INNOCENCE & EXPERIENCE 9

British Museum
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 24
Copy A

Songs of Innocence & of Experience, Song 5, (E 7)

 "The Shepherd.

How sweet is the Shepherds sweet lot,
From the morn to the evening he strays:
He shall follow his sheep all the day
And his tongue shall be filled with praise.

For he hears the lambs innocent call,
And he hears the ewes tender reply,
He is watchful while they are in peace,
For they know when their Shepherd is nigh."

The Shepherd from Songs of Innocence portrays an exaggerated image of the idyllic role of the shepherd and sheep. Tending sheep tends to require more attention than is provided by this, straying, listening, praising shepherd. His flock is so peaceful that he has become detached in his watching. Knowing the presence of the shepherd is enough to keep the sheep at peace. Only in a state of complete innocent somnambulance could a shepherd be so nonchalant about the sheep under his care.

Blake may be emphasizing that the state of Innocence is transitory: that it may be visited and appreciated but it can't or shouldn't be sustained. The sheep will not always be peaceful and the shepherd has other duties besides praise.

Blake would have been familiar with this passage from Ezekiel in which it is the shepherd who selfishly neglects the flock who causes the sheep to suffer. Whether he is talking about a flock of sheep or the people of Israel, Ezekiel condemns the shepherd for failing to care for those for whom he is responsible. 

Ezekiel 34
[1] And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
[2] Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
[3] Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock.
[4] The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
[5] And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
[6] My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.

Here is a shepherd actively caring for his sheep.

British Museum
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 47
Copy A

Songs of Innocence & of Experience, Song 46, (E 26) 
"LONDON                                    

I wander thro' each charter'd street,     
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet             
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man, 
In every Infants cry of fear, 
In every voice: in every ban, 
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear 

How the Chimney-sweepers cry
Every blackning Church appalls,  
And the hapless Soldiers sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls

But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlots curse
Blasts the new-born Infants tear 
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse"  

In the poem London from Songs of Experience Blake assumes the role of the observer seeing the consequences of the failure of the authorities - the government, the church, the parents - to provide men, women and children with care and protection. The powerful create the conditions under which the powerless suffer. The manacles are forged by the desperation created by poverty, by the law, by war and by disease. But it is those who exploit the institutions for their own benefit who bear the burden of guilt for creating the conditions in which the manacles are forged.  

Milton O Percival in William Blake's Circle of Destiny tells us of man's decline as he loses consciousness of Eternity. Degradation follows degradation until he turns away, and his heart, mind and eyes are opened to a new life.  
"In Blake's myth the consequences of error are inescapable. Albion cuts himself off from the living God and descends at once into the Hell of Ulro. So too with the individual. He may, if lucky escape the condemnation of his fellow men; he cannot escape the Ulro of his own spiritual poverty. All whose hearts are given over to malice, hatred and vengeance traverse the wheel of Ulro. It may be escaped only in true Gnostic fashion, by the birth of Christ in the soul. The doctrine of states is witness to such a birth. It is itself nothing less than a changed interpretation of spiritual experience. It is in that sense the immediate avenue of escape, but the real escape is in the regeneration by which a change in outlook is made possible." (Page 236)

INNOCENCE & EXPERIENCE 8

Matthew 18
[2] And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
[3] And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
[4] Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
[5] And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. 

Blake's God was the immanent presence who provided him comfort and guidance as well as the vision which illumined his imagination. To lose sight of the Heavenly Father, to feel that the vision was being withdrawn would be a desperate feeling. In The Little Boy lost the obscuring mist was dispelled by the boy's weeping which represented his consciousness of his condition of being lost.

British Museum
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 10
Copy A

Songs of Innocence & Of Experience, Song 13, (E 11) 
"The Little Boy lost          

Father, father, where are you going
O do not walk so fast.
Speak father, speak to your little boy
Or else I shall be lost,

The night was dark no father was there   
The child was wet with dew,
The mire was deep, & the child did weep
And away the vapour flew."

As a follow-up to The Little Boy lost Blake wrote another of the Songs of Innocence, The Little Boy Found. Although the second poem may be transitioning to symbols more appropriate for Songs of Experience, it shares  the theme of protection and guidance prevalent in Songs of Innocence.
In the state of Innocence the providential elements which allow the boy to be found include the light, God, Father and Mother.  

