WILLIAM BLAKE

Life

William Blake was born in London; at 21 years old he entered the Royal Academy of Arts.
In 1789 he published the songs of Innocence, and in 1794 he published the songs of innocence and experience, in which he show us the two contrary parts of human mind; Much of his vision of mankind is influenced by the historical period in which he live. In fact, he is a contemporary of the American war of independence and the French Revolution. So, Blake is a forerunner of liberty, justice and equality. He is a romantic poet, so, he underlines the importance of the imagination, and he attack the dominance of reason. His most important works are the songs of innocence and experience, in which, the best-known poems are The Tiger and The Lamb.

Thinking

William Blake was a Romantic poet. He gives much importance to the human imagination, because with imagination we can rebel against the injustices of world. So, imagination is a creative force, and with imagination we can create an alternative world. So Blake is considered a visionary poet, and he lived in a crucial period of history because the industrial revolution changed the society. So, Blake fought against the institutions that represent the reason, and marked the role and the revolutionary force of imagination.

Works

His most important works are the two collections of poems; one is called songs of innocence and the other songs of experience. The difference between the first and the second collection is not just chronological: He believes that the mind of a person is divided into two states. So, Blake shows us the two different states of innocence, and experience. The first corresponds to the childhood and the second the maturity, to the harsh world of adulthood. These two states are opposed, but they coexist. So, we have a synchronic coexistence of the innocence, and the experience.
Between the first and the second collection, we have some differences: the difference is not only in themes, but also in structure, in the sound system and phonetic structure.
To underline this aspect we have analyzed The Lamb, a poem taken from the songs of innocence, and the Tiger, taken from the songs of experience. Since the titles, we have a dualism: the mildness of the lamb, and the aggressiveness of the tiger.