Innocence in the Poetry of William Blake - Essay Example

One of the most important poets in English literature, William Blake was a part of the Romantics. His poetry talked of the ideas of innocence and experience and the various connotations of these two ideas. While talking of these ideas in the context of their poetry of Blake, one must look at the different methods and literary devices that he employs for conveying them to the reader and the viewer (his poems were mostly engravings that were accompanied by paintings). This paper shall seek to explore the various aspects of his poetry and the methods that he uses as a part of his poetry.
The very idea of innocence in children is an idea that Blake uses from the teachings of Jesus Christ. This can be seen in the employment of the image of the lamb in the poem “The Lamb”. The reference to Jesus is evident in these lines-
He is called by thy name
For the Calls himself a Lamb (Blake 3).
The importance of the image lies in the personification of the Lamb. The lamb here is endowed with human qualities which are then taken up by the figure of Jesus. One may also argue that it is the human who is endowed with the qualities of the lamb. Innocence is thus, something that can be learned even from a lamb, according to Blake. This is the message that he derives from Jesus. Innocence is, however, not to be animal-like but to adapt those qualities to human existence.
The idea of a child-like innocence can be seen even in the poem “Holy Thursday”. Here too there is a reference to children. However, Blake does not intend to say that innocence can be had only by children. Here one needs to separate the often confused categories of innocence and ignorance. Innocence for Blake is a state of mind that can allow the mind to be free of falsehood that is imbued by civilizational structures. The blurring of the lines between the “aged men, wise guardians of the poor” and the “Thousands of little boys & girls” (Blake 3) is evidence of this. The importance of this lies in the fact that it makes it clear that the tone of the poem does not make it fit for only children. Blake’s poetry is meant for people of all ages and has different meanings for different people. This is a result of the layers that he can introduce into each poem of his.
The perspectival aspect becomes problematic in a poem like “The Little Black Boy”. The poem reveals the effects of conventional ideas regarding races and the illusion of innocence is shattered for the modern reader as he is made aware of the secondary status that people of non-white races were made to occupy in the English society of the eighteenth century. This can be seen in the constant denigration of the color black throughout the poem. It is often equated to a lack of grace as is indicated by the lines-
And I am black, but O! my soul is white;
White as an angel is the English child,
but I am black as if bereaved of light (Blake 3).
This denigration follows the conventions of eighteenth-century England which dictated that white was good and black was bad. This may have seemed innocent to a reader of that age but a reader of the twenty-first century would know better than to look at these lines with innocence.

The tone of these poems remains that of simplicity and is childlike.

He fails in certain instances as in the case of “The Little Black Boy”.

This leads to a reversion to what he feels are natural and innocent modes of art that can then reach out to people beyond the layers that are built through culture. The Romantic project of the convergence of nature and nurture is then achieved through this poetry. Read More