Mutare Teachers' College: University of Zimbabwe

UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE
DEPARTMENT OF TEACHER EDUCATION
MUTARE TEACHERS’ COLLEGE
NAME : Taringa Tariro
CANDIDATE NUMBER: 417/20
YEAR GROUP: 2020-2022
DUE DATE: 25/02/22
ASSIGNMENT AREA: ENGLISH LANGAUGE
LECTURER : MS BANDE
ASSIGNMENT TOPIC: With the aid of examples discuss the
themes in Songs of Innocence and Experience by William
Blake
8.MAKERS COMMENTS:
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FINAL MAK/GRADE
10. DATE MARKED………………....

The poet William Blake comments on different themes in different poems like flaws of
earthly parents poems like ‘the lamb’, ‘infant joy’ demonstrates that joy ,delight, love and
unity permeate the world of innocence, theme of religious hypocrisy, nature as the purest
state of man, social reform, redemption. It is therefore the task of this essay to explain below
the themes explored in the poems with the aid of examples.
In the poem Songs of Innocence and Experience there is a theme of flaws of earthly parents
whereby the human parents are falling to properly nurture their children. ‘The little boy lost’
is abandoned by his earthly father yet rescued by his heavenly father, and also the parents of
‘The little Vagabond’ weep in vain as their son is burned alive heresy. Both mother and
father seem frustrated by their child’s temperament in ‘Infant Sorrow’. This recurring motif
allows Blake to emphasize the frailty of human communities in which the roles of mother and
father are defined by society rather by natural instincts.
The Poet William Blake also comments on the theme religious hypocrisy. He critiques the
religious leaders of his day for their abuse of spiritual authority in such poems as ‘Holy
Thursday’ and ‘The little Vagabond’. The men who should be shepherds to their flocks are in
fact reinforcing a political and economic system that turns children into short lived chimney
sweepers that represses love and creative expression in adults.
Furthermore there is also a theme of nature as the purest state of man as many of his
contemporary Romantic poets Blake sees in the natural world an idyllic universe that can
influence human beings in a positive manner. Many of his poems, such as ‘Spring’ celebrates
the beauty and fecundity of nature, while others, such as ‘London’, deride the sterile
mechanism of urban society. Blake’s character are the happiest when they are surrounded by
natural beauty and following their natural instincts; they are most oppressed when they are
trapped in social or religious institution or are subject to the horrors of urban living.
Social reform is another major issue Blake discuss about ,his poetry nonetheless offers
realistic and socially conscious critiques of existing situations. Both ‘Holy Thursday’ poems
decry the overt display of the poor as a spectacle of absolution for the wealth and affluent.
‘The Human Abstract’ points out that our virtues are predicated on the existence of human
suffering. Although Blake is certainly more spiritually than practically minded, the seeds of
social reform can be seen in the philosophy underlying his verses: innocence is a state of man
that seek to destroy innocence must be changed or eliminated.
Blake is a strong proponent of the value of human creativity, or imagination over

materialistic rationalism, or reason. As a poet and artist ,Blake sees the power of art in its
various forms to raise the human spirit above its earth –bound mire. He also sees the soul-
killing materialism of his day, which use rational thought as an excuse to perpetuate crimes
against the innocent via societal and religious norms. Songs of Experience in particular
decries Reasons hold over imagination, and it uses several ironic poems to undermine the
alleged superiority of rationalism. Blake was not opposed to intelligent inquiry, however. In
‘A Little Boy Lost’ from Songs of experience ,Blake admires the boy’s inquiries into the
nature of God and his own thought, even as he sharply criticizes the religious leaders of his
day for demanding mindless obedience to dogma.
The poet William Blake comments about the theme of redemption. He frequently refers to the
redemptive work of Jesus Christ. While he alludes to the atoning act of Christ Crucified,
more often Blake focuses on the incarnation, the taking on of human form by the divine
creator, as the source of redemption for both human beings and nature. He emphasize that
Christ ‘became a little child’ just as men and women need to return to a state of childlike
grace in order to restore the innocence lost to the social machinery of a cruel world.
He also comments about the nature and vulnerability of innocence since innocence is
frequently presented as freedom from constraint and self consciousness. The innocent are full
of trust in their world- both natural and human. The fragility of this state is also an aspect of
this theme. Since it is, by its nature, unaware, innocence makes itself vulnerable to injustice
and exploitation. For Blake innocence was insufficient if it was also ignorant of the realities
of the fallen world. Innocence is especially endangered when it is ignorant of the ‘woe’ in life
and the possibility of failure and betrayal for example the lamb.
However Blake also comments about attitude to the body and life of the senses he does not
only dwell on themes. Blake believed that humans are essentially spiritual beings and that
humans are essentially spiritual nature. Yet he felt that people did not believe this. They
believe that their bodies are purely physical and that reality consists solely in what can be
understood via the senses. In this way, their senses trap them in a materialist approach to life
and they are unable to experience themselves including their bodies , as spiritual beings for
example in the chimney sweeper.
Also he attacks the approach of some forms of contemporary Christianity. This taught people
to accept present suffering and injustice because of the promise of bliss and the absence of all
suffering in the next world. Although this was consistent teaching of the New Testament,
Blake condemned it as the perspective of the fallen person. He felt it was used to encourage
the denial of sexuality and other powers which leads to permanent failure to attain human
fulfilment.
In conclusion William Blake comments on many themes in his poems which are redemption
earthly parents flaws, social reforms and religious hypocrisy in poems like ‘Holy Thursday’
in which the essay elaborated and also other two aspects which are not themes were
explained because he talks of attacking contemporary issues and innocence of children, they
do not fall under themes.
Reference
Bateson , F. W. "Notes on Blake 's Poems . 11 In Margaret Bottrall , ed. , 1970 , p .p . 175-
188. Blake , William Poetry and Prose of William Blake, 4th edition , edited by Geoffrey
Keynes . · London: The Nonesuch Press , 1939 .
Blake , William . Selected and Prose of William Blake , introduction by Northrup Frye . New
York: Random House, Inc . , 195 3. Bolt , S. F. "The Song of Innocence" In Margaret Bottral ,
ed. , Nashville , Tenn .: Aurora Publishers , Inc., 1970 , p .p. 114-122 .
Bowra , C. M. Songs of Innocence and Experience . 11 So11 In Margaret Bottrall , ed ., of

Innocence and Nashville, Tenn .: Aurora Publishers , Inc . , 19 70 , p. p. 136- 159 .
Bronowski , J. William Blake and the of Revolution . Evanston , Ill.: Harper and Row , 1969 .
Frye, Northrup . 11Blake After Two Centuries . 11 In Margaret Bottrall , ed ., Princeton N ,A

commentary of William Blake. Princeton University Press, 1969

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UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

DEPARTMENT OF TEACHER EDUCATION

MUTARE TEACHERS’ COLLEGE

NAME : Taringa Tariro

CANDIDATE NUMBER: 417/20

YEAR GROUP: 2020-2022

DUE DATE: 25/02/22

ASSIGNMENT AREA: ENGLISH LANGAUGE

10. DATE MARKED………………....

the themes explored in the poems with the aid of examples.

Blake is a strong proponent of the value of human creativity, or imagination over

Bowra , C. M. Songs of Innocence and Experience . 11 So11 In Margaret Bottrall , ed ., of

Frye, Northrup . 11Blake After Two Centuries . 11 In Margaret Bottrall , ed ., Princeton N ,A

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