AN INTERPRETATION OF SOME IMAGES AND METAPHORS OF "THE SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE’ Adam Misouios Unset, Pecrad “With a work of art the essential thing is to experience i, Ta ex perience is not the same thing as to understand”! We experience | work of art if we enter into the imaginative world crested by an or Wt, take i just a5 + ts and respond to ft with our felings 4 eo want to understand it, we will need some formula, some pattern of Zarliar thoughts and notions. In the ease of Blake both the factors ate impore tants it hardly possible #o understand his art before we fect St) the process of emotional response ta his at rast come before the process ‘ot mental formulation, Before the precase of interpretation. It ie 50 be- fause the oct expressed the complexity and mystery of lige in tema ‘of image and symbols, without “trenslting the unkown Into terms ff the known”! The poem of the two series farm a system of which innocence and experience eve vitel parte. The eile af innocence [9 rad~ teally diferent from the chilt of experince, though superficilly, there scems to be litle to cistinguish one from the other. But forthe pier and for the Bard the past, present and future ero diferent: forthe Pip- fr the past only can be the primal unity, forthe present is innocence land the immediate future is experience; for tbe Bara the past ls inno- ence, the present is experience, and the future a higher innocence. tls natural, then, that the pipers point af view 1s prevalingly happy, Ihe ix consious of the child's cesenta divinity and sesunrd of Ris pret {ent protection, Ia “The Songs of Experance” the Bard's volee ie solemn ‘and more deeply resonant. ‘leks, G. We Simtel end Imoce te WHR Bike, Oxford Usiversty ct 4 Ge lasint RP Pee of View and Contest ix Rate Sow in Engin Roment Psi Sokre Bly Gem, 0, MWe, One UaThe analysis of the two Introductions gives ux some basis knowledge ef Blitcs Inlendid porelleliam and fe Je here whore we ean alredy find the two major spoke of Blake's xystem. Thi system is beseally Sniplr "Like mony othce artists Blike employed a central group of slate! apenbtis lires nctomcaiMiapniele polere; Mkeqoios =i the child, ths father. re Chant rexpeetively, representing the sates of Inoocence, experience and a higher innocvnce. These «majors syehuls pprivich the eontent for al the stinor, contributory ssambals in oThe Sons (a “The “lnroduction® to The Songs af Fevoveuee gives the image af 4 child, This pave le a symbol of sanccence, but it 32 also 2 symbol ff a child God: it stands here for the auniption that poopie ae shidzex of God. The assumption 6 quite understandable if we remero~ ber about the main notin of Blac phifesophy — the netion of the divine olgin of the whole of exealon, Hulene Richr louehor Ue same ‘The unity between the werlé of Gad and thst of men finds ts full expression im the poom; tho image of the Lomb is Godlike but 3t also manlke and the poot gtconaly slretves the mull Inferdcpondence ‘Of the two worlds. This image is compallinaly elegant because of tt Precnion and refined economy: 1 it unites the two works, 2 it shows them 9 fll of slaplielty and meeknusr Vet tt is the world of men {at fe the pool® main concern aod care, and Ht can Ie seen even In ‘the pleraree of Nature. Tha Laughing Song trom the Tiet eyele is #ueh fstudy, » remarkable one. The metaphors and images se HOt very Tee fined eve, these Indghing stscama and green waode are really com tmonplien, but thee. sleet al the impges of the eyele, give the ime pression of fresh an ionocentiy Urapaled oy. At the same time they {Uhprs tho bello that n'a mument of deep exaltation In Me, Nature ‘eres to our feelings, On the ether hand, these naive images oases th pocts conviction that only 9 siplesnstured wan een spam taneously feel and spond to the flings exeted by Nature. hind the contrete things presented nthe poera there bs 1p profound fc, And He ei eet fo Hit became of Mle’ pul ut whlch fxprestes iit in jinping casly beyond ike eoneree workd Into 3 a - purely ideal realm. Tals steme to be imagination, thot organ of Sasiht ‘which automatically crosses the realm of material things and finds Steele ts the realm of ideas © “The world af conereé, misterlal things is recognized by the senses (they partcipets im the process of ments) formation) and therfore His move ewsly cooprehenaible to people. But the world of spirit is fo be cogtlzed throvah imuginitin, end therefore it i imagination only thet cam ponclrste ina eternity” Blake 3s aware of the world of the everasting splot actuse in it only he sees the real value and fbeerote ponsiratin into st man ean get to kaw ft. Tt socas to be this fspect of Blake's philosophy which W. I Yeats sremed in Ke eitay fon Hlsko? ond thie Hind af experienee which Prof. Digby assumes to Be the ciseetil thing in approaching