Essay about The Theme of the Suffering Innocent in...

The Theme of the Suffering Innocent in Blakes London The poem London by William Blake paints a frightening, dark picture of the eighteenth century London, a picture of war, poverty and pain. Written in the historical context of the English crusade against France in 1793, William Blake cries out with vivid analogies and images against the repressive and hypocritical English society. He accuses the government, the clergy and the crown of failing their mandate to serve people. Blake confronts the reader in an apocalyptic picture with the devastating consequences of diseasing the creative capabilities of a society. Choosing the first person form in the first and fourth stanza, the poet reflects his personal†¦show more content†¦The tempo increases in the second stanza due to short and choppy vowel sounds, while the mood changes to an active outrage against oppression. The consonant y replicates the sounds of cries, recreating the experience of audible pain that the people and the poet suffered. Repetitions and alliteration of the word every creates an urgency and a common bond between the different elements of society. The responsible adult every man, the infant, a symbol of innocence and helplessness, every voice, the writers, and every ban, the rebel, all these members of society experience oppression. The common bond is expressed metaphorically in the mind-forged manacles?, giving us the horrifying sound of clanking iron chains, which were so common and terrifying in those days. But is not simply sound, it is the image of manacles, cuffs, hammered into the minds of people, as a blacksmith beats the iron into shape, that completes the picture of subtle and effective oppression, killing thoughts before they are even spoken. The reader can almost feel the physical hurt which is implied by these images that accuse the government of brainwashing and repressing creative expression. In the first line of the third stanza the poet introduces a sharp accusation against the church andShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of The Songs Of Innocence And Experience By William Blake1208 Words   |  5 Pages London in the late 18th century was full of poverty and corruption, according to poet William Blake. It was a city with no hope for poor people, and the government and church did little to help this. Among the poor were children working in slave-like conditions to feed their families and going to charity schools. Blake puts these children at the center of his piece to show the hypocritical nature of the church and how innocent people are suffering from it. He takes on two angles from the same topic:Read More William Blakes London Essay example995 Words   |  4 PagesWilliam Blakes London Works Cited Not Included William Blakes London is a representative of English society as a whole, and the human condition in general that outlines the socio-economic problems of the time and the major communal evils. It condemns authoritative institutions including the military, royalty, new industries, and the Church. Blakes tone creates a feeling of informative bitterness, and is both angry and despondent at the suffering and increasing corruption of LondonsRead More The Songs of Experience - Explication of London Essay1043 Words   |  5 PagesExplication of London nbsp; William Blake published, in 1794, a collection of poems entitled The Songs of Experience. This collection works in collaboration with an earlier collection of the authors poems called The Songs of Innocence. The works of 1794 bring to the reader a more realistic or even pessimistic view of the authors native England, in comparison to the poems in The Songs of Innocence. One of the works in the more realistic collection is simply titled London. In this workRead MoreEssay about William Blake’s Poetry1541 Words   |  7 PagesWilliam Blake’s Poetry William Blake was one of those 19th century figures who could have and should have been beatniks, along with Rimbaud, Verlaine, Manet, Cezanne and Whitman. He began his career as an engraver and artist, and was an apprentice to the highly original Romantic painter Henry Fuseli. In his own time he was valued as an artist, and created a set of watercolor illustrations for the Book of Job that were so wildly but subtly colored they would have looked perfectly at home inRead MoreWilliam Blake in Contrast of Songs of Innocence and of Experience1452 Words   |  6 Pagesthrough his many poems. Blake lived in London most of his life and many fellow literati viewed him as eccentric. He claimed to have interactions with angels and prophets, which had a great influence on his outlook of life. Blake believed all prominent entities, those being church, state, and government had become sick with greed and hatred; and Christianity had somehow failed. According to Jeffery Bell in Industrialization and Imperialism, 1800 – 1914 â€Å"Blake’s simple language and use of vernacularRead MoreAn Analysis of William Blakes Poem London Essay1852 Words   |  8 Pages In London, William Blake brings to light a city overrun by poverty and hardship. Blake discards the common, glorifying view of London and replaces it with his idea of truth. London is nothing more but a city strapped by harsh economic times where Royalty and other venues of power have allowed morality and goodness to deteriorate so that suffering and poverty are all that exist. It is with the use of three distinct metaphors; mind-forgd manacles, blackning Church, and Marriage hearse,Read MoreThe Poetry of William Blake1806 Words   |  8 PagesThis essay will aim to show the relationship between Innocence and Experience in William Blakes Songs. Both Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence serve as a mirror Blake held up to society, the Songs of Experience being the darker side of the mirror. Blakes Songs show two imaginative realms: The two sides to the human soul that are the states of Innocence and Experience. The two states serve as different ways of seeing. The world of innocence as Northrop Frye saw it encapsulated theRead MoreEssay on The True, the Beautiful and the Good1967 Words   |  8 Pageswho upholds personal revolts as â€Å"Byronic Hero†. Although these romantic poets are known for the colorful imagination in their works, the source of their inspiration always came from reality, which is embodiment of the True. To begin with, William Blake’s Songs of Innocence, majorly praising the happiness in childhood, can be seen as the songs of ideality. In the poem, Blake summarized, â€Å"And I wrote my happy songs / Every child may joy to hear†, which clearly describes a free, naive, joyful environmentRead MoreRossetti Manuscripts and Innocence and the Songs of Experience1873 Words   |  8 Pagespoetry: the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience. In his own day, he was widely believed to be quite mad, though those who knew him best thought otherwise. Today, few of us take Blakes madness seriously, either because we dont believe in it or because it no longer matters. Blakes fundamental concepts speak mainly about the human condition and emotion; and within the realms of this paper, I would like to persuade my readers that William Blake uses simple language and metaphorsRead MoreEssay on William Blake1879 Words   |  8 PagesNov. 28, 1757 to a poor Hosier’s family living in or around London. Being of a poor family, Blake received little in the way of comfort or education while growing up. Amazingly, he did not attend school for very long and dropped out shortly after learning to read and write so that he could work in his father’s shop. The life of a hosier however was not the right path for Blake as he exhibited early on a skill for reading and drawing. Blake’s skill for reading can be seen in his understanding for and