Theme of childhood in Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake

William Blake is famous for his collection of poems called Songs of Innocence and of Experience. In Songs of Innocence, there are nineteen poems, while Songs of Experience contains twenty-six poems. Childhood is the central theme of the poems, and at the same time, in Songs of Experience, the real suffering of children in England at that time was portrayed effectively. Childhood is a theme that appears repeatedly in these two sets of poems.

In Songs of Innocence, childhood is depicted in a very innocent and pleasurable way. In the poems belonging to Songs of Innocence, there are not too many negative images or symbols. However, we can see that children still suffer. In fact, Blake has made an effort to show the suffering of children from the poor class. That is why, in his poem "The Chimney Sweeper" in Songs of Innocence, we can see that the chimney sweepers were more or less innocent, and, at the same time, they were child laborers. So, let us take a look at the first four lines:

In the second line of the poem, we can see that the father sold the boy, and the boy became a chimney sweeper.

When it comes to the poems in Songs of Experience, Blake did not try to hide the suffering of the children. In Songs of Innocence, there was a poem called “Infant Joy,” where the child experienced a lot of joy. But when it comes to Songs of Experience, the title of the poem changes to “Infant Sorrow,” and there we can see a lot of sorrow for the children.

In “Infant Sorrow,” we can see that childhood, or coming into this world as a baby, is not always a happy event as we often imagine. Here, the baby has to fight, and especially if the baby comes from a poor class, the struggle continues for many years.

In Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, Blake not only talked about the suffering of children but also showed society’s cruelty toward them. The rich and powerful did not care about the suffering and misery of children, which is why thousands of poor children had to suffer in every way. Here, the children are not like the lamb in the poem “The Lamb.” Instead, they suffer under the cruelty of the tiger. This is a sad picture of society that Blake has depicted in his poems. People did not care about the children because they had become accustomed to the idea that children must suffer.

If we look into English literature, we can think of two writers, in addition to Blake, who also wrote extensively about childhood and children. One of them is William Wordsworth, a contemporary of Blake. Wordsworth was a pioneering figure in the Romantic Movement or Romantic poetry in the history of English literature. He portrayed childhood in a very beautiful way, bringing great pleasure to readers. However, Wordsworth also sometimes depicted the suffering and misery of children in contemporary England.

On the other hand, Charles Dickens perhaps took the theme of children’s suffering from William Blake and carried it further. In Dickens’ novels, we can find similar portrayals of children’s suffering as seen in Blake’s poetry. Oliver Twist is the best example of this theme. When you read Oliver Twist, you can find reflections of Blake’s poetry. Oliver Twist’s character and strength remind us of some of the characters portrayed in Blake’s poems.

Blake is no longer a very famous poet in our time, but we should read his poems in Songs of Innocence and Experience so that we never forget the suffering of children. 

The Use of Symbols in Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake

It is hard to place William Blake within a specific time frame, as he was just ahead of the Romantic poets and many years after the Neoclassical poets. However, one aspect that attracts readers to this poet is his use of symbolism. He skillfully employed a variety of symbols, some of which are common but used in very unique or different ways. Blake is famous for his book Songs of Innocence and of Experience, which contains several poems.

Songs of Innocence presents its poems in a more innocent way, while Songs of Experience contains poems that are more complex and often convey a sad and dark tone.

In Songs of Innocence, we find various symbols that are distinct yet easy to interpret. For example, the lamb symbolizes innocence and is also a symbol of Jesus Christ. The figures of the shepherd and the father represent God, who looks after His children or people.

In Songs of Innocence, Blake often highlights the happy side of life. That is why his chimney sweepers initially appear to be relatively less unhappy. The nurse is also not unhappy, and throughout the poems in Songs of Innocence, there is an overall sense of joy and pleasure.

On the contrary, in Songs of Experience, some poems share the same titles as those in Songs of Innocence, but they present a much darker picture of society. For example, The Sick Rose is one such poem. The poem London depicts a very sorrowful image of the people in London. The contrast between the two Chimney Sweeper poems illustrates that in Songs of Experience, the chimney sweeper is portrayed as a boy who endures immense suffering and is utterly miserable. He has no hope and no future. Thus, the chimney sweeper itself serves as a powerful symbol for thousands of poor children who have endured great hardship and lack any prospects.

Blake frequently used religious symbols, but he also incorporated social symbols at times. For example, the shepherd and the lamb are both religious symbols, whereas the chimney sweeper serves as a social symbol.

In the poems of Songs of Innocence, many of the symbols represent goodness, while in Songs of Experience, they tend to symbolize evil.

In Songs of Innocence, Blake used many symbols from the Bible, which is why we see more religious symbols. However, in the poems of Songs of Experience, he uses his own imaginative symbols. As a result, if we do not understand the background of the poems or the background of William Blake, it becomes difficult to interpret these symbols.

Blake’s strong use of symbolism demonstrates his greatness as a poet. Following him, the Romantic poets emerged, and this period is often regarded as the golden age or the greatest age of English poetry. Blake was the forerunner of this age, and his exceptional skill in using symbols explains why he is often ranked among the Romantic poets.

William Blake’s relationship with nature

William Blake came just before the romantic poets and many consider him to be the first romantic poet. There is a debate whether he was a romantic or not, but there is no doubt that he used nature a lot in his poetry. In Songs of Innocence and of Experience, we can see the natural setting in many of the poems. He even used natural symbols to convey his message.

In Songs of Innocence poems, nature is mild or subdued. Nature is not evil there but is friendly and somewhat beautiful. It is the creation of God and God helps people with nature. 

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In Songs of Experience, we find perhaps the opposite concept. There, nature is not so friendly and sometimes it is frightening. Here, it should be stated that Blake was also an engraver and he had a good hand in painting. So, he was good at painting pictures, and thus, he had a good understanding of nature and natural objects. He had the mind to see deeper into nature and had the imagination of both a poet and a painter or artist. This imagination is important because when he tried to write about nature we can find that he could write more than the five senses of humans can comprehend.

The concept of God is important in William Blake’s poetry. He tried to search for God. So, his poems and nature are the expressions of God. So, we can find that God created lamb and at the same time God created tiger. There is beauty and harmony in nature. But there is also cruelty and evil in nature.

To Blake, nature is a part of the world and part of good and evil. Nature is sometimes violent and cruel but at the same time nature is beautiful and nature can bring harmony to the mind of people. By looking at nature, we come closer to God and we can get nearness to God.

We know that the romantic poets also used nature as the central theme. If we look at Songs of Innocence and of Experience, we can perhaps say that nature is the central theme of these poems rather than childhood and social justice is. Blake is more concerned with the suffering of children and also the suffering of people in society. However, Blake does not run away from nature or totally avoids nature. Instead, he finds that there is a lot of need for people to be closed to nature because there is beauty and harmony in nature. From this point of view, some people may think that Blake was almost a romantic poet.

On the other hand, Blake had some anti-romantic elements in his treatment of nature. As I have already said that Blake’s central theme was social justice and the suffering of the children, not nature. He is not in love or he is not a worshiper of nature like Wordsworth is. He just showed that nature is a part of human life but perhaps not the most important part. Sometimes, it is confusing because, on the one hand, Blake does not seem to have given too much emphasis on nature in the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience. But on the other hand, he has frequently used natural symbols over and again.

In conclusion, we can say that Blake was fond of nature, but like Wordsworth or other romantic poets, he was not totally fond of it. He realized the importance of nature in human life, but he stopped well short of other romantic poets in depicting the value of nature in human life.