Innocence

William Blake was a famous poet in the 18th century in Britain and he is one of the most important romantic poets of the early British. The era in which Blake lived was during the Industrial Revolution, which with changes in all aspects of society and economy. Under the dual influence of social environment and personal experience, his poetry has a clear theme, profound artistic conception, a strong symbol, religious color, and strong social criticality. Many of William Blake’s poems describe the terrible situation of the lower classes and children in British during the Industrial Revolution, as well as the shameless behavior of the British political system and capitalists who don’t care for people and even children in order to pursue their profit.

The industrial revolution that began and developed in the 18th century had a profound impact on British society. Technological innovation has increased production under the premise of saving manpower which also increased product quality and competitiveness. The capitalists have gained more profits than before. “Blake lived in the time of the British Industrial Revolution. A time when children were forced to work from a young age and physical punishment was considered normal. It was a time of change. The world was becoming mechanized”(Anesica). The emerging British bourgeoisie and new aristocracy deprived the peasants of land use rights and ownership through violence, machines have replaced the labor and large labor surplus resulting in a large number of unemployed people. The lives of civilians are becoming increasingly poor, and social class contradictions continue to deepen. During this period, many poor children’s children were sold as apprentices in the factory. They are deeply exploited and enslaved by their employers and deprived of their good childhood and human dignity. Blake’s poetry is a true portrayal of such a society, and its masterpieces “Song of Innocence” and “Song of Experience” are most widely circulated. In “Song of Innocence”, Blake successfully portrays the innocence and simplicity of the child before suffering from the sufferings of the world. In “Song of Experience”, the poet’s misfortunes and hardships turned to the poor, depicting a dark world full of pain, poverty, and war. The chaos of society and its own misfortunes also prompted Blake to express his hatred and reprimand of the ruling class and sympathy and pity for the working people in his works.

“London” is one of the most painful and profound short poems written by Blake. The poet criticized the political system and the tyranny of the authorities from different aspects. The first stanza of the poem describes the speaker’s painful and contemplation on the streets of London. “I wander thro’ each charter’d street, Near where the charter’d Thames does flow”(line 1-2). The poet was witnessing the “charter’d” streets and Thames shipping. The use of the term “charter’d” is synonymous with monopoly capital or commercial rights. “Royal charters granted rights to corporations, universities and other bodies. Blake objected to that growing power through taxation that merchants, financiers and aristocrats were enjoying and to the financial inequality that resulted”(Zappia). This also implies that the city has been eroded by capitalism and full of corruption and sin. London in Blake’s poetry is not a paradise, but more like a hell. In the first two sentences of the poem, the poet used “charter’d” twice. This means under the political system of that time, the street was no longer the infrastructure of the city, but the private property of the “power” and businessman. Even the Thames, which belongs to nature, is controlled, and ordinary people have lost their living space. People are weak, sick, hungry, cold, and mournful everywhere. “And mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe”(line 3-4). The “mark” is repeated to emphasize the citizens. Both adults and babies suffer from signs of weakness, disease, and pain. The poet repeated “every” many times, referring to each passing pedestrian, “every cry of every Man”, “every Infants cry of fear”, “every voice”, and “every ban”. Because of the restraint, each passing people has a weak, painful face. We can say that it is more like walking dead than living. In the second stanza of the poem, the poet uses the “cry” and “voice” to mobilize the reader’s hearing. Everyone seems to be forced to cry, venting pain, dissatisfaction, and helplessness. Even more afraid is the crying of the baby. This is not the crying of the baby due to hunger and discomfort but by fear.

The last two stanzas of the “London” poem highlight the poet’s critique of society. In the third stanza, the poet describes people who work in two professions: children who sweep chimneys and soldiers. The chimney sweep was a special type of work that emerged during the Industrial Revolution. It was the product of the Industrial Revolution and capitalism. Because the chimneys of houses and factories were narrow and small, they could only accommodate children to climb in. The poor family were unable to raise their children and had to sell them to the chimney sweeping. “The boys were forced up narrow, winding chimneys to clean them of soot. Some suffocated inside the chimneys they were trying to clean. Others grew up stunted and deformed, dying at a young age from cancer or lung diseases”(Tate). Because of their long-term involvement with ash, they are prone to illness. Also, with the dangers of work and poor living conditions, many children are dead. At the beginning of the third stanza, the poet mentioned the cry of the chimney sweeping child. The cry of these children shocked the “blackning” churches. As we know, the church is a sacred place which should be a happy and peaceful paradise, but it is full of the cry of chimney sweeping children. Even in churches, the dangerous profession of sweeping chimneys cannot be eliminated and putting those children to live in danger. In addition, the poem “The Chimney Sweeper” included in William Blake’s “Song of Innocent” and “Song of Experience” also describes the life of the child who sweeps the chimney. The poem in “Song of Innocent”, Blake described the misfortune of chimney sweeping children in the first person point of view. As one of these children, “I” mainly tells a dream of working partner – Tom Dacre. In the dream, the angels rescued the little boys trapped in “coffins of black” and took them to a plain where full of sunshine to play. The poem in “Song of Experience” is developed through a dialogue between the adult and the child. The parents of the child abandoned him in the snow to solicit business, but they both are going to “the church to pray”. The poet used the child’s “mouth” to ridiculed and critical society. Both of the two poems are all about depicting such a group of poor children, which exposing and criticizing the social phenomenon of exploiting child labor.

