I found William Blake's work to be very diverse. He seemed to like changing perspectives. I am similar to Blake in my own work, because I love presenting two opposing views and showing the same ideas from different perspectives. I was fascinated to find out on the podcast that William Blake had no formal education, since his work was well thought out.
I thoroughly enjoyed Songs of Innocence and Experience. The innocent lamb questions who made him, and the question is later answered, "He is called by thy name For he calls himself a lamb," (pg. 79). The Songs of Innocence seem to have a more certain heir about them, while Songs of Experience seemed to be written with more uncertainty. I felt as though the author wanted the reader to see his point of view that as we grow older, we are blinded by experience. We, as adults, do not use our imagination, and therefore, no longer see the truth. Blake believed with innocence comes knowing, and with experience comes doubt. I found these writings to be very philosophical. I loved how one seem to have answers, while the other seemed to have none. I do know in my own life, I sometimes feel as though children hold more truths than adults. As we grow older, sometimes we do not see as clearly. Our own experiences seem to tarnish our beliefs. In some way, I agree with Blake. However, I am a Christian so I do not doubt God. Blake seems to question not God's existence, but more organized religion. He questions why God would make a tyger: "What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?" (pg. 88).
One of my favorites of his work was called London. Since I have actually been to London, I was curious to see his perspective on the city. He talks about a sadness in peoples faces. He writes, "And mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe," (pg. 91). I think the author tries to say that there were a great deal of issues at stake in this city. These issues were harmful. He brings up the Chimney sweepers by saying, "How the Chimney-sweepers cry Every blackening church appalls," (pg. 91). Bake wanted to say how these young chimney sweepers, who started their jobs as young as 6, were suffering. He wanted people to look at this abuse and do something about it. I do not think it was right to have these children doing jobs which could in effect give them the black lung or cancer!
In the Chimney Sweeper on page 81, the child talks about being sold by his father to be a chimney sweeper. Blake writes, "When my mother died I was very young And my father sold me while yet my tongue could scarcely cry weep weep weep weep," (pg. 81). This poem was quite sad. It made me feel for this child and made me angry that someone would put him through this type of abuse. When he mentions the "Angel who had a bright key, and he open'd the coffins of black," (pg. 81), it evoked strong emotions. Blake captured the innocence of a child in this writing. He was able to make you think he was writing this as a child who dad had really sold him off. In my opinion, this poem showed his talent in being able to write from different perspectives than his own. Overall, Blake was very intriguing and I felt as if his work was well written and planned out. It seems as though he switches opinions, but I felt it was deliberate in order to show people different perspectives on the same issues.
3 comments:
William Blake is one of my favorite writers thus far. I really enjoyed the “two opposing views”. I feel that any issues that we deal with, you should look at it from two views. Personally when I look at making a decision, such as attending Mercer University to obtain a bachelor’s degree, I listed my pros and cons. Well I guess you can see what my final decision was!
I enjoyed Blake’s poetry. The Chimney Sweepers were one of many that I enjoyed. The innocence Chimney Sweeper was meant to give a sense of hope to the child. Yes it was sad but the Angel was the light in that child’s life. The child was already at a lost because his mother had died but then his father was left with a decision of selling his son off to clean chimneys. Imagine the hurt and pain. Of course, Blake described the child’s hurt by describing his cry. It is abuse to us but to the majority in the 1800s, it was not abuse it was a way of life. Fortunately from the podcast, it is stated that the government created a law that the children had to be at least 8 years old. Well to us, that is still ridiculous. I have an eleven year old and I wouldn’t dare think of making her get a job. However I do have a difficult time with keeping her on top of doing her chores.
Anyway, I enjoyed the way Blake used different perspectives to make his poetry interesting. With Blake having different perspectives, you really don’t know which side he is on. Either way you look at it, I enjoyed reading his work from different perspectives. It kept my interest throughout reading his poetry.
Caitlin,
I enjoyed reading your observations about Blake, and I liked the way you related the poems to your own experiences and faith. Be careful when doing so, though, because the experiences and assumptions that make up our own point of view can be quite different from those of an author like Blake.
You hit on my favorite part of Blake: his constant duality. There is always some sort of contrast in his works, and it may be that there is a comparison within a single poem, but more often than not he uses two different poems to contrast the ideal of a situation with the reality of that same situation. Poems like "Lamb" and "Tyger" are a perfect example of this. He explore's God's creation of good in "Lamb," but then he follows up with God's creation of evil in "Tyger," which is very characteristic of Blake.
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