William Blake
William Blake is the most romantic of the romantics. He is the
prototype of romantic poets. He was born in one of the poorest
suburbs of London in 1757 which changed a lot with the Industrial
Revolution, lots of people came to live in the city.
Blake was an endeavor so he got the opportunity to attend the
Royal Academy where he met Sir Reynolds. Blake wrote poetry for
his pleasure, he engraved some copper plates and printed them on
paper. Then he used a medieval technique to refine and then he
gave those to his friends.
He was a christian, he believed in the existence of God and he
witnessed his faith in art and his life. Blake had a strong sense of
religion.
He gains a lot of money that he decides to share with the poor
people living in his suburb. During his life his art was never
ocially published, he had no interest in becoming famous and
known for his literature.
He supported the ideals of the FRENCH REVOLUTION and the
RIGHT OF WOMEN (he marries a poor woman, illiterate. He
teaches her to write and he shares his art with her in his atelier’
His most important work is SONG OF INNOCENCE AND SONGS
OF EXPERIENCE it is a single work but divided in two parts.
“Songs of innocence” was composed before “Songs of experience”
in fact he writes about the same themes but seem from a dierent
point of view. The title of his works comes from the J.J. Rousseau’s
theory “Bon Savage”: each man is good and innocent at first but he
gets gradually corrupted by the experiences he comes across,
apparently there’s a loss, but also a gain (the experience).
Throughout this process we become adults. Childhood is
considered as a golden age made by innocence and no prejudice, a
span in which we are open to experience.
Experience doesn’t exist without the loss of innocence, it is defined
as adulthood and it coexists and completes ‘innocence’.
This is why we have an unitary vision of Blake’s work even if it’s
divided into 2 parts:
- THE LAMB : song of innocence
- THE TYGER: song of experience
They seem both like lullabies: there are simple words and lots of
repetitions, even the form is simple. There are also musical devices
that help to memorize the text, he uses mono/bisyllables without
taking inspiration from role models. He doesn’t use latinism or
greekisms.
Though the content isn’t as simple as the form, actually it is
dicult and really deep.
THE LAMB
FORM
- The poem is divided in two stanzas: the first one is
about question whereas the second one gives answers to
those questions
- There are a lot of repetitions, simple words from the
common English language
-Personification: the lamb is personified
- ‘Thee’ ‘Dost’ are forms of the old tradition
- The poem is a couplet rhyme scheme (AA-BB)
CONTENT
The first stanza contains the question about the creation of the
lamb which reflects to his own creator, this here the lamb is
introduced as a pure creature, an animal whose voice make the
world “happy”.
The lamb represents God, who became Jesus by incarnating
himself in a little child, who’s open to experience.
This thing is clarified in the second stanza where is given the
answer: the lamb and his creator have the same name.
There’s an association between the poet and the creator: they both
have the power of creation so this makes them dierent.
The poet is the one who’s questioning but also the one to answer:
poetry, starting from Blake, is used to investigate reality and to
give answers. This gas is shared by poetry and philosophy. The
POET is at the same time a PROPHET: he has the ability to read the
present, but he also foresees what will happen.
The answer given is personal and subjective not
universal or general, the answer is given according to a person's
vision of life.
THE TYGER
it is the counterpart of “The Lamb” in “Songs of experience. The
question is deep: how is it possible that the same creator created
something good (the lamb) but also something bad (the tiger)?
We see a lot of opposition everyday and these are both linked to
the creator: in him the counterparts are perfectly blended, God is
almighty, powerful but also kind and good. Everything get solved in
a good way by God.
FORM+CONTENT
Blake was a painter so he expresses himself using lots of images.
We see a tiger who burns in the night, if we would’ve been there
we would’ve seen her EYES shining bright. Its stripes are
symmetrical. The poem id divided in 6 four lined-stanzas, it has a