Another special job is soldiers. The duty of the soldiers is to protect the country, but the war also has a distinction between justice and injustice. Britain’s long-term aggression and plundering of a large amount of wealth have also caused disaster to the people who have been invaded. When the contradictions are not reconcilable, the war will be triggered. The American Revolutionary War, the British and French wars, all caused a heavy blow to the British. The biggest victims of the war are still common people. The poor people have to join the army in order to be able to eat. “English soldiers in the 1790s were, like chimney sweeps, treated brutally. The blood of these young men metaphorically stains royal residence walls”(Zappia). The war has claimed the lives of thousands of warriors. Their blood has become a river, and the “Palace walls” have been dyed. This is the poet’s silent complaint against the corrupt political system and the tyranny of the politicians. In the last stanza, the poet expressed his criticism of this “dark” society. The scene in the last stanza is no longer daytime but “midnight” and this midnight is scary. “How the youthful Harlots curse; Blasts the new-born Infants tear”(line 14-15). The most common and often heard voice of the speaker on the streets of London is a “Harlots” cursing. The voice of a young mother cursing of her newborn baby. Harlots is a young victim. She doesn’t love and doesn’t want this newborn baby, because this baby is the result of business rather than love and the presence of the baby will only bring her more poverty. “And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse”(line 16). This sentence reflects all the hypocrisy of bourgeois marriage. “Blake has refused to leave the nuclear family out of London’s corruption in this poem. The economic system in the first stanza comes full circle in the resulting prostitution of the last stanza, illustrating the need for a new social vision”(Zappia). In such a dark society where a girl must survive in selling their bodies to live, the bride of the poor family has no happiness at all. Marriage has become a funeral of love, so the festive wedding car has become “marriage-hearse”.

Blake not only reflects the real social life of London at the time by describing the status of the lower class to criticize the selfish behavior of the British political and capitalists. At the same time, Blake talks about the unfortunate childhood of children through poetry, which makes the readers truly understand that the cruel social phenomenon and has unlimited sympathy and concern for the children who suffer. William Blake published the poetry “Song of Innocence”, which shows a world that is still pure and happy despite the existence of pain and sin. Through these poetry readers, not only can the poet’s description of the happy world be felt, but also his dissatisfaction with certain ugly phenomena in the society at that time. “Song of Innocence” was created after the American Revolutionary War, when the British society was relatively stable. Some poems use a simple language to depicting a harmonious and beautiful natural scene. Blake uses poetry to praise God, the beautiful nature and the precious life. But at the same time, it reveals the irony of the dark side of society in the poem. The poem “The Chimney Sweeper” which include in “Song of Innocence” depicting the child‘s dream has an “angel” saved these poor children. It is designed to tell people to believe in God. As long as they are tough, God will one day protect them. But at the same time, in this poem, Blake also reveals the cruelty and coldness of a capitalist society. In the poem, the poet replaced “sweep” with “weep”. This may have two layers of intentions. One is to emphasize that the boy is too young when he is sold to sweep the chimney, even the full pronunciation of the word “sweep” cannot be called out which highlighting the fate of the child and his father’s ruthlessness. Moreover, “weep” has the meaning of “crying”, readers can also feel the bleakness in the poem and the sadness of the child.

In his collection of poems “Song of Innocence” and “Song of Experience”, William Blake published many poems about the misfortunes and sufferings of people and children, all of which represent hatred and expression of the industrial revolution. The revolt of capitalism. This resistance involves all aspects of capitalist politics, economics, religion, morality, and culture. Blake not only attacked feudal autocracy, exposed the darkness of society, sympathized with the sufferings of the poor, but also praised the beauty of nature and the innocence of children. He sharply criticized the reality of British society at the time, and at the same time loudly appealed to the liberation and freedom of the human spirit.

 

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Work Cited

Tate. “William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience – Look Closer.” Tate,www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/william-blake-39/blakes-songs-innocence-experience.

Anesica. “William Blake’s attitude to the society he lived expressed in his Songs of Innocence and Experience.” Annes Blog RSS, anesica.blogs.uv.es/2010/11/07/weblography-3/.

Zappia, Susie. “The Symbolism and Imagery in ‘London’ by William Blake.” Education, 21 Nov. 2017,education.seattlepi.com/symbolism-imagery-london-william-blake-6492.html.

 

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