a work of at Ti ie nisin in « poor ened The Litle Block Boy whore Blake osu the reli of the concrete, the famfise and finds hirself in the realm of deal. Ho achieves it by means of a single Image once move ‘ana i iy here where we must admire the power of his iustration. The Imoge of a tent for 8 inom of God carrie ia self the notion of the omacic Ife, something of peimitvism and something of battle. Ie eor~ Feeponds also t0 the Bybicat story of Noah's sons: it may be oa ecko of the curse east on Cham and the prose Zor Jepheth of ving in the tents of Shem. And pond the tnt of God ibe ames 80 hs The nom was quite ao event in the Bais literature of the times ecsune oF is peitcal context: gpeuking in the name of tolerance the oe pivscuts the black Boy 48 x parloular social and polieal setting fof thy Anietiean Kewuluion.The post agaln erate the rola of the inerate but thie cosets could Hot bo denied ‘One share thing characteristic hero ie the appoarance of she Lambe mace Ine new sontest Hip completely umsaized. Te dow not ean 4 cf osm Bs The Quest for Parmaneace, Heraré Ueesty Pry Came 1 igo, GW ome m8,Br) 7 Raprnueaca et tho imago of the lamb from the previous yooms of the first ‘yele, itis rather meant as its completion In this setting the: poom rset be understood ae Blake's desix: to we the kingdom of Heaven on arth. Te will happen when people have understood the mystery of thle divine orgia and coms Sask to the siete of thoirorinn) cxcel= Jenee throwing away thelr custom af Judging by appearances, An ac ‘compiniment to the poct's dream of the fwsare ip the poem ented ight, a delicate and charming study of Natuee when the Sun is ‘econding in the West ‘We have here, ay it ware, « reconilation of day ad night. They tie flow together, there ia po violent change in natures oll the fost atfoirs have boon finkseed and the nights = natural comsletion fi Ealfent of the days it isthe fine forrest and pene, Sor musing 1 fe the time when t man fele the harmony of Natuse snd that between Nature and Mar, ‘The Tangsnge of the pocm is very simple, e# usual ip Blake's songs (the word "song" itself implies that implety) but the stmoepiere of ‘calm, feeah night 12 rendered by the use of a simple sie whlsh ‘Geseribes the mioon ae a flower. The word “Plwer" acts on tio senses: we con ec, bat also smell: we can breathe the frhnest of the night End eajoy the blir i caries. It the night a children might dream out, and the images here. not Very rebited but vivid and colour raleh nies the atmasphore of @ e's deat. {The metaphor thot bestows onthe moen humen atsbutes, execitly the use of the vor “sme” to ronder the ealancss of the moon, creates This fable of a happy eld “The sorrow of the night deseribat $e the “Inteoduction” to the second feyele ix ahho expoessed In one word only, bat what a diferent eect 1 produces ‘The word “worn” gives the Impression of something gloomy and dirty and the mood cresiet by © werd which ie never used fo doscrb the Hhecomenon of Nature, sults well the Iden of a gloomy night shat kills ramen hopes), ‘The beautiful poetic images af the angele descending inte the: valle Inhabited by people ore, as it were, taken from the fable af tinnverol “i, We TON In he en ks Wan happinss and reconciliation, I seems thst the poet never crosses here the reoim of she ideal but it i not so. The last imnges of the Ia fquarded by the mild bessts which Ive been Waghed in “les ver fare the poet's message to his fellow humen beings. He sels the harmo ous structure of Use universe agsina! human belngs who trouble the Iharovny of nature with their base Ife and cruel deeds, The salvation Js the ver of life, the sacred waters of which wash away evil and dirt, dnd the post clerly stress that it ls this river of fe. Thie image predic the future progres of The Songe of Innocence into The Songs of Experience. Il is 4 distinctive mark that progress will go along the ota of fe x the gorse that the human rece will rach tho stato of fhe sublime nnoeence only through participation fie, ia experience fs the poet sosld en But go lar, there ie no sign of it we have ‘only besutful fable for chikiren snd tho prevaling mcod of It Is ‘optimism. ‘The same optimism, the samo imagery of religious kind we will met In The Chirmvey Sweeper. the poem that expresses Blake's soll ndigne- tion. The imagery of the poom is built up in a very refined way, with the help of calours. There are only two contesting colows, block and White, dnd they are exgusitely belanced. Thus, the imaye of the blac. coin jes symbol of the ite ebimney sveeper's troub'esomo life and it i upperant in the minds of thase who Ienow anything aboot the Feclom whieh was the targst of the humanitueons of those times, land the angel's bright key creates @ clear contrast to it, bringing in Tight and wits Ie (en usual In Blake's imagery) — hope ‘B's