Analyzing William Blake’s Poetic Works: Themes and Context
William Blake’s Poetic Works: Themes and Context
“A Dream” Analysis
“A Dream” is a poem from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence (1789), set during the Romanticist period, also known as Pre-Romanticism or The Age of Blake.
William Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered an influential figure in the history of Romantic Age poetry. Considered mad by contemporaries for his eccentric views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness, creativity, and the philosophical and mystical backgrounds in his work. Respectful of the Bible but not friendly to the Church of England, he was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.
Romanticism was a literary movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, it was also a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.
The speaker recounts a dream. A mother ant has lost her way in the night and fears for her children, wondering if they are crying because of her absence. Fortunately, a glow-worm and a beetle hear her cries and guide her home to her family.
“A Dream” is a five-stanza poem composed of rhyming couplets. The first stanza sets the scene as a dream the speaker had while napping. The second stanza describes the “Emmet,” the ant, and her efforts to find her family. The speaker disappears in the third stanza, leaving the reader with the ant’s story. In the fourth stanza, the speaker reappears, reacting to the ant’s plight and the anticipation of help.
The mother ant represents the human soul, seeking peace and comfort that only God can provide. God intervenes through the glow-worm, who lights the path, and the beetle, who gives direction with his humming wings, reuniting the lost ant with her family.
The poem highlights the importance of the mother figure. In this case, the mother is lost, but the resolution requires a mother-child reunion. The earthly father ant remains at home and “sighs,” offering no assistance. Instead, God intervenes to restore the maternal relationship, guiding the lost soul back to the mother.
“Infant Joy” Analysis
Infant Joy is a poem by William Blake, published in his collection Songs of Innocence in 1789, during the Romanticist period.
William Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered an influential figure in the history of Romantic Age poetry. Considered mad by contemporaries for his eccentric views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness, creativity, and the philosophical and mystical backgrounds in his work. Respectful of the Bible but not friendly to the Church of England, he was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.
Romanticism was a literary movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, it was also a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.
The poem uses an ABCDAC rhyme scheme for the first stanza and ABCDDC for the second. The most notable pattern is the double rhyme repeated in lines three, six, nine, and twelve.
It portrays four great themes found in children: innocence, vulnerability, happiness, and lack of identity. These themes reflect the open-ended nature of the human condition.
The last three lines of the second stanza emphasize the child’s innocence: “Thou dost smile, I sing the while; Sweet joy befall thee!” The presence of smiling, singing, and happiness evokes innocent days. The “I” is either Blake recollecting his childhood or observing children. Because the child is content, it is also innocent. Innocence implies vulnerability, as happiness can be lost.
The child’s contentment can be lost, distinct from complete innocence. The words “joy,” “happy,” and “sweet” reinforce the contentment of the child. This repetition highlights indefinite happiness. While these factors relate to innocence and vulnerability, the child’s happiness may also stand alone within its internal nature.
As people age, they become superficial. Blake argues that youth equates to happiness. The first stanza suggests this interpretation: “’I have no name; I am but two days old.’ What shall I call thee? I happy am, Joy is my name.’”
Blake implies that youth means freedom from responsibility and innocence from a breakdown in personal identity. Identifying and separating humans into identities leads to aging and categorization, which can lead to victimization. Children, by nature, avoid this conflict, resulting in happiness.
“London” Analysis
“London” is a poem by William Blake, published in Songs of Experience in 1794, during the Romanticist period.
In the poem, William Blake describes a corrupted society dominated by materialism and the contrast between upper and working-class sections. It is written from a negative perspective, depicting people in a dark and oppressive world, suffering the consequences of corruption by those in power. The problem is that they are unaware of their situation. For this reason, he rejects the idea of an ideological or perfect place to live and wants people to be aware of the misery surrounding them. No wonderful streets, no pleasant people. All these ideas are represented in one place: London.
The poem is divided into four quatrains in iambic tetrameter, with an A/B/A/B rhyme scheme.
In the first quatrain, the author describes walking through every transitory street. The adjective “chartered” connotes the importance of money in this temporary world, where everything revolves around money, richness, and its value. Despite the role of money, many people are dominated by sorrow and sadness. The verses “In every cry of every man” and “in every infant’s cry of fear” exemplify this. People are not happy; they live in fear, within the darkness of a society influenced by materialism.
The materialism of words is reflected in the second quatrain with “the mind-forged manacles,” representing people’s preoccupation with money and dependence on important institutions.
