William Blake - Songs of innocence

William Blake

Songs of innocence

-Introduction (summary):

child asks to the poet to pipe a song about a lamb

the poet pipes it

the child asks to pipe it again

the poet pipes it again

the child asks to drop the pipe and to sing it

the poet sings it

the child asks the poet to sit down and to write it

the poet sits down and writes it

- The Lamb: this poem is made up of questions and answers. The first question is about the lamb's creation, but there's no answer. Then the poet gives to the reader a good positive of the lamb (as it's little, soft, tender, pure and innocent) and a good idea of God (as he created a such nice animal). There is the identification of the poet (who created the poem) with God (who created the lamb).

Songs of experience:

-The tyger: (to be compared with The Lamb)

The tiger is powerful, perfect, beautiful and symmetric. The poem is about the tiger, but there are some questions about god:

Who is god? (He's a skilful black-smith)

How can god be both good and evil? How can he create a tender animal like the lamb and a fearful animal like the tiger?

-The Chimney Sweeper: This poem is an open critic to children's exploitation (which was a common social problem at Blake's time).

1^st stanza: introduction of the problem

rest of the poem: Tom's story

Tom is a young boy, when his mother died his father sold him to  master. Tom started working as a chimney-sweeper, his life was hard and difficult. Once he had a dream, he dreamed about his young friends who were died. An angel came to bring them from the coffins and took them to the most beautiful place, where they could play and laugh, run in the green, wash themselves in a clear river, shine in the sun and be always happy. When Tom waked up from the dream it was very cold but he went back to work warm and happy.

The only way out is dreaming and believing in god.

Oppositions:

dream

innocence

joy

lightness

white

reality

experience

sadness

darkness

black