wonderful virial iuagination ereatesinuges which ace quite new In Hnglsh literature, especially the Mile Hlustrations showing the everyday activity of washing the boy's bain. Tn this poem the Lemb- “image uedergoeh 8 further development: appears hore san every doy, or rather commonplace, context. It used In a coromonplaee sie: The Chines Sine) ‘The reader can observe the evolution Which the image has und ‘zane: in the opening poems of the cycle 5t appears ia a religious eons tent ond bers all the afttituter of the divine Lamb, the eyrabol of wists te, In Might of The Letle Black Boy 10 te humanized in the sense that it embodiee some feztures of human insight; and in The Chine Sviceper the evolstod brings Use essential features of sab — the aiisi. Thi evolution towards the physical aad everyday world is1 (% RAPITDURA, marked very strongly In the two ending gorm ofthe tet eyele which, st tho som time, stem to be the ley to the whale of the work In The Little Boy Lost the boy sete last at right following “a va ‘Pour, mfstalng i for his father. The Little Bry Found isd back fo his searching mother by God who has taken the same father's shape, The {wo poems sum up Blake's philosophy: the child is Ted. cetsay and right following the father: it cwuld ron da otherwise to the Hil hocont boy. experience, whelhrr tru or false, hep the same shape, Be the poet strongly stresses that inoence Hell i far too kite an iso longer enough for the inoocent child to go fom fuse experience to true hy eharee, It fs experience tol that tke ehild itself has fo arn Blole’s heroes will undergo varlows teste fo The Songe of Experience, and. the physical world, full of contradicts, pt between Coed and Evil wil give them many opportunities to partielpate in the sacred act ofthe trial by fire. After this they will learn to follow a greater in hocence.and to follow i hy ehotes, not by ebance. "That marks the busi Aiterence between the two seta af songs ard ie is the Tesson why “what was Degur a ‘abla im the shld elt has bscome, in its neh setting, a searching test of fath"®. “The child iv 2 symbol of man in the frst stage of his covelopment, tho fether of the pestis ca, be cexplined a5 a symbol of human search for understanding amg the pth of sbstract thinking, and tho Lage of the mother to whom the hil 36 beoaght back ks explained! ly . Richter ae = symbol of tho worktly part of human nature, the body leet: °..» Die Mutter 'st Gicven Cidiehion des Menschen iediacher Tel, die Naler, diy Sinuliche Feit fn thm "The fact of bringing the child bse: fo the mother implies the chiki's tur 19 some slang polnt from whieh it wl begh> is search aul ‘This point seems to be everything with which dhe eld is born: datas ‘don imagination. This glvee musing to the earthy, bodily part of the Fi ht, se “he pitted oy Inlined frmptien es Pe Uhrough experience, Ioking Sor olher pallems i lie than these of father, must be remembered that The Songe of Funocerce depict the ale of tnind of the poet who greeted the Trench Revolution oth €>- ‘Guslesn aud firaly belleved thal 1 woukd open tho galer of a New Jerosalmy. whereas The Songs of Beperience exorcts the social biter ‘ness nd he pout disappointment with the Revolution whieh did wot ecm to Fall the previous hopes", Therefore tbe symbol af the Father Sas ee eee eee eee ee -. Wich appears in those songs bears all the features ofa biter grown-up rom who has rosa his innocence and egtandered a Dig chunce. Here At 1s ports who get Jost and are found following the chit, hove the hilt becomes the teacher. In The Litle Girl Lae! and “The Lite Gil Found”. the two poems irom the second yee, the gil, having taken her lesion from Nature, fonds her paren's safely home although the titles suggest ¢ revere situation. Tho parents are saved because they hhave trusted an innocent instint, that power which his nothing to do with reasoning and abstract thinking (he get's ne, Lea — In Greek *woll” — suggests some wild power of Nature. Expericace, embodied in the grownups, must Jean to follow # givaier Innocence embodied in ‘the Gd srho hes Loerie her lesson from Nature Innocence hes mater fed Nature (Ihe ton had fesrued to Hie down with the child the Lara €f Gist) but it as fo master the world of men ay well and therefore ik ‘will have to masior the false experience dhe forme of which ere fixed 4m societies, And The Songe of Brperience show all the forms of i, they enumerate Uhem, at 1 wore, The mutilation of eoieties Je shown fr the rent of the activities of the false experience, Newtonian ratio pallsm Is sllacked in the “Introduction” to the second eetea a© cou fining the workd of Nature with fotters of rational thinking When the post use the metaphor of « "starry floor” to describe the firmament, he reverses the familiar pattern the reader fat in md to denote the ‘conepy af beaven. The