In the third quatrain, the author compares a chimney-sweeper and a soldier, archetypes representing the most important institutions of that time: Monarchy and the Church, which are the cause of human suffering. This has a clear connotation of power and manipulation in society.
The fourth quatrain represents the author metaphorically describing what he hears while walking through the street. “The youthful harlot’s curse” refers to syphilis, very frequent in the 18th century, which was a principal cause of death. The term “harlot” has negative connotations, as does “curse.” It is interpreted as something that destroys life and society. Syphilis destroys life, whereas harlots destroy families, and family is the most important part of society, in this case, English society.
The final idea of this poem is the claim of a free society, without chains or ideological conditions. The message is to free yourself from the restrictions of your own mind and conceptions to find freedom.
“The Blossom” Analysis
“The Blossom” is a poem by William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence in 1789, during the Romanticist period.
William Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered an influential figure in the history of Romantic Age poetry. Considered mad by contemporaries for his eccentric views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness, creativity, and the philosophical and mystical backgrounds in his work. Respectful of the Bible but not friendly to the Church of England, he was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.
Romanticism was a literary movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, it was also a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.
Blake uses apostrophe in addressing the blossom of an unidentified tree. The blossom itself observes a sparrow and a robin. The sparrow looks for its nest within the tree, while the robin weeps for some unknown reason.
“The Blossom” is a two-stanza poem following an irregular rhyme scheme. Each sestet has an ABCAAC rhyme scheme, although some lines may qualify as near rhymes. The unpredictable nature of the rhymes parallels the arbitrary attitude of nature. Whereas a fixed rhyme scheme echoes the perfection of nature, this looser rhyme scheme shows nature as being harder to predict, if not entirely indifferent to human norms.
The poem hides a secret cynicism about nature. While addressing the blossom, the speaker receives no response. This aspect of nature is impersonal, unlike the Nature of paganism, alive with spirits and demigods, of much Romantic poetry. Whether a sparrow finds a home or a robin cries, the tree, or specifically its blossom, is indifferent and merely watches. Blake’s view of nature here is of a material world, operating on materialistic principles, with no vital essence to give it personality or feeling.
In conclusion, “Innocence” and “Experience” are definitions of consciousness that rethink Milton’s existential-mythic states of “Paradise” and the “Fall.” Blake’s categories are modes of perception that tend to coordinate with a chronology that would become standard in Romanticism: childhood is a time and a state of protected “innocence,” but not immune to the fallen world and its institutions. This world sometimes impinges on childhood itself, and in any event becomes known through “experience,” a state of being marked by the loss of childhood vitality, by fear and self-consciousness, by social and political corruption, and by the varied oppression of Church, State, and the ruling classes.
“The Clod and the Pebble” Analysis
“The Clod and the Pebble” is a poem written by William Blake, published in his collection Songs of Experience in 1794, during the Romanticist period.
The poem compares disorganized love (represented by the Clod, constantly molded by livestock) and strict, controlled love (represented by the Pebble).
This poem explicates two views on the nature of love. The “Clod of Clay” sees love as selfless and giving, building “a Heaven in Hell’s despair.” The hard “Pebble of the brook,” however, sees love as looking for “only Self to please” in order to eventually build “a Hell in Heaven’s despite.”
The love that has been tied by Reason, and which must be renewed in order to free Earth from her chains, is therefore examined to ask if men love selflessly or selfishly. The difference in perspective aligns with the “experiences” of the two inanimate speakers. The clod has been “Trodden with the cattle’s feet,” making it malleable but also easily shaped to the will of others. The pebble has been hardened by its time in the stream and therefore offers resistance to any who would look for using it for their own ends. By contrast, the clod is somewhat mobile, whereas the pebble must remain at rest in its place on the bottom of the stream. Blake uses his ironic voice of experience to point out that love, if done according to the orders of Reason, creates a Hell on earth, whereas selfless love, love from the heart and the ever-adapting Imagination, can make a Heaven out of the Hell surrounding mankind.
However, the poem does not allow the reader to side completely with the Clod and its view of love. Both clod and pebble experience loss; the Pebble takes joy in the loss of others, while the Clod takes joy in its own loss of ease. Even the Clod’s Heaven is built on the despair of Hell, therefore “taking” from another in order to increase. In the “Experienced” mind, exploitation of others is a requirement for progress of any sort.
The word “but” in line 6 is the turning point from the Clod’s argument to that of the Pebble. The former argument is one of Innocence, while the second changes to Experience. That Blake chooses to end the debate with the Pebble’s argument lends to this poem an interpretation that favors the Pebble’s hardened point of view regarding love. However, the balancing lines “And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair” (line 4) and “And builds a Hell in Heaven’s despite” (line 12) force the reader to see the two views as balanced and to reach his own conclusions based on personal experience.
