Innocence vs Experience

Holy Thursday (Songs of Experience)
               William Blake

Is this a holy thing to see
    In a rich and fruitful land, -
Babes reduced to misery,
    Fed with cold and usurous hand? 

Is that trembling cry a song?
    Can it be a song of joy?
And so many children poor?
    It is a land of poverty!
  
And their sun does never shine,
    And their fields are bleak and bare,
And their ways are filled with thorns,
    It is eternal winter there.
  
For where'er the sun does shine,
    And where'er the rain does fall,
Babe can never hunger there,
    Nor poverty the mind appal.

 

             As famously known, William Blake is a poet who is fascinated with innocence and experience. Therefore, he incorporates innocence and experience in his poems to convey his beliefs. He ultimately believes that neither innocence nor experience is superior to the other. Yet, I am certain that Blake places more importance on experience in his poems. I have noticed that he puts more detail and deep analysis in the poems that deal with experience. For example, The poem “Holy Thursday (Songs of Experience)” epitomizes his preference for experience. At first glance, the poem is short which gives off an impression of indifference and curtness. However, Blake purposely shaped this poem this way in order to portray a contrast between the innocence and experience poem. The innocence poem is longer and richer in language which is a contrast with the short and curt experience poem. But as many people say, “Actions are stronger than words.” Hence, the poem of experience embodies action depicting itself as vitally significant. For instance, the first stanza asks a short question that is full of highly emotional charged diction. Words such as “misery” (Line 3) and “cold” (4) give off a depressing and negative feeling which elevates the gravity of the situation. Also, the image of “babes reduced to misery/ fed with cold and usurous hand” visually illustrates the sadness and tragedy of this ritual. He further on depicts his strong feelings toward this seemingly harmless ritual by describing charity as being paraded. The young orphans/babes are paraded by their beadles by singing a “trembling cry” to the public (5). Blake further heightens the gloomy atmosphere by asking a rhetorical question, “can it be a song of joy?” (6). He obviously knows the tragic answer but asks the question to delineate his melancholy towards experience. What is really important to point out is that the poem of experience comes after the poem of innocence. The poem of experience is essentially the ending/conclusion of these two poems which makes it important. The two complementing poems always begin with innocence and end with experience. The fact that the poem always end with experience indicates that experience dictates what life will become of. In other words, experience is responsible for people’s actions, words, and thoughts. Blake does not deny that innocence plays a significant role in people’s lives but he believes that experience is a stronger force. Experience guides and unites us until death like how the poem of experience unites the two poems together at the end of the poem. I have always believed that poets are subjective in their works so I was naturally led to disagree with the belief that Blake equally paid close attention to innocence and experience. Blake most likely valued innocence for its beauty and purity but he could not deny the stronger force of experience. Through his experience, he was able to write the poems that united his identity and his sense of the world. It is evident that poems embody the poet's spirit and thoughts.