William Blake: Poems That Inspire

William Blake: Poems That Inspire

William Blake was a British poet, painter, visionary mystic, and engraver, who illustrated and printed his own books (Blunt, 1959). Misunderstanding shadowed his career as a writer and artist and only later generations recognized and valued his importance as a poet.

William Blake's best poems are found in Songs of Innocence and Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul, which was published in 1794. In general, Blake's poems appeal to most people because they provide a unique look at human nature and society in optimistic and pessimistic terms. Blake used this approach because he believed that people need both sides to see the whole truth.

Two of my favorite poems by Blake, and ones that I would highly recommend to anyone who has ever felt lost or alone, are "The Little Boy Lost" and "The Little Boy Found." Both of these poems are part of the Songs of Innocence collection (Blake, 1991). The titles reveal what the poems are about.

In the first, a father leaves his tearful child in the dark. In the second, as the child cries, God comes to him, kisses him and brings him to his mother, who has been crying and looking for the boy (Blake, 1991).

The first half of "The Little Boy Lost" is a frightened cry from the child, as he asks where father is going, tells him to stop and asks him to speak, or else his "little boy" will be lost. The reader would expect a reply but instead it is revealed that the father has disappeared into the night.

The good thing about the Songs of Innocence collection is that Blake gives all his poems happy endings (Blake, 1991). While the happy ending is not found in "The Little Boy Lost," the subsequent poem the Little Boy Found gives the readers hope. In "The Little Boy Found," the boy is led by some kind of "wandering light." Whether it is God, his father, or a guardian angel, we do not know. As the boy cries, God visits him dressed in white, symbolizing his goodness. Blake also describes God as being "like his father," which may mean he looks like the boy's father or is more of a father to the boy than his real one.

The father, who deserts the boy, is sharply contrasted with the mother who desperately seeks the boy, "pale" with sorrow and crying (Blake, 1991). God guides the child to his mother. Blake suggests that the mother may have never found the boy without the help of God, as she had previously been searching in the wrong places.

As children, most of us feared getting lost or being deserted by our parents. As adults, many parents fear losing their children. These two poems appeal to everyone who has ever experienced fears of getting lost or losing someone, so I recommend them for this reason.

In addition, I recommend these poems for the simple reason that they are beautifully written. The poems come across as naive and childlike. However, they describe very profound and universal thematic elements. Most children fear getting lost and most parent fear losing their children. The two poems cover two sides to one story -- getting lost and being found. They also compare the way that human parents fail with God's power and love in caring for children.

Blake does not use metaphors - one thing representing some other thing. Instead, he relies on symbols, enabling the reader to determine their own meanings. Thus, while I may see the poem as being about a real child getting lost, someone else may interpret it as a poem about being unsure about the world and our place in it.

Blake uses many symbols in his poems. According to Friedlander (1999): "One of the central themes in his major works is that of the Creator as a blacksmith. This is both God the Creator (personified in Blake's myth as Los) and Blake himself (again with Los as his alter-ego.) Blake identified God's creative process with the work of an artist. And it is art that brings creation to its fulfillment -- by showing the world as it is, by sharpening perception, by giving form to ideas."

Because he believed that that creation followed a cosmic catastrophe and a fall of spiritual beings into matter, Blake discusses Gnosticism, a multi-faceted religious movement that has run parallel to mainstream Christianity (Friedlander, 1999). Unlike most other Gnosticizers, Blake sees the world as a wonderful place, but one that would ultimately give way to a restored universe. For Blake, the purpose of creation is as a place for personal growth, in preparation for the beginning of our real lives. While the natural world contains much that is gentle and innocent ("Songs of Innocence"), those who are experienced with life ("Songs of Experience") understand that life can be terrible and frightening.

Blake's poem, "The Tyger," which finishes without an answer, is basically about our own experience of not getting a completely satisfactory answer to the important question of faith. It is aklso about having our reason overwhelmed at once by the beauty and the horror of the natural world. "When the stars threw down their spears / and watered heaven with their tears" is the most difficult part of "The Tyger."

According to Friedlander (1999): "For Blake, the stars represent cold reason and objective science. (They are weaker than the Sun of inspiration or the moon of love. Their mechanical procession has reminded others, including the author of "Lucifer by Starlight," of "the army of unalterable law"; in this case the law of science.) Although Blake was hostile (as I am, and as most real scientists are) to attempts to reduce all phenomena to chemistry and physics, Blake greatly appreciated the explosion of scientific knowledge during his era. But there is something about seeing a Tyger which you can't learn from a zoology class. The sense of awe and fear defy reason. And Blake's contemporary "rationalists" who had hoped for a tame, gentle world guided by kindness and understanding must face the reality of the Tyger."

The Tyger" poses a question: who could have dared to create a beast as terrifying as the tiger? (Blunt, 1959) Blake compares the creation of a tiger to the dangerous process of creating molten metal from the furnace with hammer and anvil (Friedlander, 1999). In the poem, Blake asks the question: 'Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?' Blake implies that it was God who created both the gentle lamb and the dangerous tiger, but that he may regret having created such a mean beast as the tiger.