World of Innocence in Songs of Innocence by Blake
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William Blake is a visionary pre-romantic poet of English literature. He lived in the age of neo-classism but never followed any rules or restriction of that age to write. Rather from his personal belief and experience, he liberally composed many works. Songs of Innocence is such example where he actually tries to depict the world of innocence.
In Songs of Innocence there are 19 poems. To depict the world of innocence, the poet takes help of art, poetry and music. The tools he used are first of all his high imagination and then imagery and symbol and so on. About the use of symbol, it can be said that without it actually it is impossible to render his poems.
Blake’s attempt of depiction of the world of innocence is shown below taking some of his poems from Songs of Innocence into consideration.
The general theme of Songs of Innocence is the pure innocence of children and the heavenly, secure and gleeful pastoral world of sport and merry-making. Each and every poem of this volume has some elements that help the reader to build or realize the world of innocence.
The world of innocence begins in the poem Introduction when a child appears before the piper, the poet considers himself as piper, from cloud. The child requests the piper to play a song about a lamb, an innocent creature:
“On a cloud I saw a child
And he laughing said to me
Pipe a Song about a Lamb”
Hearing the song the child then requests again to write down them so that “every child may joy to hear”. If we take symbolic significance into consideration, here we may find an inner depiction of the world of innocence. The child appears from a cloud and requests for song about a lamb- science announces that cloud or rain is free from all kind of pollution- pure. Similarly the world of innocence is pure. In Blake’s poem it is conventionally accepted that Lamb represents an innocent angel or Christ. As the world of the child is pure, the consequence is a request for song for innocence. It is also important that the child, the inhabitant of the world of innocence, not only listened to the song but also thought about other- a virtue. That is they are virtuous. Then we find 18 poems as request product of the child that depict the world of innocence before the readers.
The Lamb is one of them. In it we see that a child is making a few queries to a little lamb such as –
“Little Lamb, who made thee?”
And in answer he himself is telling that God has mad it Who also introduces Himself as Lamb. The poem actually depicts the connection between an innocent creature and God in respect of their innocence, purity. The following verses reflect this
“He became a little child
I a child, and thou a lamb”
A small but pregnant poem is Nurse’s Song, with several pictures. We find, in it, that some children are in play and a nurse prevails over there. She invokes them to stop playing and return home as the day is going to be end
“Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down”
Critics have found some inner meanings here. To them, the nurse here plays the role of a guardian angel. As the children are unconscious of the coming danger for their innocence and unpolluted mind, the nurse is here to guard them. The poet here actually tries to depict that the world of innocence is protected. As long as we belong to this world, that is its virtues, we are protected by God. Then another notable thing is that the children protest the exhortation and they are allowed to play some more time. These indicate that freedom is free in the world of innocence and is not suppressed by the authority.
An ornament for Songs of Innocence that has much contribution to depict the world of innocence is Holy Thursday. In this poem it is seen that some children are going to a church to attend a religious function. They raise their voice and hand toward God to say their prayers and this creates something:
“Now like a mighty wind they raise to Heaven the voice of Song
Or like harmonious thundering”
In it the children are considered as “flower of London town” and at last it has been said not to drive them away from door as they represent angels.
The meaning is that the dwellers of innocent world are like flower which is often offered to God to worship and for their innocence, whatever they say or ask reaches to God directly unlike the experienced men.
To depict an unseen element of the world of innocence, the poet had to come to his contemporary society. It is in The Chimney Sweeper that is apparently of pathos but inwardly of optimism.
A little chimney sweeper, Tom Dacre, is frustrated and expresses his sorrow of miserable life. Another sweeper consoles him. That night Tom saw a dream where he was set free from “coffins of black” symbolizing miserable life, by an angel who gave him advice to work properly to have “God for his father”. And in last line it has been said:
“So if all do their duty they need not harm”
The depiction is that the inhabitants of the world of innocence sometimes may be subject to worse situation but they should not be irresponsible and pessimist. Rather they should be hopeful. They should believe that God sees everything and so for their good deeds, they will be awarded at last. The world of innocence is of optimism.
Actually what Blake depicts in Songs of Innocence about the world of innocence is associated with heaven. The dwellers of this world are in connection with God for having His divine qualities among them. The mention that we find in Songs of Innocence of nature is also vivid and makes us clear that there is nothing artificial. Everything is natural. Even the elements that the poet has used to write down these songs are natural:
“And I made a rural pen,
And I stained the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs” (Introduction)
Thus, by the help of symbolism, imagery, sometimes irony, and his rich imagination, Blake has nicely depicted the world of innocence in Songs of Innocence that is very much suitable for the innocent to practice their divine qualities.
