Songs of Innocence and of Experience

William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, is a collection of forty-five poems. It is actually a two part piece, the first being Songs of Innocence, and the second being Songs of Experience. The first part has 19 poems, including some of Blake's most well known poems.  Some of the poems from each section connect into other poems. For instance, The Lamb shows the innocence part of what Blake was writing about, bu to go with it  The Tyger shows the other side, or the "experience" part. The original piece of this was  Songs of Innocence, but was later added to be Blake, to create the entire collection entitled  Songs of Innocence and Experience. This collection is what Blake is really known for. This collection of his works really made him what he is. By creating a book of works that was this controversial and also influencing, he was taking a risk. He did not worry about the risk and published them, he was argued against by other poets because of his views about religion, science, and math. His views come out strong in this collection. His other collection The Marriage of Heaven and Hell was his only other work that was more controversial and influencing. This collection of his really shows how he felt about his beliefs. Many people believe that he had a revolutionary mindset when he wrote this. 


The main thing he was trying to to convey when he wrote this was to show the two sides of human spirit. The first part about innocence, is showing a human spirit when it is young and also very free. It dose not need to obey rules and is not repressed by restrictions. The second part is showing what really happens to the human spirit when rules take over. I believe that these rules he is talking about is the belief that science and math can explain everything. William Blake hated science and math and did not believe it could explain the mind, and he also believed humans needed to reconnect to nature. The belief in math and science is a rule filled and very restrictive way for the human spirit to live. The way we should live is believing in the free nature minded way that are human spirits originally were living as.

The Lamb

The Lamb

The lamb is one of William Blake's more well known poems. It came out of his book, Songs of Innocence. As with any poem, this has had  many interpretations and comments made about it. When I read through this poem i got my own thoughts and opinions about it. When talking about the lamb, I believe that Blake is using the lamb as a symbol for Jesus Christ. When describing the lamb he says things like the lamb is meek, and mild. These terms have been used to describe Jesus. He gives the lamb some of the same traits as Jesus. And at the end of the poem he also say, "Little Lamb, God Bless Thee!". In saying this, Blake is saying how God respects Jesus for dying for the people of the earth. The ending of the second stanza is trying to represent how God feels about his son. In the beginning of the poem the lamb us being questioned, as if it does not know what it is, "Little lamb, who made thee". This is showing how little the lamb knows of it creator, but still trusts it. The second stanza is about telling the lamb who made it and what it is, instead of questioning it. The second part, is also about how the lamb became a child if God, and eventually a child of man. The poem is part of the story of Christianity. William Blake was attempting to show the way he viewed the Christian religion to the world in writing The Lamb. This poem was his way of influencing others into believing his views without them realizing it. As a teenager I view this poem as a interpretation of how William Blake believed. By looking deeper into other works of his, one could get a real look into how he really believed. To close it off The Lamb is a key piece of literature if one really wants to understand the works of the romantics and their beliefs, especially those who follow the beliefs of William Blake.