William Blake (The Visionary Poet)

Pre-Romantic poet, focusing on the ideas of childhood and innocence. The word “visionary” is
connected with imagination as a source of creation. He firmly believed in his visions, fully
embracing the power of imagination. He relied on his visual imagination, which is why sometimes
his poems intermingle with paintings.

He was a radical in terms of politics and religion. He was very pessimistic about the political
system. He put forward the idea of Satan as a hero (make connections with Paradise Lost).

Nature is subjective, and subjectivity is connected with imagination. Nature is imagination itself
and is to be connected with the emotion we feel when looking at it through aesthetic eyes, in
other words, depending on who you are and your mood in that particular moment, you may
perceive things one way or another.

We can say William Blake painted words. Duality is necessary. There is no such thing as good and
bad, but those are religious labels. Both are necessary to move forward. He connected imagination
with evil and energy. Energy means imagination. He used the word energy instead of imagination
because he wanted to convey a sense of power.

He criticized reason and considered good to be passive, which does not necessarily mean he
defended evil. For him, the concept of good and evil complement each other.

The point of both Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience is to show two opposing states of
the human soul.

Blake created his own mythology (consider this when reading The Tyger)

Urizen is a mythological being created by Blake. It is portrayed as a god.

(1) INFANT JOY

This poem may be connected with innocence due to the semantic field. The language is very easy
to understand. On the one hand, the attention is drawn to a child, who is happy. There are two
poetic voices, a dialogue between a mother and a baby.

Depending on the depth of your reading, you might associate the mother with the poet himself.

The reason the language is so simple is because it is a dialogue between a mother and a baby,
which is why it would not make sense to use big words. Also, it is written in such a way to convey a
sense of innocence of a baby who is just learning to speak. Besides, it can be read as a lullaby.

“I have no name”. This is the child talking. He has no name because he is a newborn. At that time,
during the 19th century, one would usually get a name during the baptize, a ceremony that was
celebrated very soon because a lot of children would die. It also creates a sense of purity. Besides,
when you get a name, it means that you enter society, which is heavily criticized by Romantics.
“What shall I call thee”. This is the mother speaking. Having no name is equated with joy “Joy is
my name”. The poet highlights the idea of the baby not belonging to society, which is equated
with corruption.

“Sweet joy befall thee”. This is the perception of the mother towards her son. The mother sees
the baby in connection with sweetness. She sees the baby as a blessing.

Throughout the poem, we can see many repetitions (sweet joy), which is an adequacy between a
baby’s talk and a mother.

In the second stanza, we can see the mother’s reaction connected with happiness (music) “thou
dost smile, I sing the while”. Music is also referred to in the poem Infant Sorrow.

(2) INFANT SORROW

In this poem, there is only one poetic voice, which is important, because it means that the writer is
trying to convey a sense of loneliness, as opposed to the previous poem. In this poem, the child
feels alone. Unlike Infant Joy, it is a monologue. The semantic field is also different to that of
Infant Joy.

“My mother groand”. The poet emphasizes the fact that the mother is sad. The idea of birth is
connected with pain. Besides, the father is weeping because he needs to provide for the baby. The
baby is seen as a burden. The poet is realistically focusing on the fact there is no safety at all, as
opposed to the previous poem.

The world is described by the baby as dangerous, which is connected with the idea that childhood
is easily lost as you begin to notice the dangers of the world.

The language is more complex so as to create an adequacy between the baby and the world seen
as a dangerous and complex place. The language is also more dynamic (groand, weeping, naked,
piping, etc.), connected with helplessness.

“Helpless, naked, piping loud like a fiend hid in a cloud”. Pipe is somehow connected with music,
however, the key word to pay attention to in order to understand the first line is “cloud”, a word
used to describe the future as foreshadowed. Pipe is also used as a synonym for chimney, because
during the Romantic period, very young children were used to clean chimneys, as a result of which
they died. The child is portrayed as something getting darker and darker over time (fiend, covered
in coal, which is also a way of criticizing society as dirty and corrupted). The smoke going up the
chimney is the cloud.

In the second stanza, the language becomes more and more active and dynamic “Struggling in my
fathers hands, striving against my swaddling bands”. This is an alliteration for the letter “S”,
which is to be connected with a snake (corruption as you enter the world). Life is perceived as a
struggle, as opposed to Infant Joy.

“Swaddling bands” is a way of describing the baby as constrained, trying to fight his way out of
society. The baby feels like a prisoner who is defeated “bound and weary”. The baby finally holds
on to life and tries to survive the best way he can “I thought best to sulk upon my mothers
breast”. The baby concludes that he needs to get fed and survive regardless of how corrupted
society is.

(3) THE SICK ROSE

This poem belongs to Songs of Experience. As opposed to The Blossom, here we have a sick rose.
The rose is normally a symbol for beauty, women, youth, etc. At the beginning, there is an
invocation of a rose that is sick because of an invisible worm, which is connected with death and
the loss of youth/beauty. The worm is also sexually connoted because, in this case, love is not
idealized, but described as damaged and polluted.

