Blake, William - Poems

William Blake

The lamb

There is a narrator who puts questions. He is a child as the poet, so we can say that Blake puts questions. He doesn’t know the nature of the lamb, which is innocent as a child. The poet wants to rediscover the meaning of creation.

The lamb is in a perfect place where you can contemplate happiness, an uncorrupted place where purity rules everything.

The tyger

The tiger lives with the lamb in the Eden. The tiger has a positive energy and it represents experience. These two animals are complementary in human existence.

When imbalance starts, the corruption destroyed life in the garden of Eden. It’s necessary to rediscover innocence and purity when Blake lived. He denounces the industrial revolution. Every revolution is a fail, there’s not freedom. He is fascinated by nature.

Chimney sweeper

Chimney sweeper is an innocent child, it’s a strong criticism to the industrial revolution, the child is obliged to work. With the word snow we identify the period, it’s winter, it’s used to emphasize the sufferance. There’s the contrast between the black of the child and the white of the snow.

The child is the poet and he is able to answer, mother and father are absent because they are obliged to work. Blake is denouncing family, church and society because they are not able to help poor children.

According to Blake, adults caused the sufferance and they are responsible. Blake wants to denounce the situation because there’s the possibility to change. Find a concrete way to resolve this situation.

London

The industrial revolution produced marks of weakness and marks of woe in London. The poet has the capability to understand the reality and he writes about it using auditory and visual images. He describes the negative aspects; the king and the parliament are responsible of this situation.

The final image is dedicated to family that is completely corrupted. They lost their faculty. He is teaching people to react, it’s a social denunciation and a description of reality.