The Complexity of Human Nature in William Blake's "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience"

The paper gives a general introduction to the Romantic period and biographical information on William Blake’s life. After that, it analyzes his poetry with regard to the Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. The poems analyzed are counterparts, “Holy Thursday” of Innocence and “Holy Thursday” of Experience, “The Chimney Sweeper” of Innocence and of Experience and “The Lamb” and “The Tyger”. The primary focus of the paper is on showing how complex human beings are, and that innocence and experience are not simply two polarized states of human soul. Moreover, by bringing them into the context of the age, it is going to show the inevitable symbiosis between good and evil, between innocence and experience. As the era brought about social changes most clearly seen in the rise of the bourgeoisie, it also negatively affected the lower parts of the social ladder. Blake was mostly concerned with these issues, so his poems present the negative effects of the radical social change on the common people. While it is typical to assume that the state of innocence is mostly concerned with children as they are naturally inexperienced and naive, the paper shows how the surroundings may corrupt, spoil, and scar the fundamental innocence of human beings.