British Museum
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 22
Copy A

Songs of Innocence & Of Experience, Song 14, (E 11) 
"The Little Boy Found 

The little boy lost in the lonely fen,
Led by the wand'ring light,
Began to cry, but God ever nigh,
Appeard like his father in white.

He kissed the child & by the hand led  
And to his mother brought,
Who in sorrow pale, thro' the lonely dale
Her little boy weeping sought."

This boy in Songs of Experience is lost to conventional religious teaching. He knows the limitations of his ability to love and understand. He makes the mistake of being overheard by a religious authority. The weeping of the child and parents is powerless against the intrenched establishment. This child is lost, not through the failure of his own vision, but through the failure of his culture to value and protect its children and the freedom to think independently.
Blake made an extreme statement in this poem to express his extreme feelings about the failure of the Christian Church. That an institution which grew out of the teachings of love and forgiveness of Jesus, could become cruel, cold and oppressive raised his ire. 

British Museum
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 49
Copy T

Songs of Innocence & Of Experience, Song 50, (E 28)

"A Little BOY Lost            

Nought loves another as itself
Nor venerates another so.
Nor is it possible to Thought
A greater than itself to know:

And Father, how can I love you, 
Or any of my brothers more?     
I love you like the little bird 
That picks up crumbs around the door.

The Priest sat by and heard the child.
In trembling zeal he siez'd his hair: 
He led him by his little coat:        
And all admir'd the Priestly care.    

And standing on the altar high,       
Lo what a fiend is here! said he:
One who sets reason up for judge 
Of our most holy Mystery.

The weeping child could not be heard.
The weeping parents wept in vain:
They strip'd him to his little shirt. 
And bound him in an iron chain.
And burn'd him in a holy place,
Where many had been burn'd before:
The weeping parents wept in vain.
Are such things done on Albions shore."  

The comparison of the states of Innocence and Experience in these poems indicates that the resources which were available in Innocence had disappeared in Experience. The child's calls for help in Innocence are readily answered; in Experience they draw no response. The connection with God which in Innocence is always available, in Experience has been replaced by institutional religion which makes a priest with his doctrines and rituals the intermediary between God and man.

 
Marriage of Heaven & Hell, Plate 9, (E 37)
"As the catterpiller chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs
     on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys."   

Milton, Plate 38 [43], (E 139)
"Thy purpose & the purpose of thy Priests & of thy Churches
Is to impress on men the fear of death; to teach
Trembling & fear, terror, constriction; abject selfishness
Mine is to teach Men to despise death & to go on            
In fearless majesty annihilating Self, laughing to scorn
Thy Laws & terrors, shaking down thy Synagogues as webs
I come to discover before Heavn & Hell the Self righteousness
In all its Hypocritic turpitude, opening to every eye
These wonders of Satans holiness shewing to the Earth     
The Idol Virtues of the Natural Heart, & Satans Seat" 

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INNOCENCE & EXPERIENCE 7

Songs of Innocence & of Experience does not come with an instruction manual. The arrangement of the poems in the two sections was not firmly decided by Blake but varies among copies. Obviously various poems are related as continuations, complements or contrasts to others. But the reader is meant to explore to find the order of reading that awakens his imagination. 

In the previous post concerning the Nurses Songs the laughter and shouting took place on the green and was echoed by the hills. Another poem of Innocence which resumes the events taking place in Nurse's Song is the 'Ecchoing Green'. From Songs of Experience The Garden of Love will serve as a comparison plate.

This poem which is spread over two plates begins at sunrise and ends as the green is darkening. On the first plate there are an older and a younger generation enjoying the activities on the green. The adults sit around the tree with children clustered around. Older boys and an indistinct couple surround the tree. On the borders of the poem we note the ripened grapes and the circle of the hoop. The ripened grapes were prominent too in NURSES Song from Songs of Experience.

British Museum
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 7
Copy A 

Songs of Innocence & of Experience, Song 6, (E 8)  
"The Ecchoing Green

The Sun does arise,
And make happy the skies.
The merry bells ring
To welcome the Spring.
The sky-lark and thrush, 
The birds of the bush,
Sing louder around,
To the bells chearful sound.
While our sports shall be seen
On the Ecchoing Green.
  
