Noticeable for his literary works after his death, William Blake took on the philosophical and imaginative view of human nature. He illustrates in his poem, “All Religions Are One”, that human nature is what an individual makes it. “The Poetic genius” has the ability to decipher through what is genuine and what is invalid. Blake believes the fact that ‘history is doomed to repeat itself’ if, as stated in ‘principle 4’: “As none by traveling over known lands can find out the unknown, So, from already acquired knowledge, man could not acquire more; therefore an universal Poetic Genius exists. (77) Blake argues that new aspects are apparent but such a concept cannot be grasped if nothing is learned from the information already known, thus imagination is valid.
Within his work, “Songs of Innocence and of Experience,” Blake lyrically portrays the optimistic and pessimistic views of human nature as a whole. Complexly written pieces that parallel each other cause the audience to view these “songs” as question and answer parallels. From “The Lamb”, in the line: “Dost thou know who made thee,” Blake is emphasizing the fact that the creator cannot also be the creator. He develops a sense of wonder for the audience that has them think in a childish manner.
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Bianca,
ReplyDeleteOK post on Blake, but it is hard to follow your ideas here because you make several observations and generalizations but don't really go into enough depth to explain or expand your thoughts. I think you would be better off focusing on a single poem and then going into depth in analyzing that--remember, as a general rule in these posts, say more about less.
Bianca,
ReplyDeleteGood job explaining Blake’s feelings towards acquiring knowledge; I think you are exactly right, he feels as though one must imagine and attempt to gain acquire more knowledge in order to continue gaining understanding of human nature. I think you may have had a typo in the last few lines you wrote that “Blake is emphasizing the fact that the creator cannot also be the creator”. If you have an extra few minutes, I’m really interested in what you meant by that. Did you mean the author is not the creator and therefore this points to the idea that Blake may believe in a divine creator?
I really liked Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience, for their duality and contrast in theme. I wish that you would have, in briefly analyzing "The Lamb," also analyzed "The Tyger." The two poems, when you look at them together can be interpreted a lot better than only reading one. In "The Lamb," there is no question that God created the innocent and pure lamb, but the Maker of "The Tyger" is left up to the reader to interpret and conclude that God makes both the beautiful, gentle lamb and the frighteningly, deadly tiger.
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