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Introduction : Man progresses from innocence to experience. Blake considered both innocence and experience as two contrary states of the human soul, equally necessary for man's salvation and attainment of a higher innocence. Songs of Experience thus has poems sharply contrasting with those of Songs of Innocence; Blake sets out to prove that child-like innocence cannot survive the acid test of experience of real life in this world. Specially to point out the contrast between the idea and the reality, between innocence and experience, Blake gives poems of similar titles in both groups of poems. The contrast is thus highlighted.
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| William Blake |
Innocence versus Experience : The poems in Songs of Innocence embody life seen through innocent eyes. However, the speaker need not be identified totally with Blake, for Blake seems to be aware of the tones and nuances of Experience even as he pens the lines of Innocence. This is where the irony enters the picture. Blake is aware of the ignorance of the innocent eyes and of the necessity of gaining wisdom.
Ironical Elements in Songs of Innocence : 'Infant Joy' appears to be an exposition of a state of bliss and joy. However, if we read it again after reading 'Infant Sorrow' in Songs of Experience, we will perceive the joy and bliss in a different light.
I happy am.Joy is my name..
These lines from 'Infant Joy' are bitterly ironical when compared with the child comparing himself to; "a fiend hid in a cloud" in Infant Sorrow. 'Nurse's Songs' (in Songs of Innocence) describes carefree play of human imagination while the later 'Nurse's Song' reflects envy and sourness. In 'Holy Thursday' of Songs of Innocence there is already a disturbing note looking forward to Songs of Experience. The authoritarian hand of repression is already to be seen though the children's voice reaches the heavens. In the second 'Holy Thursday' condemnation is sharp and clear. In the earlier Chimney-Sweeper there is a hopeful ray which should hot however blind us to the reality of the angel's exhortation to Tom - he should continue to work hard as a chimney-sweeper. The irony is apparent - it is only if Tom works hard in the soot and danger that he will gain approval. The ironical suggestion become explicit and severely condemnatory in the second 'Chimney-Sweeper.' In the later poem, the child openly blames those responsible for his plight. 'The Divine Image' of Songs of Innocence perhaps offers the best lesson of irony when juxtaposed with 'A Divine Image' of Songs of Experience. Mercy, pity, peace and love turn to cruelty, jealousy, terror and secrecy. In The Human Abstract we are told how those divine attributes - mercy, pity and love - themselves are twisted by man's crooked reason to justify poverty and misery. What more ironic comment can be possible?
Conclusion : The state of innocence and its attributes have in themselves the seeds of irony. If the lamb is a creation of God, so is the tiger. The themes of the second section are present in germ in the section of innocence. Such perfection as expounded in Songs of Innocence cannot obviously be real in man's fallen state and hence by itself it implies an ironic vision. As the innocence slowly fades in the face of experience, the irony is directed at the reality of Man's existence - the institutions he has made, the religion he follows, the society he has moulded. In his fallen state, to speak of the innocence of man itself is an ironic comment. There is no way of perpetuating that innocence without successfully going though experience. Thus Blake's irony is a double-edged weapon which poignantly im plies the turbulence hidden beneath the smooth surface of innocent childhood and also reveals the tragedy and reality of man's existence on earth.