corsmonplace floor hus nothing to. do with he Starry fermament sed therefore st appeals so strongly ae 3 fem, slid Imatctal thing evershadewing the Hight for whieh people are longs ‘Conventions and restictions of the religous ast ore clslled by Bloke es the Iizviest fiers of min's Ife, Dlske shows thet religion fakes the form of mystery depriving lle of joy and making # alse] duty fers Inve for God and people. Tue post cheater lov= ky making it-a rovelstion of divint, the met vial power in men, In hie approneh Jove is a gatden where beautiful flowers of mom's nable deeds and Intestioas ‘00 growing, When the ‘bright orden is changed into 4 gloomy chapel, love eeates tobe the abet of human instincts Deprived of Joy and the Sun by dreary guards of Jaw, Jove becom: ‘Glam duty. Defending man's ght to love, the post defends human taht to rating over hie bodily form, ad this. defends man's right to Dponeunforiity. The bate with tho Uniform materia Ie Seto be ‘otd Inthe poem entited The Little Boy Lost. We haow Ue itnue, bat here {he cxpression ciffers: the ehild iz no longer protested by Gad, Thelitle boy is condemned to the stake for his supposed profanity, The Image of the stake contributes much to the development of the patiemn of the eyee; 1 meune that the boy has undergone his ew experience Ine himself has chaven his way and be secounts to his choice, The sae. -Smuage marks a nev sep Torward in the progression from ionosenee $0 ‘xpeience. In fact It Ib tho fest experience of the Uoy and te 70 be Understood as some purifying. ond at the seme time confirming, power (On the ether Hand, the sake means hore Sort what it raat fn the ld days of the Inquisition: » aymisol of pusishnient for the crite of Blase phemy. For the boy It means pusistment ut it ie poesia who are to be blamed, not the boy, ane therefore an the higher level itis « kind tot that will prove the boy's truth and contin hie flth tn tae valid= ity of ls owen code. Experience iis fnasener ne Heal not do any thing else. It can only teach poonle how te entrap and seisin sch Aelieste erentues, things, end emotions, sx enly chien ore abl to fojoy without seeking to catch or enzo them, Mi is astemcd to his old fustoms and prejudices as a sunflower te fasined o the soll that trac it. He 3s constantly longing Zor the Sun, for serenity and right= ness, turning his face to the Stn, Put eannot escape his fete, The sun sflower 1s a metaphor of huzsan life ent he image reveals ner more ‘he Sun lies the secrot of their divinit, Because they sive towards (or a men) lebouriousy climbing the endlesly nurmeroas saps of sme Terie stare er ladder C3 counest tbe segs uf the Sa ‘aie Sen Finer ‘Yet the poet stress that in tho very fact that men Lit their feces 19 he Sun lies the secret of thelr divinity, because they strive owaeds Infiltenes. 5 the contradiction between boxy and soul, of reason and ftmagination which exists in the wor! of people to push the world. ‘The question of this contradiction is fully explained in The Piyer. The Tiger inesrnates, as It were, all the eontradletons which cause sorrows lo the whole eration. The post asks if i i pose that God created ‘oth the Lamb and the Tiger ac but the two sides of the same power ‘which reveals itsef in Goed and Bui, and that the energy that springs {om the conflict between the (wo powers, pushes the world on. They both have to exist if people ore to distinguish between thet and choose. The aboriginal Innocence mast be armed with experience lest it gels last bn the “foros of the night”. The Tiger tumninates the dak hss ofthe night because in the new context it fe the Tiger, the inear= nation of wild unbridled life, that becomes the Usecher of ie Othe Rees qf taneennnans sf Eniperenre” i= A lind of 9 youte suring ap of the two sea of songs can Be found in'Tee Dine lage far The Song of tmovence end The Hse tran ADeiact for The Songe of Experience: The Dine Image describes isla of Mersy, Dig Peer, and Lave a8 tbe rellectiow ef God In ‘Bim beings sa proiee the obllly of thy human belnge who ore Capwble of Toliring he. Creston rue man alert shows the mm vite but growing man in mllinerest: prise at Kings tse Ube ste of ply an on ence for poverty, and deine pce aan mie of fe: ‘Phe tau above tetoned tne would no charm the reader with their rutin impacey thoy opel xy hole guar ects and Lemme The lingtage of the song i bailly simple and get te pictues Binks creates are wll balanced ad appecting than ton men ono aove tat Mike posse te git of yl tagiraii a ao td avery fine sar Zor snd, Hle language fight therefore become a9 feelin fool He doer ot ase many words to Tender spec effet flys shogh so simple and few in number, they sreate an ceca ing pattern of tho post language Sooner they sound ke the reat tha conn, sets Dike msi, They ener he exp ad eaves Gf the sped and motion of human Me