Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Childhood, in Blake’s eyes, is a time of “innocence” and protected bliss, though not entirely unfamiliar with the problems of the larger, mature world. Eventually the soul becomes “experienced” and loses its childlike vitality in the face of fear, oppression and inhibition. These two collections of poems showcase ideas of the progression of the human soul that would become standard in the Romantic movement. Many poems have a parallel in the opposite section. The most famous doubling is “The Lamb” and “The Tyger,” which taken together contrast the benevolent providence of God with the sometimes terrifying violence of his creation.