William Blake's Spring
Spring

in

English Literature

 


Icona iDevice from "The Songs of Innocence "

 

William Blake

 

Spring

Sound the Flute!
Now it's mute.
Birds delight
Day and Night,
 Nightingale
 In the dale
 Lark in Sky
 Merrily
 Merrily Merrily to welcome in the Year

Little Boy
 Full of joy
 Little Girl
 Sweet and small,		 Cock does crow
 So do you.
 Merry voice
 Infant noise
 Merrily Merrily to welcome in the Year
Little Lamb
 Here I am.
 Come and lick
 My white neck.
 Let me pull
 Your soft Wool.
 Let me kiss
 Your soft face
 Merrily Merrily we welcome in the Year


 


Icona iDevice Innocence and Experience

The state of innocence refers to the condition of man in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. It is symbolized by the Child who has not experienced yet the evils of society or by the Lamb.
Experience is the world of normal adult life, where the social order produces inequality and exploitation; its symbol is the Tiger.
The two states coexist within the human being: “ the two contrary states of the human soul”


Icona iDevice Comprehension
Now read the poetry again and try to understand the meaning
Icona iDevice Revision

Answer the following questions:

1)When was Songs of Innocence first published?

2)What does Blake mean by “innocence” and by “experience”?

3)How are children portrayed in Blake’s Spring?

4)What was Blake's attitude to the American and French Revolution?

Icona iDevice Composition

How do we experience a natural phenomenon like spring in our modern industrialized world?

Icona iDevice a cura di
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