“The Garden of Love” Analysis
“The Garden of Love” is a poem by William Blake, published in his collection, Songs of Experience, during the Romanticist period.
The poem consists of three stanzas of four lines each. The speaker appears innocent, partly conveyed by Blake’s tone and the line: “where I used to play on the green.” The “Garden of Love” can also be seen as Blake referring to a pure, personal relationship with God.
The next stanza is less wondrous and opens with: “the gate of this Chapel were shut.” The house of God should always be open, but Blake shows that it is closed. The reader transitions from the beauty of nature to this closed structure in a sacred space. Churches at this time focused on the negative aspects of religion. Instead of a personal, loving relationship with God, churches focused on the rules to get into heaven. Blake shows this with the line: “Thou shalt not’ writ over the door.” The speaker is reminded of earthly sins when looking at the church and not of God’s glory.
The speaker moves from the chapel back to the garden, avoiding organized religion to foster a personal relationship with God. The last line of the second stanza focuses on the beauty of the garden, a reminder of God’s creation.
But the garden has changed. The last stanza shows that because of the chapel, the “Garden of Love” is not what the speaker remembers. Where once there were “so many sweet flowers,” now “it [is] filled with graves, / and tomb stones where flowers should be.” This creates a chilling image of organized religion destroying God’s glory.
The image the reader is left with is that of the “Priests in black gowns.” There is no comfort here. The reader understands that these are cold men. The last line confirms this with: “(the priests) binding with briars my joy and desires.” This is Blake saying that these holy men push people away from God.
“The Garden of Love” is a beautiful but saddening poem. While critical of organized religion, the poem offers hope in a personal relationship with God. While Blake and his experiences are gone, his poems remain so that what he experienced may not be forgotten.
In conclusion, “Innocence” and “Experience” are definitions of consciousness that rethink Milton’s existential-mythic states of “Paradise” and the “Fall.” Blake’s categories are modes of perception that tend to coordinate with a chronology that would become standard in Romanticism: childhood is a time and a state of protected “innocence,” but not immune to the fallen world and its institutions. This world sometimes impinges on childhood itself, and in any event becomes known through “experience,” a state of being marked by the loss of childhood vitality, by fear and self-consciousness, by social and political corruption, and by the varied oppression of Church, State, and the ruling classes.
“The Lamb” Analysis
“The Lamb” is a poem by William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence in 1789, during the Romanticist period.
William Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered an influential figure in the history of Romantic Age poetry. Considered mad by contemporaries for his eccentric views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness, creativity, and the philosophical and mystical backgrounds in his work. Respectful of the Bible but not friendly to the Church of England, he was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.
Romanticism was a literary movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, it was also a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.
“The Lamb” has two stanzas, each containing five rhymed couplets. Repetition in the first and last couplet of each stanza makes these lines into a refrain, and helps to give the poem its song-like quality.
The poem begins with the question, “Little Lamb, who made thee?” The speaker, a child, asks the lamb about its origins: how it came into being, how it acquired its particular manner of feeding, its “clothing” of wool, its “tender voice.” In the next stanza, the speaker attempts a mystery answer to his own question: the lamb was made by one who “calls himself a Lamb,” one who resembles in his gentleness both the child and the lamb. The poem ends with the child giving a benediction on the lamb.
The poem is a child’s song, in the form of a question and answer. The first stanza is rural and descriptive, while the second focuses on abstract spiritual matters and contains explanation and analogy. The child’s question is both innocent and profound. The question (“who made thee?”) is a simple one, and yet the child is also accessing into the deep and timeless questions that all human beings have, about their own origins and the nature of creation. The poem’s apostrophic form contributes to the effect of innocence, since the situation of a child talking to an animal is a believable one, and not simply a literary invention. Yet by answering his own question, the child converts it into a rhetorical one, therefore opposing the initial spontaneous sense of the poem. The answer is presented as a mystery. The child’s answer, however, reveals his confidence in his simple Christian faith and his innocent acceptance of its teachings.
The lamb symbolizes Jesus. The traditional image of Jesus as a lamb emphasizes the Christian values of gentleness and peace. The image of the child is also associated with Jesus: in the Gospel, Jesus shows a special solicitude for children, and the Bible’s representation of Jesus in his childhood shows him as innocent and vulnerable. These are also the characteristics from which the child-speaker approaches the ideas of nature and of God. This poem accepts what Blake saw as the more positive aspects of Christian belief. But it does not provide a completely adequate doctrine, because it fails to account for the presence of suffering and evil in the world.