Old John with white hair
Does laugh away care,
Sitting under the oak,
Among the old folk,"

Late in the day the younger children are ready to go home with their mothers. The adolescents, however, are aware of those of the opposite sex. They may be ready to taste the ripened grapes which they are already picking and sharing. The older man seems to be pointing them toward the kite which he may be offering as an alternative to the grapes. Blake intimates that the sport unseen may continue among the youthful boys & girls when the green has darkened.

British Museum
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 7
Copy A 

"Song 7   
They laugh at our play,    
And soon they all say.
Such such were the joys.
When we all girls & boys,
In our youth-time were seen,
On the Ecchoing Green.

Till the little ones weary
No more can be merry
The sun does descend,
And our sports have an end:
Round the laps of their mothers,   
Many sisters and brothers,
Like birds in their nest,
Are ready for rest;
And sport no more seen,
On the darkening Green."

The green upon which the children habitually played is no longer present in The GARDEN of LOVE from Songs of Experience, but in its place are a chapel and a graveyard. The intimation is that the aroused sexuality of the young people has come under the censorship of the church which has erected prohibitions and punishments to suppress the joys and desires of youth. 

British Museum
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 45
Copy A

  
Songs of Innocence & of Experience, Song 44, (E 26) 
"The GARDEN of LOVE                

I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:    
A Chapel was built in the midst,  
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And Thou shalt not. writ over the door;
So I turn'd to the Garden of Love,     
That so many sweet flowers bore.

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be: And 
Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars, my joys & desires." 

Jerusalem, Plate 20, (E 165)
"Wherefore hast thou shut me into the winter of human life   
And clos'd up the sweet regions of youth and virgin innocence:
Where we live, forgetting error, not pondering on evil:
Among my lambs & brooks of water, among my warbling birds:
Where we delight in innocence before the face of the Lamb:
Going in and out before him in his love and sweet affection."  
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INNOCENCE & EXPERIENCE 6

Several of the poems in Songs on Innocence bear the same or similar names to poems in Songs of Experience. Two poems are named Nurse's Song with different spellings. These two poems open with the same line but move in different directions.

There are three voices in Nurse's Song of Innocence: the narrator, the nurse, and the children. The narrator observes the play of the children and responds with a sense of peace and security. The nurse predicts the coming of night and calls the children home. She relents and lets play continue until night falls. The children, thoughtless of the approach of night, enjoy their play and plead that it continue.

Childhood is a stage of development; it serves its purpose and comes to an end. The child does not disappear when the stage is complete; his qualities of energy, exuberance and security may go to sleep but retain an influence.

The nurse sets the rules for the child. However she allows the childish play to continue in response to the children's request. The innocent play of the children penetrates the scene, influencing the observer, the nurse and the whole environment.   

In the state of Innocence there is light and laughter, no thought of night disturbs the consciousness.

British Museum
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 14
Copy A

Songs of Innocence & of Experience, Song 24, (E 15)
"Nurse's Song            

When the voices of children are heard on the green
And laughing is heard on the hill, 
My heart is at rest within my breast
And every thing else is still

Then come home my children, the sun is gone down    
And the dews of night arise
Come come leave off play, and let us away
Till the morning appears in the skies

No no let us play, for it is yet day
And we cannot go to sleep           
Besides in the sky, the little birds fly   
And the hills are all coverd with sheep

Well well go & play till the light fades away
And then go home to bed
The little ones leaped & shouted & laugh'd  
And all the hills ecchoed" 

Luke 12 
[22] And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. 
[23] The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. 
[24] Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? 
[25] And which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? 
[26] If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?
[27] Consider the lilies how they grow: they toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 
[28] If then God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field, and tomorrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? 
[29] And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. 
[30] For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

The voices of the children are not alone in NURSES Song of Experience. Other darker voices arise in the mind reminding the speaker of regrets or fears. Perhaps the nurse is transferring her own anxiety to the children. The period of Innocence is seen to be wasted time. From the perspective of Experience, Innocence has been lost; now Experience must be the teacher.

British Museum
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 40
Copy A

Songs of Innocence & of Experience, Song 38, (E 23) 
"NURSES Song

When the voices of children, are heard on the green
And whisprings are in the dale:
The days of my youth rise fresh in my mind,
My face turns green and pale.

