Blakes Voice of Freedom :: The Songs of Innocence and Experience Essays

Blake's Voice of Freedom Essay Question: â€Å"Blake’s voice is the voice of freedom.† Do you agree with this claim? Support your answer by reference to both Innocence and Experience. I strongly believe that ‘Blake’s voice is the voice of freedom’. As you read the poems in Songs of Innocence & Experience you get a strong sense of latitude. His poems really show the reader who William Blake was as a person. He expresses his dislike for authority, the monarchy and the church, but in a subtle way. He gives two versions of each poem, so that we can see it from a different point of view which, in my opinion, is a really clever thing to do. It shows how we, as humans, progress through our life from an innocent state of childhood into a more experienced adulthood. Normally, both versions of Blake’s poems subtly attack some form of organization. In his work, Blake develops a sort of philosophy and, central to this, is his belief in freedom. The Proverbs of Heaven and Hell really emphasise Blake’s outlook on life. These proverbs are often thought of as a more drastic version of the Ten Commandments, in the Bible. In these proverbs, Blake tries to show people the best way to live. One example of the proverbs is; â€Å"Sooner murder an infant in its cradle Than nurse unacted desires.† I don’t believe that in writing this proverb, Blake actually though murder was right, especially not murdering a baby. I think that he was just trying to express how much he believed in freedom, and free speech. He is basically saying that you should do what you want, when you want, or you will later regret not doing it. One of Blake’s most important poems, in my eyes, is ‘The Chimney Sweeper’. Both versions give us a real insight into Victorian London. It has a lot of historical background because, in those days, there really were young boys who were sold into a world where they had to fend for themselves, and clean dark chimneys for little or no money. To imagine that happening in London today is a truly horrifying thought. To think that families were so poor that they had no choice but to sell their sons is awful. Many of these boys died at a very young age and none of them had a bright future ahead of them. In ‘The Chimney Sweeper’, (in ‘Songs of Innocence’), we read about a small boy who has been forced into life as a sweep. Blake wrote; â€Å"And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry â€Å"’weep! ’weep! ’weep! ’weep!†