William Blake

William Blake

William Blake and his family had hardships. I first admired him when I read that his father could not afford tuition for him to receive a proper education. William Blake had the zeal to be an engraver, sketcher, painter and writer! William Blake was a great writer. I loved the way he used the terminology “innocence” and “experience” to relate “peace” and “darkness”. He uses the same technique when he wrote the Chimney Sweeper and his writings on infants.

Using “peace” and “darkness” are my words of describing what I felt when I read through his poems. Milton’s words were “Paradise” and the “Fall”. I must first say that when I read the “innocence” poems I really felt the peace and happiness. When you think on the word “innocence” you do think of children. Children are filled with innocence and happiness and peace when they enter into the world. Parents are supposed to nurture them to keep them happy. On the counterpart, some adults and certain situations robbed children from innocence, happiness, and peace. On page 77, it states, “...childhood is a time and a state of protected “innocence,” but it is qualified innocence, not immune to the fallen world or its institutions.”

In Blake’s poem, “The Lamb,” I felt a sense of security for the children. When looking at the painting on page 80, I saw the twining branches as a fence of protection around the child. Since the Lamb represents God, I can totally relate to this poem because he gives life, provides food, clothes, and shelter.

I admired the Chimney Sweeper because Blake went at this poem from both angles. The “innocence” version on page 81, gave a sense of hope to the children. This version spoke on the unpleasant effects of cleaning chimneys by children. Imagine a child sleeping in soot and having to shave his or her hair off just to get rid of the soot. He gave a sense of peace by talking of an Angel setting them (the children) free from coffins. The “experience” version on page 89, gave a sense of sadness for a child. There was a child crying for his or her mother and father. This child sang and danced to try to block out the sadness. Blake also did the same thing with “Infant Joy” on page 83 and “Infant Sorrow” on page 92. “Infant Joy” you had a happy and joyful baby by the name of Joy. “Infant Sorrow” there was weeping and signs of striving to survive and struggling. It was amazing to me to the way Blake wrote on the two topics such as chimney sweeping and infants in two different but similar works of literature!