“The Little Black Boy” Analysis
“The Little Black Boy” is a poem by William Blake included in Songs of Innocence in 1789, during the Romanticist period.
The poem was published during a time when slavery was still legal and the campaign for the abolition of slavery was still young.
A black boy compares himself to a white English boy, and at first finds himself wanting. He claims his soul is as white as the English boy’s, but also sees himself as “black as if bereav’d of light.” He then remembers that his loving mother taught him that his black skin is a result of constant exposure to the sun. The mother explains the sun as God’s gift to mankind, sharing both His light and his heat, both of which are forms of His love. His color, she explains, is a temporary “cloud” to be carried until he can fully learn to live in the presence of God’s love. The speaker ends by saying he will tell the English boy this truth and look forward to the day when both of them have put off this cloud and can love one another truly.
“The Little Black Boy” consists of seven heroic stanzas, which are quatrains following the ABAB rhyme scheme. The first two stanzas describe the boy’s mother and the influence she has had on his life. The third, fourth, and fifth stanzas remember the mother’s exact words in her lessons to her son. The final two stanzas describe how the black boy communicates his lesson to the white English boy for whom he has a great affection. Stanzas one and two describe the past; stanzas three, four, and five remember the mother’s words as if they were being spoken in the present; the sixth and seventh stanzas include the black boy’s words, which he “will say” to the English boy in the future. Therefore, the poem itself progresses in time from a past (learning), to the present (the lesson itself) and to the future (the implementation or practical outworking of the lesson).
Hints of anti-slavery sentiment and an opposition to racism occur in this poem, but they are not the main message. The equality of human beings is, however, emphasized by the poem in its representation of God creating the world as an act of divine mercy, giving the sun to shine on and warm all people everywhere as a preparation for the light and heat of His love. The black boy at first sees his blackness negatively, since he seems to be at odds with his own soul, while the English boy is white on both the inside and the outside. The boy’s mother corrects him, however; the outward appearance is but “a cloud” to dim the sun’s light and heat until each person is ready to suffer it directly.
The black boy accepts this explanation, and even imagines himself as having succeeded the world’s testing stronger than the white English boy; he strokes the boy’s hair as a mother would her child. While the two boys will one day be equal in love, the poem suggests that the black boy’s trials in this life will result in his being spiritually superior to the untried white boy.
No matter their relative positions in this life or the next, the theme of equality of men before God is strongly prevalent in this poem. The black boy and his mother have expressed whereas the white English boy is silent, and both black and white will one day be recognized as pure souls before God.
“The Shepherd” Analysis
“The Shepherd” is a poem from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence, set during the Romanticist period.
William Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered an influential figure in the history of Romantic Age poetry. Considered mad by contemporaries for his eccentric views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness, creativity, and the philosophical and mystical backgrounds in his work. Respectful of the Bible but not friendly to the Church of England, he was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.
Romanticism was a literary movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, it was also a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.
The poet romanticizes the shepherd’s “sweet lot” in life. The shepherd has no fixed workplace, must only follow his sheep, and has “songs of praise” on this tongue constantly. He has nothing to listen to but the “innocent call” of the lamb and the “tender reply” of the ewe.
“The Shepherd” is a poem of two quatrains, each following the ABCB rhyme scheme. The first stanza involves the shepherd actively making noise, as his “tongue” follows the sheep to direct them throughout the day. The second stanza changes to the peace of nighttime, when the shepherd is quiet so that he may “hear,” a word repeated twice in this stanza, and be “watching” over the sheep. The tone moves from one of energetic happiness to one of serious calm.
The image of the lamb is again used, but this time “lamb” is a common noun, and not openly meant to be a representation of Jesus Christ, although that connection remains. Blake’s own disenchantment with the city is implied here in his song to the shepherd’s rural life. In contrast to the busy life of the urban inhabitant, the shepherd needs only to follow his sheep, listening to their innocent cries and singing songs of worship. These songs of praise echo the song sung in the Introduction, leading the reader to see the following poems of Songs of Innocence as the shepherd’s pastorally-inspired, spontaneous songs.
The shepherd’s blessed life is not one merely of relaxation, however. “He is watchful,” Blake writes, indicating the shepherd’s role s caretaker over his flock. In response, the sheep are “in peace,/For they know when their Shepherd is nigh.” The capitalization of “Shepherd” throughout the poem suggests the Divine Shepherd, Jesus Christ, who watches over his church “from the morn to the evening” while constantly creating beauty, just as the poetic shepherd does in Blake’s present work.
