William Blake Poetry – Revision Notes

Key Ideas

Romanticism

•He is not a traditional Romantic, but holds some of their views.

•You will see both biblical and mythological imagery in his works.

•He was against science, preferring instead the creative spirit to rationality

Innocence

•Blake thinks that we are all born innocent and in God’s image, it is society that corrupts us.

•He holds a special place for children for this reason

•He romanticizes the pastoral, and demonises the industrial revolution.

Religion

•Blake was deeply religious and you can see a lot of biblical imagery in his work – but he is highly critical of organised religion and this turns up in a lot of his poetry

•Remember he believed that as a child he had religious visions

Women/Equality

•He believed in equality for women and taught his wife Catherine to read and to assist in his engraving work.

•However, he also believed in free love (Swedeborgianism) and this is also evident in his work

Slavery

•He was highly critical of slavery and child labour.

•He saw America as a new land where things could be put right.

Politics

•Blake supported the French and American Revolutions, and the overthrow of corrupt power.

Poem by Poem

Song

  • A comment on the treatment of women – he is looking for a more equal partnership
  • Fairly regular rhyming scheme
  • Use of exclamation marks to show emotion
  • Sexual imagery in first two paragraphs, it takes a dramatic turn in the third
  • Mentions Apollo the sun god
  • Speaker + passive verbs, captor +active verbs
  • Entrapment – net, then a cage. Gets progressively worse
  • She (the bird, a dehumanizing tactic) is mocked by her captor
  • The speaker has moved from innocence to experience

Visions of the Daughters of Albion

  • This was written around about the same time as the collection Songs of Experience, and seems to fit in nicely with many of the ideas in this.
  • In this poem Blake condemns the absurdity of enforced chastity. Oothoon has desires which her interactions with nature show that Blake thinks are natural. He suggests women have as much right to sexual self-fulfillment as men. Theotormon’sunsureness about sexuality – and especially after Oothoon’s rape are seen as indecisive and foolish. Oothoon is seen as brave and progressive by denying (eventually) that rape makes her sullied, and still following her desires.
  • He also spurns marriage without love – and does not suggest Oothoon should marry because she was raped. Bromion’s harsh and contemptuous attitude towards her makes him the villain of the piece. However, we readers also find Theortormon useless – he cannot forgive or embrace her even by the end of the poem. He misses out on joy because he is so hung up on the expectations of society.
  • The first 8 lines (under the subtitle – The Argument) should be seen as a summary of the whole. Oothoon is unsure about sexuality and when she decides to embrace it (represented by the ‘plucking’ references, a common way to describe loss of maidenhead at the time) she is met by Bromion instead
  • Her rape can also be said to reflect the rape of the natural world. Bromion’s rape is man’s plundering and ruining of the natural world we have inherited.Latre in the poem he gives a colonists perspective about his desire to explore and subjugate nature.
  • Blake has an idealistic view of America in this poem – they still have slaves and they have certainly subjugated the native Americans. But he thinks they can put thing right there is this new land. A longing for American is a longing for political emancipation
  • Remember to define the Daughters of Albion
  • Clear references to slaves and slavery in the poem.
  • Consider the meaning of the repeated line “The Daughters of Albion hear her woes and eccho back her sighs”. Does this suggest her experiences are those of all women?
  • Imagery of night and morn, darkness and light. Knowledge and lack of knowledge or enlightenment.
  • Descriptions of how animals follow their nature and are not bound by society’s strictures. She uses this to implore Theortormon to follow his feelings.
  • If you want to, you can research Plato’s allegory of the cave in reference to this poem. This is certainly evident in some of drawings Blake did in association with this poem.

The Lamb (Songs of Innocence)

  • You can see the sing-song quality here in the simple rhyming scheme – this was intended to be sung.
  • Each stanza consists of fiveset of rhyming couplets. The first stanza is rural and descriptive, has a pondering tone. The second stanza is explanation.
  • Very religious in nature –Lamb represents Jesus and the traditional Christian values of meekness and gentleness.
  • Speaker is a child (remember Blake thinks they are close to God)
  • The questioning is both naïve and profound. God, who made the lamb, is also like the lamb.
  • The companion poem in Songs of Experience is The Tyger. This poem in this collection explores only the wonder and beauty of religious belief. The content of The Tyger is more complicated.

