Songs of Experience Collection

Songs of Experience (1794) is a collection of poetry by the Romantic poet William Blake. Blake's social surroundings had a significant impact on his work, which is traceable in the themes and symbols of the poems in Songs of Experience. Let's explore Blake's renowned poetry collection and how it came to be.

Fig. 1 - William Blake is an English poet and painter, known for his Songs of Innocence and Experience collection.

Songs of Experience: introduction

Songs of Experience: summary

Songs of Experience is a collection of 26 poems made by William Blake.

Usually, the collection Songs of Experience is examined alongside the collection Songs of Innocence (1789) by William Blake, since the two contain contrasting ideas. These ideas present William Blake as an unbiased observer of the social, political, religious, and economical changes happening around him, thus allowing him to offer critical commentary.

Songs of Experience touch upon the loss of innocence experienced as one becomes worldly-wise. At the time of composition, England was undergoing a drastic change. People were migrating to cities in search of employment and a better life, particularly because of the Industrial Revolution.

Blake understood the increasing momentum of industries as a means to enslave the population, and expressed his dislike for authoritarian institutions, including the Church of England. He denounced any form of organised religion while conforming to Christian beliefs. The scepticism he felt due to growing industry and urbanisation is expressed in the poems of this collection.

Overall, in Songs of Experience, William Blake asserts that adulthood tends to corrupt the innocence and naivete that one possesses in childhood. This 'corruption' manifests itself in the darker aspects of human nature such as envy, possessiveness, shame, and cruelty.

The social and religious authorities at the time seemingly contribute to the darkness brought on by experiencing the adult world. William Blake uses simple diction while elevating his poems with rich poetic devices to keep them accessible since he believed that poetry could be enjoyed by everyone.

While William Blake is largely treated as a Romantic poet, the poems from this collection may be seen as anything but. The movement of Romanticism was a reaction against neoclassicism. Romantics rejected the rigidity and structure imposed by classical culture, instead emphasising individuality, harmony with nature, and expression of emotions. The poems in this collection are characterised by rather dark themes and thus cannot be identified as 'peaceful' or 'harmonious' as other Romantic texts.

Songs of Experience contains poems that indicate the various influences on the poet, William Blake. For example, William Blake lived most of his life in London. As he observed the change that came over his beloved city because of the growing industry and migration of people from the countryside to London, he became critical of figures in power that did not seem to ease the problems of the population

The city was rife with crime and destitution, and owners of factories, mills, and other industries exploited labourers, as did the Church, by imposing strict restrictions on the people. William Blake addresses all of these aspects in his poem 'London,' which is published in this collection.

Songs of Experience: poems

The main poems that are studied most frequently in Songs of Experience are 'The Chimney Sweeper', 'The Tyger', 'The Garden of Love', and 'London'.

'The Chimney Sweeper'

While the part of this poem published in Songs of Innocence observes boys being delivered from their coffins to sunny meadows representing heaven, the part contained in Songs of Experience reflects the erroneous perspective of the chimney-sweeping child.

The Church has led the child to believe that to get to heaven, they must suffer in life. In the meantime, the child has no comfort from its parents or any adults, thus signifying the brainwashing that adults experience from authoritative institutions such as the Church.

'The Tyger'

This is regarded as the most popular poem by William Blake. The speaker of the poem expresses amazement at the form of the tiger, which is identified as a fearsome and magnificent creature. Using metaphors tied with the occupation of the blacksmith, the speaker then questions the might and the intent of the creator of the tiger.

The speaker finally asks whether the Being that created the tiger also created a creature as meek and gentle as the lamb. This is an interesting contrast, especially when considering the poem 'The Lamb' from Songs of Innocence, which serves as the counterpart to this one.

'The Garden of Love'

The poem 'The Garden of Love' demonstrates a more nostalgic tone touched with melancholy and resignation. In the text, the speaker revisits a place they have previously frequented and remarks on the drastic changes in this 'garden'.

The garden is now a darker place, with graves all over and ominous-looking priests robed in black walking its grounds. The poem touches upon themes of freedom versus restrictions and the loss of joy and sense of community.

'London'

The poem 'London' illustrates the urbanisation of the city brought on by the Industrial Revolution. Taking on an observatory yet critical tone, the speaker walks the streets of London noting the misery on the people's faces. The poem has dark undertones, which manifest in the themes of death, decay, and labour.

Other poems

Other poems of Songs of Experience include the following:

1. Introduction
2. Earth's Answer
3. The Clod and the Pebble
4. Holy Thursday
5. The Little Girl Lost
6. The Little Girl Found
7. Nurse's Song
8. The Sick Rose
9. The Fly
10. The Angel
11. My Pretty Rose Tree
12. Ah! Sun-flower
13. The Lilly
14. The Little Vagabond
15. The Human Abstract
16. Infant Sorrow
17. A Poison Tree
18. A Little Boy Lost
19. A Little Girl Lost
20. To Tirzah
21. The School Boy
22. The Voice of the Ancient Bard

Songs of Experience: themes

The poetry collection Songs of Experience explores themes of corruption, misery, and the fear brought on by experiencing the adult world.

William Blake was sceptical of the wave of the Industrial Revolution and urbanisation that had seized England, and specifically London at the time. He feared that people were growing increasingly fearful of political and religious authorities.

These authority figures imposed restrictions on the public, and the population's status of poverty and misery was exacerbated by social, political, religious, and economic influences. It is these attributes that William Blake criticises in his poems using various poetic and figurative devices.

Songs of Experience in comparison with Songs of Innocence

Numerous poems in this collection have counterparts in the accompanying poetry collection, Songs of Innocence. Arguably, Songs of Innocence is representative of the time before the 'Original Sin' thereby signifying purity, innocence, and vitality. A 'fall from grace' builds up to the themes of Songs of Experience, which are marked by the cynicism, loss of innocence, and corruption brought on by adulthood.

Therefore, the two collections can be seen as binary opposites, presenting contrasting ideas. By thematically separating the two collections of poems, William Blake distances himself from the subject matter and presents them in an unbiased manner by recognising the merits and demerits of both states. Examples of the pairs of contrasting poems and their respective collections are listed below.