There is a transition from innocence (The Blossom) to experience (The Sick Rose).

“Has found out thy bed of crimson joy”. The idea of joy is connected with pleasure and is sexually
connoted. “Crimson joy” has to do with virginity and Blake is highlighting this transition from
innocence (virginity) to loss of innocence (loss of virginity). By means of painting a rose full of
thorns, Blake is emphasizing the fact that love can hurt and experience is not easy. However, this
kind of pain is necessary in order to move forward. Just like we could notice in Infant Sorrow, one
needs to confront difficulties to become an adult.

(4) THE LAMB

The semantic field in this poem is similar to that of Infant Joy because it is simple and full of
repetitions. This poem is meant to help readers understand The Tyger. The lamb is equated with
Jesus Christ as a child. At the beginning, there is a question “little lamb who made thee”, whose
answer is God. All throughout the poem, there are many questions to which answers are provided
(always the same answer).

The poem is trying to convey a pastoral setting due to the fact sheep are usually taken care of by a
shepherd (pastor). Christ is the lamb and so are we. When connected with Christ, we have to
remember the image of the Mystic Lamb, a lamb that is tied up and being offered. He sacrifices
himself so our original sin is washed away. Thus, the lamb is connected with purity and innocence.

Also, this idealized pastoral setting resembles Paradise.

“Vales rejoices”. According to Christianity, life is described as a vale of tears and suffering (valle),
however, in this case, vales are not in tears but rejoicing due to the fact the poem tries to convey a
sense of purity, therefore, there is no room for suffering.

There is a child (Christ) that calls himself a lamb and is described as meek and mild. “I a child &
thou a lamb”. “I” is referring to the poetic voice (Blake), who was once a child too. By means of
these lines, Blake wants recover the power of imagination, since according to him, imagination is
at its peak during childhood. “Thou” refers to a child that is in front of him. “We” referrers to
humanity and “his” is a reference to God. We are all called by Christ.
Since God is the creator, the poem closes by directly addressing him “Little Lamb God bless thee”.
The lamb is blessed because Christ offered himself as a willing sacrifice to save us all.

(5) THE TYGER

William Blake came up with a new creator “Los”, and according to him, Los was out of imagination,
and he is portrayed with a hammer. He is more active and more energetic. We can conclude that
Los is being described in the poem, however it does not necessarily mean that Los is the tiger
itself.

The Tyger is a very important poem not only because of the message it conveys but because of the
rhythm, which resembles the hitting of a hammer. It is connected with experience. The Romantics
were emphasizing the ability of the mind to transform. Light and darkness are two elements
capable of fully transforming the space.

In the first lines there is a tiger somehow portrayed as a menace. “The forests of the night” is a
reference to the creative process carried out by energy.

“What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry”. As opposed to The Lamb, there
is no answer to this question. Blake is equating the tiger with energy because a tiger is normally a
threatening and very active creature. Both energy and the tiger cannot be controlled. We can
notice a variation in this poem. There is a circular structure but, as opposed to that of The Lamb, it
is not perfect. “Fearful symmetry” (oxymoron). Symmetry isn’t normally fearful, which is also one
of the reasons Blake picked a tiger due to the symmetrical pattern on its skin, which is beautiful
but also frightening. Also, it is a way for Blake to connect energy with imagination. The tiger
represents energy and imagination.

By means of the questions asked throughout the poem, the poet expresses a sense of despair and
anxiety, because he is desperate for answers. Also, the rhythm makes us feel like a tiger is circling
us. It is important for us to consider that Blake was trying to create the same sense of dynamism
as in Paradise Lost by Jonathan Milton.

“What dread hand & what dread feet”. Blake created this powerful energy and he is unable to
control it. All this imagery of the hammer is trying to convey a forge, where the blacksmith works.
All this explains why Los is holding a hammer, since for Blake, Los is the epitome of imagination.
Blake criticizes reason; however, he is creating reason by means of imagination.

“Did he who make the lamb make thee”. He wonders how it is possible that the same creator
who made such a meek creature as a lamb could also make such as a fearsome creature as a tiger.
This is not necessarily a reference to the God portrayed in the Bible.

One of the morals of the poem is that not everything is black and white. Life and experience is all
about chiaroscuro, living in doubt.

“What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?” There is no such symmetry.
What defines our lives is asymmetry. There is no answer to this question and the poem remains
ambiguous: chiaroscuro, since ambiguity is what defines the world. Also, the reason he replaced
“could” with “dare”: Could is a modal verb of ability, which can be connected with a traditional
process of creation. However, when using “dare” instead of “could”; the process of creation
becomes more personal. The creature cannot be a traditional God, but an entity or a being
(probably Blake) uncapable of controlling its own creation. Blake is trying to explain that in order
to be a writer, you also need to be brave.