The Little Black Boy (Songs of Innocence)

  • This poem plays on traditional symbology of black and white
  • The speaker – a child slave – does not believe he is “bereft of light”. His mother has taught him that his “sunburnt face” means that he is closer to good’s love, which he experiences like rays on sunshine.
  • His mother is the hero of the poem and teaches him that no matter what he goes through here on Earth, something special is waiting for him in Heaven. This reflects Blake’s own religious ideas.
  • Blake’s attitude to slavery is evident here, especially in writing from the child slave’s perspective. He believes slavery is at odds with Christian values.
  • The boy longs for acceptance and equality from the white boy that he serves. He dreams of finding this in Heaven. Spiritual love transcends race.
  • Some interesting use of inclusive language
  • This particular rhyming scheme and ten syllable structure is called heroic quatrains.

The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)

  • This poem reflects Blake’s attitude to child labour and is a year after they tried to pass a law to improve the conditions of these children. They went into the business at about 5 or 6, when they were at a size toe clean the chimneys. Few lived long after this.
  • The mention of death in the first line immediately gets the reader’s sympathies, as does his naming and descriptions of the characters.
  • Imagery of the chimneys as coffins in the dream
  • Contrasts of language use: ‘dark’ and ‘work’ for ‘sun’ and ‘light’

Infant Joy (Songs of Innocence)

  • Ambigous title – could be the joy of motherhood, the joy possessed by the innocent infant or it could be completely symbolic. Babies often represented a beginning. Could it mean the beginning of a revolution?
  • Very short lines
  • Irregular rhyming scheme
  • Mix of voices in different parts of the poem
  • Exclamation marks show depth of feeling
  • IS it hopeful or is the mother trying to reassure herself?

The Sick Rose (Songs of Experience)

  • Literal and symbolic – flowers are destroyed thus, but could refer to a number of things. The flower is a symbol of love. The death of a love? Of love itself in this society? The death of beauty via corruption.
  • Sexual undertones

The Tyger (Songs of Experience)

  • Mention the use of the archaic reference to the tiger
  • Partners with The Lamb
  • Childlike rhyming scheme – but deals with the big questions
  • Questioning God – he created the lamb (gentle. Meek) but also this fearsome creature. He creates the whole world and it has both good and evil in it.
  • Even the fearsome tiger is a creature of beauty and divine design
  • Use of the imagery of God as the smith or creator
  • Look at the change from ‘could’ to ‘dare’ in the final stanza

London (Songs of Experience)

  • A romantic view of cities. (in the sense that he is very critical) Society is reflected herein. A marvelous piece.
  • Blake is frustrated by what he sees around him. He condemns child labour, the church, war, and prostitution. He therefore encourages revolution.
  • He is critical of those that belong to this society. They not only have “marks of woe” but also of “weakness”.
  • Use of repetition to reinforce point of view

Infant Sorrow (songs of Experience)

  • Written in the past tense, like the speaker looks back on the sorrowful moment of his birth.
  • Very negative imagery – birth is a trauma. Is it just entering this unjust world or is it an unwanted birth too?
  • What sort of world has the child been born into? He does not appear happy or joyous to be here. He knows better.
  • Perhaps Blake wants to comment on the unhappy experiences of children (such as chimney sweeps)
  • Fiend, struggling, striving, bound… look at the words here.
  • Struggles against the father – could represent struggling against patriarchal authority. Blake would approve of this however – he would say yes! Struggle against authority. The mother’s breast is more loving and natural – in this way this could be viewed as a positive poem.

Mary

  • Sweet and angelic Mary is the object of jealousy and derision due to her beauty.
  • She points out the irony of other people’s responses to her when she attempts to remain meek and mild, and is scorned for causing envy.
  • Could be linked in to his earlier works on women and freedom of love. Some readers suggest Mary was unchaste.

Auguries of Innocence

  • To prepare, you will need to go through all the aspects of this. Each line has meaning and makes a statement.
  • Juxtaposes innocents with evil and corruption throughout. A highly complex poem. You would only get an extract.
  • This poem is disdainful and condemns all the Blake sees is wring with society. Mostly the inequality between the innocent and underpriviledged with the blessed and elite. He also condemns the poor treatment of animals and reinforces that nature should be treated with respect and fear.
  • The opening stanza shows how small creation is in comparison with the divine

The Four Zoas – What Price Experience?

  • Blake worked on this over several years
  • Experience is painful, because life is painful.
  • Like the previous poem, each section maintains a different one number of a number of views about the world.

And did those feet in ancient time…

  • Wonders if Jesus ever travelled to England (as the aprocryphal story mentions) with Joseph of Arimethea. Would this have made England holy at that time?
  • Blake will not rest until this golden time returns. Calls for a number of holy weapons
  • Condemnatory of where society has been led in terms of the industrial revolution as well as our morality.