Then come home my children, the sun is gone down
And the dews of night arise
Your spring & your day, are wasted in play
And your winter and night in disguise."

Four Zoas, Night II, Page 34-35, (E 324)
"Thus Enion wails from the dark deep, the golden heavens tremble

I am made to sow the thistle for wheat; the nettle for a nourishing dainty
I have planted a false oath in the earth, it has brought forth a poison tree
I have chosen the serpent for a councellor & the dog 
For a schoolmaster to my children
I have blotted out from light & living the dove & nightingale    
And I have caused the earth worm to beg from door to door
I have taught the thief a secret path into the house of the just
I have taught pale artifice to spread his nets upon the morning
My heavens are brass my earth is iron my moon a clod of clay
My sun a pestilence burning at noon & a vapour of death in night 

What is the price of Experience do men buy it for a song
Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No it is bought with the price
Of all that a man hath his house his wife his children
Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy
And in the witherd field where the farmer plows for bread in vain"

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INNOCENCE & EXPERIENCE 5

Some of the poems of Songs of Innocence invite us to compare them with specific poems from Songs of Experience.
These two poems, Infant Joy and Infant Sorrow, contrast being born to innocence and being born to experience. In Infant Joy all signs of trouble have been removed from the state of innocence. Enclosed within the heart of a blossom the infant radiates the joy which he symbolizes.  

British Museum Songs of Innocence
Plate 28
Copy A 

Song of Innocence & of Experience, Song 25, (E 16) 

"Infant Joy 

I have no name 
I am but two days old.-- 
What shall I call thee? 
I happy am Joy is my name,-- 
Sweet joy befall thee! 

Pretty joy! 
Sweet joy but two days old, 
Sweet joy I call thee; 
Thou dost smile. 
I sing the while 
Sweet joy befall thee."

The infant of experience is not passive nor does he enter a gentle world designed to suit his needs. He wails and struggles, strives and leaps. The world of experience demands more from the infant but offers the consolation of the mother's breast.

British Museum Songs of Experience
Plate 38
Copy A

Songs of Innocence & of Experience, Song 48, (E 28)  

"INFANT SORROW          

My mother groand! my father wept.
Into the dangerous world I leapt:
Helpless, naked, piping loud;
Like a fiend hid in a cloud.

Struggling in my fathers hands:
Striving against my swadling bands:
Bound and weary I thought best
To sulk upon my mothers breast."

 







The babe of Infant Sorrow is no ordinary child. Like Orc or Hercules he bursts into the world making an effort to free himself from constraints. Entry into the state of Experience resembles entry into the state of adolescence, whereas entering Innocence is equivalent to entering childhood.  

The setting of the image for Innocence is within the world of vision or imagination, while experience is placed in a realistic setting appropriate for our world of generation. 

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INNOCENCE & EXPERIENCE 4

Blake's introduction to Songs of Innocence is simple and lighthearted. The lamb is introduced as a topic on which the piper will write happy songs to delight children. The only shadow that enters the poem is that the child wept with joy when the song was repeated, indicating that he had some acquaintance with tears.

Under the best circumstances infants have their needs responded to quickly and effectively; they are kept in a bubble of comfort and care as they were in the womb. Such an environment cannot be long provided. The infant's mind will be opened to the awareness of time and space and his journey to full consciousness will have begun.

British Museum
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 3
Copy A
  
 

Songs of Innocence, Song 4, Plate (E 7)
"Introduction

Piping down the valleys wild
Piping songs of pleasant glee
On a cloud I saw a child.
And he laughing said to me.

Pipe a song about a Lamb;    
So I piped with merry chear,
Piper pipe that song again--
So I piped, he wept to hear.

Drop thy pipe thy happy pipe
Sing thy songs of happy chear,        
So I sung the same again
While he wept with joy to hear

Piper sit thee down and write
In a book that all may read--
So he vanish'd from my sight.
And I pluck'd a hollow reed.

And I made a rural pen,
And I stain'd the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear"       

The introduction to Songs of Experience immediately presents the consciousness of time; there is a past that left its influence on the listener. There is a future which he may influence by the choices he makes. There is a limited span of time to take action. There are no requirements for the listener to the introduction to Innocence to fulfill; something is expected of the listener to the introduction to Songs of Experience.

