. He was sent to Westminster Abbey where he falls in love with Gothic Art. After his apprenticeship
he became an engraver himself and started a career as a painter. In 1783 he published his Poetical
Sketches, a collection of poems accompanied with his own illustration. Blake considered the poetical and
artistic elements inseparable. He also wrote a series of texts in prose--the marriage of Heaven and Hell--
where he proposed a unified vision of cosmos in which the material world and physical desire were equally
part of the divine order. Blake wrote the French Revolution and America; a Prophecy works that reflect
Blake's political conscience. In 1789 Blake published 2 of his most famous collections, today famous as the
Songs of Innocence and Experience showing the two contrary States of the human soul. In 1804 he begun
to write and illustrate Jerusalem, a work that was not understood by the public of that time and that was
met with hostility. Disappointed, Blake stopped looking for public attention and died alone and ignored.
Only from the second half of the 19th century he finally won the recognition he never achieved during his
life. His works have been a source of inspiration for many poets, artists, and musicians.
SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE
In Songs of innocence and experience showing the two contrary States of the human soul we find the
contrast between the pastoral world of childhood and the adult world of corruption and repression, the
contrast between innocence and experience. Quite often the same situation or problem is seen through the
eyes of innocence and then experience. In The lamb and the Tyger Blake depicts different virtues and
forces. The songs of Innocence focus on childhood and the positive aspects of human understanding prior
to adult corruption. The songs of experience show the way in which the harsh experiences of adult life can
destroy innocence.
Blake was a critic of Industrial Revolution which had led to many problems such as exploration of child
labour. He was a supporter of the French Revolution. He was strongly influenced by the Bible, he was a
religious man, but he was a critic of the Church, seen as an institution promoting the fragmentation of
man's consciousness. Blake didn't see opposites as mutually exclusive, but rather as complementary
opposites.
According to Blake the poet had a special role in society. Blake believed that man could know the world
only through imagination. Only God, children and the poet had this power of imagination. Imagination was
the key to see beyond physical reality. Blake didn't believe in reason.
The style of Songs of innocence and experience showing the two contrary States is simple and direct but
rich in use of abstract concepts and complex symbols
