Songs of Innocence and Experience is a collection of poems by William Blake, published in 1789. Together, Blake explores "the two contrary states of the human soul", as he had said in the subtitle. . Despite their simple images of children, flowers, animals, and an off-putting "happy" vibe, the songs are disturbing and reflect Blake's deeply held personal and spiritual beliefs. These poems contrast the innocence of childhood with the world of adulthood, a world full of repression and corruption. Many songs are written in pairs, so issues are seen from two different perspectives: one through the innocence of childhood, and then the experience of adulthood. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay Starting with the introduction, there are many possible interpretations of this poem. Considering that the songs were written during the Industrial Revolution and that many children were victims of abuse and child labor, it is very possible that the child on the cloud is the piper's muse, who helps him to understand that it must be the voice of those who cannot do so. speak for themselves: the deceased, the lower class, the children and all those who were struggling because of the industrial revolution. The line "Piper, sit down and write / In a book that all can read" suggests that the piper sat down and wrote about the impurities of the world; furthermore, the ambiguity of the last stanza "And I made a rural pen / And I dyed the water clear" can easily be interpreted as the piper "pouring" kindness into the water, which are the impurities that treat children cruelly, until the water becomes clear. Dying the water clear is a paradox, because the water should already be clear to begin with, but in this case the water was full of impurities, and dyeing it clear with kindness makes sense. Additionally, the connotations of the adjective “clear” further reinforce the idea of ​​purity that the poet is trying to convey. In the final lines of the poem, "And I wrote my happy songs / Every child can have the joy of hearing", Blake wishes for a world that speaks only of purity and warmth, giving joy to children unable to speak for themselves and be their advocate. Blake's two poems about The Chimney Sweeper are intriguing in the sense that they give readers a sense of the two "contrary states" that Blake wanted to describe. in his collection. The speaker of Innocence is a young boy who was sold by his father to take up chimney sweeping as soon as his mother died. The word "cry" rhymes with the word "sweep", so we can assume that the child was sold into the business before he was even old enough to speak. This fact adds to the theory that the narrator was far too young to understand the situation he finds himself in, which further amplifies the discouraging state of innocence that can result. The child in Innocence may also have heard the word "sweep" as "cry", which also suggests that there is little difference in how children see things, as they do not yet understand the world in which they live. Blake portrays the chimney sweep in Experience, now an adult, as someone who finally recognizes the position he has been placed in and criticizes society for it. Blake plays again with the similar sounds of "sweeping" and "crying" (A little black thing among the snow: / Crying "'crying, crying' in notes of doom!), perhaps showing that the chimney sweep, through experience and knowledge, recognizes that his life has been imposed on him and is.