British Museum
Songs of Innocence & of Experience
Plate 31
Copy A

Songs of Experience, Song 30, (E 18)  
"Introduction.

Hear the voice of the Bard!
Who Present, Past, & Future sees
Whose ears have heard,
The Holy Word,
That walk'd among the ancient trees.

Calling the lapsed Soul
And weeping in the evening dew:
That might controll,
The starry pole;
And fallen fallen light renew! 

O Earth O Earth return!
Arise from out the dewy grass;
Night is worn,
And the morn
Rises from the slumberous mass, 
 
Turn away no more:
Why wilt thou turn away
The starry floor
The watry shore
Is giv'n thee till the break of day."

Experience is the path to the Great Harvest under the charge of the Miller of Eternity. Experience is the sifting which must take place before one awakens again into Eternity.

Luke 22
[25] And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.
[26] But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
[27] For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.
[28] Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.
[29] And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;
[30] That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
[31] And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
[32] But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Milton, Plate 3, (E 97)
"At last Enitharmon brought forth Satan Refusing Form, in vain
The Miller of Eternity made subservient to the Great Harvest
That he may go to his own Place Prince of the Starry Wheels
Plate 4  
Beneath the Plow of Rintrah & the harrow of the Almighty
In the hands of Palamabron. Where the Starry Mills of Satan
Are built beneath the Earth & Waters of the Mundane Shell
Here the Three Classes of Men take their Sexual texture Woven
The Sexual is Threefold: the Human is Fourfold"              

Milton, Plate 16 [18], (E 110)
"The Mundane Shell, is a vast Concave Earth: an immense
Hardend shadow of all things upon our Vegetated Earth
Enlarg'd into dimension & deform'd into indefinite space,
In Twenty-seven Heavens and all their Hells; with Chaos
And Ancient Night; & Purgatory. It is a cavernous Earth  
Of labyrinthine intricacy, twenty-seven folds of opakeness
And finishes where the lark mounts; here Milton journeyed
In that Region calld Midian among the Rocks of Horeb
For travellers from Eternity. pass outward to Satans seat,
But travellers to Eternity. pass inward to Golgonooza.

Jerusalem, Plate 59, (E 208)
"For the Veil of Vala which Albion cast into the Atlantic Deep
To catch the Souls of the Dead: began to Vegetate & Petrify
Around the Earth of Albion. among the Roots of his Tree
This Los formed into the Gates & mighty Wall, between the Oak    
Of Weeping & the Palm of Suffering beneath Albions Tomb,
Thus in process of time it became the beautiful Mundane Shell,
The Habitation of the Spectres of the Dead & the Place
Of Redemption & of awaking again into Eternity"  

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INNOCENCE & EXPERIENCE 3

The title pages for the individual books of Songs Innocence & of Experience introduce pictorially the contrast between the two states of the soul. Innocence will portray a relaxed state where there is no threat to the world of mothers and children, trees, birds and fruit. Experience will involve death, grief, sexual division. The bereaved pair of Experience may be the same two who enjoyed the attentive care of the mother on the title page of Innocence. The profile of the deceased woman on the title page of Experience resembles that of the mother on the earlier plate.
Blake uses a more graceful, less rigid font for the lettering of Innocence. His setting is in the open for Innocence; within a formal interior for Experience. The gentle protected world of Innocence has been exchanged for an acquaintance with harsh circumstances in Experience. 

British Museum Songs of Innocence
Title Page
Copy A 

British Museum Songs of Experience
Title Page
Copy A

Northrop Frye in Fearful Symmetry points us in the direction of beginning to understand the relationship between innocence and experience when on page 238 he states:
"The irony suggested by the contrast of the two states of innocence and experience is deepened in the tragedy of Thel, the failure to overcome that contrast which is symbolized by all unborn forces of life, all sterile seeds, all the virginity that results from fear. The Book of Thel thus represents the failure to take the state of innocence into the state of experience."

Book of Thel, Plates 5 & 6, (E 6)
"Wilt thou O Queen enter my house. 'tis given thee to enter,
And to return; fear nothing. enter with thy virgin feet.

The eternal gates terrific porter lifted the northern bar:
Thel enter'd in & saw the secrets of the land unknown;
She saw the couches of the dead, & where the fibrous roots
Of every heart on earth infixes deep its restless twists:
A land of sorrows & of tears where never smile was seen."

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