218 Blake, William
Another aspect of the visual version of Songs is
the way Blake’s nature encloses and surrounds the
text in each section. In Innocence, the plants and
shrubbery are thick and rich in leaves and fruits,
heavily intermingling with the text by spreading on
the pages and equally shielding the children and the
lines and words of each lyric. But in Experience, the
plants are visually less intense and carry fewer leaves
and fruit than in the former section. Such differ-
ences in visual imagery suggest bleak surroundings
that are enhanced by the woeful images of the
elderly and children.
The theme of nature appears on the textual
level, coinciding with the visual one, and is compa-
rably unique. Blake skillfully produces vivid natural
images, starting from the introduction with its
blooming surroundings, where a child commands
a piper to compose happy songs out of natural or
rural elements. Appearing in bright shades of color,
the natural surroundings start as tame and protective
of children, and human nature starts as loving. But
nature becomes textually desolate in the introduc-
tion to Experience.
In the second section, the initial blooming imag-
ery and the celebration of human nature decline
along with the decline of nature, as in “My Pretty
Rose Tree,” and with the pervading corruption in
human institutions, as in “The Garden of Love”
and “London.” Such decline is introduced with
the poet’s woeful words addressed to a fallen earth,
which, however, justifies its fallen state as initiated
by human corruption. Humans in turn blame the
declining surroundings for their fall. Such images
are repeatedly emphasized by the shabby and run-
down buildings of “London” and the decline of life
in poems such as “A Poison Tree” and “Holy Thurs-
day,” where human nature and surrounding nature
deteriorate equally.
Nature is also continuously challenged in Experi-
ence through characters such as the puzzled speaker
of “The Fly,” who muses on the ambiguity of life,
questioning the difference between humans and
nonhumans, animals and inanimate objects, and
hence the living and the dead. The speaker con-
cludes with the paradoxical view that the ability to
think is the defining aspect between those pairings.
But this conclusion contradicts the prevalent beliefs
that humans should submit to their superiors, patri-
archal protectors, a view graphically emphasized in
“The Little Boy Lost.” Blake repeatedly questions
the reality of nature, which complicates his views,
especially in instances where nature takes a life of
its own, as in “The Tyger” and “The Sick Rose,” or
where natural elements become agents of evil for
humans, as in “The Poison Tree.”
Blake therefore uses the theme of nature in
various ways, leaving the question of the nature of
“nature” open. Both human and nonhuman nature
appear in different forms and function in different
ways. Nature has a tame and positive side, but Blake
continuously emphasizes that the other, darker side
is comparably important and should be appreciated
whether it is initiated by human corruption or not.
Mariam Radhwispirituality in Songs of Innocence and of
Experience
Modern critics have focused on William Blake’s
spirituality as it stems from the tension between
his Protestant upbringing and his radicalism, both
of which shape the profound, though ambiguous,
symbolism in his Songs. This was perhaps fueled by
his spiritual questionings and contemporary political
upheavals, notably the French Revolution. Blake’s
attitude toward spirituality and the world in general
changed drastically into an increasingly skeptical,
albeit extraordinary, view.
The theme of spirituality in Songs functions sep-
arately from religion, though the two themes share
basic principles. Blake believed in the fundamentals
of Christianity, especially Jesus and his encompass-
ing passion for humanity as displayed in his sacrifice.
Despite his basic beliefs, Blake rejected orthodox
religion and continually criticized the way belief was
institutionalized and thus corrupted and abused. His
radical religious stand produced a spiritual outlook
that valued life and the individual, understanding
God through the self and its surrounding creation
rather than through religious institutions. God
thus spiritually manifests himself to humans on an
individual basis, without any mediators. In Songs,
God the Creator and God the Savior appear in all
surroundings—the innocent smiling infants and the
wonderful creatures, such as the tiger of Experience