Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience - William Blake

William Blake's two most famous books of poetry are the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience. The Songs of Innocence was written and completed by 1789, four years earlier than the Songs of Experience, which was completed around 1793 (Fuller). In the Songs of Innocence, the poems are bright and happy and seem to be written from a child's point of view, and some believe that his intended audience was children. But, many Blake scholars do not think that his intended audience for the Songs of Innocence was children, instead they believe that he is trying to "instruct adults about their failures by the example of children" (Fuller). Blake is consider Blake was considered a prophetic poet. He wrote the Songs of Innocence because of his "belief in the validity of visionary, childlike perception that was for him not a theory but a living truth" (Aubrey). When Blake writes the Songs of Innocence it seems as though he is trying to warn adults to not lose the childish innocence of their past, or to gain it back. As people grow older they tend to lose their innocence. This is why Blake wrote the Songs of Experience, the book of poetry "The Tyger" is from. The Songs of Experience explores the darker side of human nature. Many of the poems in the Songs of Innocence speak about Christianity as a good thing, but the poems in the Songs of Experience relates Blake's thoughts of the church, which are not all great descriptions (Fuller). "The church is morally blackened by complicity with political power which actively contributes to exploitation and suffering" this is the message Blake relates about the church in the Songs of Experience (Fuller). Blake does not only write about religion in the Songs of Experience he also writes about how the world changes as people get older. "The Tyger" and "The Lamb" were not originally written as partner poems, but when Blake wrote the Songs of Experience as a companion book to the Songs of Innocence, the poems collided when they showed two different, but alike themes.

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