William Blake Research Paper

William Blake (1757-1827) lived during the romantic period of literature. However, much of his poetry did not share the same romantic aspects of many of his fellow poets at the time. Blake focused primarily on real human experience. His poetry focuses on the differences of an innocent perspective and an experienced perspective. By focusing on the naive and experienced mindset of mankind, Blake explores both the values and the limitations of both perspectives.
Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience demonstrate the individual perspectives between children and adults. While one is more joyous and innocent, the other is experienced and much less spontaneous (Bloom). A child’s perspective observes the world with innocent eyes and thinks about their desires rather than the reality. In other words, a child’s view is clouded by illusion while an adult would see the harsh reality.
Blake’s use of symbolism in The Lamb portrays mankind’s biased, innocent view. The lamb in the poem is a common symbol for Jesus Christ. Jesus is often portrayed in religion as a symbol of peace and gentleness. However, according to Blake’s own personal beliefs we see that he sees Jesus as an active

The speaker is a child who addresses a lamb. By speaking to the lamb, Blake uses an apostrophe to make the confrontation believable. The speaker asks an innocent question of “who made thee?” (Blake 1) but in doing so touches on a popular question for all human beings concerning creation. The speaker proceeds to answer this question with a religious answer. By accepting the idea that the lamb was created by God, the child is shown as innocent and naive. Blake embraces the positive of Christianity in this poem just as the child. It does not focus on the negative, more experienced mindset of an adult. Just as the child in the poem, Blake does not question his own answer and accepts it as it