Blakes The Songs of Innocence Essay -- Songs Innocence blake Essays

Blakes The Songs of InnocenceThe Songs of Innocence poems rootage appeared in Blakes 1784 novel, An Island in the Moon. In 1788, Blake began to compile in earnest, the appealingness of Songs of Innocence. And by 1789, this original volume of plates was complete. These poems are the products of the human mind in a state of innocence, imagination, and joy natural euphoric feelings uninhibited or tainted by the outside world. Following the completion of the Songs of Innocence plates, Blake wrote The wedding of Heaven and Hell and it is by this dilemma of good and evil and the excruciation that he witnesses on the streets of London, that he begins composing Songs of Experience. This second volume serves as a response to Songs of Innocence in that Blake is demonstrating the two polar or contrary states of the human soul and in the world that he tick offs round him. The images, engravings, and lyrics in Songs of Experience are much more severe, excruciating, and intense in compariso n to the lighter tones of Songs of Innocence. When we look at the poems in Songs of Innocence and Experience, we take up that while Blake reveals some(prenominal) the light and dark aspects of the human existence, we also see that this dichotomy is not always a finite, black and white generalization. That is, Blake emphasizes that both the innocent and make outd states of the human soul are achievable at any moment, regardless of age, past actions, or station in life. This reinforces the intellect that Blakes conception of deity is the power of illumination in all(prenominal) one of us and it is through the poetic genius that we make this husking throughout the ongoing process of life. A comparison between poems from each volume illustrates these ideas and serves to demonstra... ...t, each of us can come to know God and understand our relationship with the universe through the discovery of our poetic genius. Blakes methodology of channeling his spiritual energy through h is work is accomplished through the combination of poetry, song, and visual art. This provides the reader with a full aesthetic experience that universally encourages the illumination of the human soul. Through his poems which identify various types of sight and situations, Blake adds that this religious experience is not limited to the creative arts. In fact, he suggests that the poetic genius is attainable through focused manual labor, quick-witted conversation, and philosophical reflection, among other activities. Mans universal ability to retrieve God through his poetic genius is Blakes inspiration, philosophy, and theological message in Songs of Innocence and Experience.