“The Sick Rose” Analysis
“The Sick Rose” is a poem by William Blake, published in 1794 in his collection titled Songs of Experience, during the Romanticist period.
William Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered an influential figure in the history of Romantic Age poetry. Considered mad by contemporaries for his eccentric views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness, creativity, and the philosophical and mystical backgrounds in his work. Respectful of the Bible but not friendly to the Church of England, he was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.
Romanticism was a literary movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, it was also a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.
This poetry analysis of “The Sick Rose” poem by William Blake mainly presents a review of the themes and imagery presented by the poet. A good poetry critique or essay should start with a free and open look at the title to see what evidences the poet offers the reader about his message. Clearly, William Blake is going to address themes of perfection and imperfection, life and death or growth and decay in this poem.
Firstly, Blake addresses the rose as a person. The effect of apostrophizing the rose is to add impetus and drive to the speaker’s tone, creating a mood of alarm from the very beginning. We are in no doubt that something is wrong and that something sad and worrying has happened. Blake could be talking about a real rose here, or using a metaphor for his society, which he may perceive as being damaged. In “Songs Of Innocence” Blake’s themes are more gentle and positive.
Next, the poet presents us with imagery of ugliness and threat, as he describes an “invisible worm” all the more threatening as we, and the rose, are defenseless against it – flying as it does “in the night.” This image is evocative of the darkness of the Hell with which the religious society of Blake’s time would have been familiar. It also reminds us of representations of evil such as the snake in the story of Adam and Eve, or Satan in Milton’s “Paradise Lost.” Blake uses it as a metaphor for disease – a thing which can start to damage purity and lead to decay. This could apply to society and the way in which degeneration of values and civilization leads to slow destruction.
The poem ends with a juxtaposition of romantic and destructive images – the first a “crimson bed of joy” and the second a life destroyed. Readers are left with the idea that something of value and purity has been successfully located, threatened, infected and then destroyed.
“The Tyger” Analysis
“The Tyger” is a poem by William Blake published in 1794 as part of the Songs of Experience collection, during the Romanticist period.
William Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered an influential figure in the history of Romantic Age poetry. Considered mad by contemporaries for his eccentric views, Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness, creativity, and the philosophical and mystical backgrounds in his work. Respectful of the Bible but not friendly to the Church of England, he was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.
Romanticism was a literary movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, it was also a revolt against the aristocratic social and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of nature.
The poem begins with the amazement of a vision, an apocalyptic beast ‘burning bright’ in the bordering darkness: nocturnal darkness presented metaphorically as ‘forests of the night’. Obviously, this is no familiar tiger in the natural habitat of forests; this is a visionary tiger as burning fire in the darkness as an absolute principle. The vision leads the poet to an supposition of the mystery of its maker, for the maker is best understood in terms of the thing made. Blake’s tiger symbolises ‘Experience’. The animal juxtaposes the opposites as the oxymoronical phrase ‘fearful symmetry’ suggests. The poet refers to his ‘immortal hand or eye’, an immortal maker.
The question relating to the maker now gives rise to many more questions in stanza 2. The maker must have had wings to investigate the ‘distant deeps’, or to soar high up to heaven. The maker must be a daring aspirant who has ‘the hand’ to ‘seize the fire’.
Stanza 3 again proposes questions relating to the creature and its creator. Since the huge beast has had a big and daring heart made up of strong muscles, its creator must also be strong-shouldered, and must have known the art of making the strange animal. The poet further understands how life was put into the tiger’s heart set it to motion.
With a new set of questions, stanza 4 further speaks about the making of the tiger as something stupendous, built in the workshop of a legendary blacksmith.
Stanza 5 shows an attempt on the part of the poet to locate the making of the tiger in cosmic time and space. Blake imagines that the tiger was made at a moment of crisis when the rebel angels in heaven surrendered their weapons before God as God applied thunder. The stars extinguishing their lights symbolise the thunder-struck angels crying.The pair of questions in the closing lines of stanza 5 seems to have challenged the idea of a benign creator. The maker of the fierce & fiery beast must be the other self of God, wrathful & cruel, representing ‘the punishment of sins’
Stanza 6 is almost identical with the opening stanza, with the exception of ‘dare’ in the beginning of the last line. The change from ‘could’ to ‘dare’ suggests the completion of the making of the tiger.