In Songs of Innocence there are 19 poems. To depict the world of innocence, the poet takes help of art, poetry and music. The tools he used are first of all his high imagination and then imagery and symbol and so on. About the use of symbol, it can be said that without it actually it is impossible to render his poems.
Blake’s attempt of depiction of the world of innocence is shown below taking some of his poems from Songs of Innocence into consideration.
The general theme of Songs of Innocence is the pure innocence of children and the heavenly, secure and gleeful pastoral world of sport and merry-making. Each and every poem of this volume has some elements that help the reader to build or realize the world of innocence.
The world of innocence begins in the poem Introduction when a child appears before the piper, the poet considers himself as piper, from cloud. The child requests the piper to play a song about a lamb, an innocent creature:
“On a cloud I saw a child
And he laughing said to me
Pipe a Song about a Lamb”
Hearing the song the child then requests again to write down them so that “every child may joy to hear”. If we take symbolic significance into consideration, here we may find an inner depiction of the world of innocence. The child appears from a cloud and requests for song about a lamb- science announces that cloud or rain is free from all kind of pollution- pure. Similarly the world of innocence is pure. In Blake’s poem it is conventionally accepted that Lamb represents an innocent angel or Christ. As the world of the child is pure, the consequence is a request for song for innocence. It is also important that the child, the inhabitant of the world of innocence, not only listened to the song but also thought about other- a virtue. That is they are virtuous. Then we find 18 poems as request product of the child that depict the world of innocence before the readers.
The Lamb is one of them. In it we see that a child is making a few queries to a little lamb such as –
“Little Lamb, who made thee?”
And in answer he himself is telling that God has mad it Who also introduces Himself as Lamb. The poem actually depicts the connection between an innocent creature and God in respect of their innocence, purity. The following verses reflect this
“He became a little child
I a child, and thou a lamb”
A small but pregnant poem is Nurse’s Song, with several pictures. We find, in it, that some children are in play and a nurse prevails over there. She invokes them to stop playing and return home as the day is going to be end
“Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down”
Critics have found some inner meanings here. To them, the nurse here plays the role of a guardian angel. As the children are unconscious of the coming danger for their innocence and unpolluted mind, the nurse is here to guard them. The poet here actually tries to depict that the world of innocence is protected. As long as we belong to this world, that is its virtues, we are protected by God. Then another notable thing is that the children protest the exhortation and they are allowed to play some more time. These indicate that freedom is free in the world of innocence and is not suppressed by the authority.
An ornament for Songs of Innocence that has much contribution to depict the world of innocence is Holy Thursday. In this poem it is seen that some children are going to a church to attend a religious function. They raise their voice and hand toward God to say their prayers and this creates something:
“Now like a mighty wind they raise to Heaven the voice of Song
Or like harmonious thundering”
In it the children are considered as “flower of London town” and at last it has been said not to drive them away from door as they represent angels.
The meaning is that the dwellers of innocent world are like flower which is often offered to God to worship and for their innocence, whatever they say or ask reaches to God directly unlike the experienced men.
To depict an unseen element of the world of innocence, the poet had to come to his contemporary society. It is in The Chimney Sweeper that is apparently of pathos but inwardly of optimism.
A little chimney sweeper, Tom Dacre, is frustrated and expresses his sorrow of miserable life. Another sweeper consoles him. That night Tom saw a dream where he was set free from “coffins of black” symbolizing miserable life, by an angel who gave him advice to work properly to have “God for his father”. And in last line it has been said:
“So if all do their duty they need not harm”
The depiction is that the inhabitants of the world of innocence sometimes may be subject to worse situation but they should not be irresponsible and pessimist. Rather they should be hopeful. They should believe that God sees everything and so for their good deeds, they will be awarded at last. The world of innocence is of optimism.
Actually what Blake depicts in Songs of Innocence about the world of innocence is associated with heaven. The dwellers of this world are in connection with God for having His divine qualities among them. The mention that we find in Songs of Innocence of nature is also vivid and makes us clear that there is nothing artificial. Everything is natural. Even the elements that the poet has used to write down these songs are natural:
“And I made a rural pen,
And I stained the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs” (Introduction)
Thus, by the help of symbolism, imagery, sometimes irony, and his rich imagination, Blake has nicely depicted the world of innocence in Songs of Innocence that is very much suitable for the innocent to practice their divine qualities.
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