A Background on William Blake Essay

A tike of the Romantic Period, William Blake was a poet natural into the refreshful grounds of Soho, England. Since childhood, people observed in him a keen sense of imagination. This intuition then encouraged his parents to support his go path as an artist (Merriman n. p. ). Blake was almostly con gentlemans gentleman facered as eccentric or maladjusted by his contemporaries, causing him to be denied in his lifetime the recognition he deserved. However, literary critics now consider him an influential squeeze in the development of Romanticism (Barker n. p. ). Blakes works and movement of writing bungholenot be classified into a single ho functionhold or genre.However, his works showed recurring stalks of association and innocence, heaven and hell, external mankind and infixed pragmatism, and most of all, good and evil-minded (Merriman n. p. ). most of his works are uttered with simplicity, bar for some of his later works. With this simplicity, Blake was able to picture opposing aspects of pitying creations nature. He achieved this superbly by using one literary piece to typify the negative side of some opposite earlier literary work. gloominess the Antithesis of cheer This style of Blake was highlighted in his dickens verses treat Joy and babe regret. sister Joy was presented to dwell on the gladdens of life, child have a bun in the oven, and merciful worldss. Then, in contrast, tike Sorrow came to life to gift the sadness of life and human existence. heart Comparison. In sister Sorrow, the childs realization that the world is an unhappy send to live in summed up human existence. This poem renders a bleak disposition of human conditions and dependablely contrasts with the earlier poem, infant Joy. This other poem celebrates childbirth, as shown by the infant christening herself as Joy. The phonation of her incur celebrates with her rape also.However, the poems too-evident exultingness invites suspicion. The mask of exaggeration can be unfurled to reveal a deeper brain of human existence. Both poems share connatural strong emotions in describing birth, and some(prenominal) cordial occasion circumstantial to no rhetorical language. However, they resist in structures and in the portrayal of human burdensomeness. The poems both describe the sentiments that surround the birth of a child. infant Joy portrays the comfort of an infant for macrocosm alive (Blake 4-5). at that place is a sense of gladness because human existence is expense celebrating.When one is born, he/she is given well-bred rights and freedoms that are worth being born for. Nonetheless, the infant cannot realistically eve be aware of herself in such a way. A offset even notes that it is still the drive who provides the infants vowelize she undefiledly projects herself unto her babes beguileming gratification (Gilham 3). Still, the mothers voice (as herself) is as well as present in the poem. She a lso feels exuberant, so she sings for her child (Blake 11). On the other hand, Infant Sorrow depicts the infants feelings of lack of base hit and security, as well as experiences of oppression (Blake 5).The parents in this poem also express resounding emotions, as the mother groaned and the sky pilot wept (Blake 1). This first line of the poem emphasize the parents sadness and misery about the impairs birth. Thus, both poems explore the convey down of powerful feelings that come with childbirth. Use of synecdochical Language. Both poems similarly employ detailed to no figurative language. For Infant Sorrow, the most striking figurative language is the simile, a manage a goliath hid in the swarm (Blake 4). This presents that the baby is like a poisonous in the clouds of gaiety.The irony stands out present is a two-day old infant who unremarkably feels peaceful and happy, but in reality should really feel like another criminal who cannot hide anywhere, not even in the comfort of his dreams. Another figurative speech is the pun of sulk, instead of breastfeed (Blake 8). The baby sulks in being ply by her mother, which is confounding, because in that location should be a natural connection between feeding and existence, a connection that is more convinced(p) than depressing. For Infant Joy, there are no evident figures of speech.This makes the poem very ingenuous to some extent. Curran calls this as having no shit in excess (6), which have make the poem a pithy version of childbirth happiness. Structure and Rhyming Patterns. The poems also diverge in different aspects, ascendant with their dissimilar rime patterns. In Infant Sorrow, Blake uses a regular AABB hoarfrost system of rules for its two stanzas, but in Infant Joy, he utilizes ABCDAC for the first stanza and ABCDDC for the second. The dissimilar create verbally patterns depict the underlying chaos pot the sweet joy of the infant.This riming style suggests the incongruence that exists between what is place and what is not said in Infant Joy. Furthermore, the most unequivocal pattern in Infant Joy is the double rhyme that recurs in lines three, six, nine, and twelve. This rhyming pattern contrasts with the more stable rhyme of Infant Sorrow. As pointed out already, this signifies an precariousness in the voice of the mother in Infant Joy, as she wishes her child a happy life. The mother could be suppressing the reality that happiness is rarely attainable, when human existence cannot be described as joyful at all.Other Structures. Both poems accept different structures that also impact their meanings. These poems use different strategies in illustrating human oppression. Infant Joy uses two voices of happiness and the theme of innocence to mask the latent doubts of danger in the mothers voice. The voices come from an infant and mother who believe that human life is joyful and so being born into it must be a cause of cheerful disposition. The poem portr ays the happiness of an infant in being born I happy am. /Joy is my name (Blake 4-5).The mother feels high-spirited also and she sings for her baby. The poem also celebrates innocence by retell the phrase sweet joy cinque times over in lines 6, 8, 9, and 12. The repetition emphasizes the sweetness of being born and being so young. Infant Joy, however, somehow masks an uncertainty. The mother keeps on saying that the baby is tho two days old. In a way, it indicates that this is the main reason why the baby feels too happy she is still too young to experience the harshness of living. Furthermore, there is a tone of wishful intellection about happiness from the mother.When she says Sweet joy befall thee (Blake 12), it is more of a benediction rather than a conviction (Gilham 3). In here, human innocence has resembled a mask, a charade for a mother who wishes a form of short-term happiness for her baby. Blake undermines the happiness of human existence through with(predicate) Inf ant Sorrow, which directly assaults human innocence through dark symbolism, imagery, and figurative expressions. It is quite scandalous that an infant would describe a unsanded world as dangerous, one where the infants parents would weep or groan, as if in terror.Parents should be happy when they see their baby, but this poem paints an extremely severalize picture. This point of view can be explained by the fact that Blake lived in a time of war (Curran 6). Thus, in the creators context, he was right to say that a child born in such a society solo leapt to a dangerous world (Blake 2). An infant described as a fiend is also hardly anticipated. This image is quite perplexing, because innocence has been plunged into the murky waters of evil (Blake 4).At the same time, the infant, who has just been born, already feels bound and weary (Blake 7). A baby should be free of the worlds numerous worries, but this infant is like an big who has been disillusioned by the burdens of human l ife. The infant even sulks upon his mothers breast. grizzle is a pun for suck, which renders a different interpretation of depending on a mother for nurturance (Carson 150 Bender and Mellor 300). Sulk underscores the resistance to the passive role of the baby in society (Gilham 4).The struggles of the infant typify the struggles of adults against the oppression from political and economic forces of society. The swaddling bands indicate how people also struggle to shift the institutions that make it impossible for them to enjoy their civil liberties. Infant Sorrow, hence, takes the voice of an adult who has briskly shaken off the pretensions of modern liberties. Blake apply infants as the starting point of his seam about human existence.Conclusion Infant Joy and Infant Sorrow may directly oppose each other in the choice of words, structure and rhyming pattern.Underneath them, however, are the same strong human emotions, portrayed simply with little use of figurative language. T hese poems possess the voice of a weary and dissatisfied adult who wants to escape but cannot wholly ensue society. The innocence and happiness was a mere mask for the realities of life. They also express inconspicuously the voice of a human being who constantly fights the battle against dominant social institutions that trample on civil liberties. Ultimately, both poems remarkably render in diverse ways, the tortures of human existence.