Blake and Coleridge’s Conflicting Ideas on Childhood and Innocence

Blake and Coleridge’s Conflicting Ideas on Childhood and Innocence

  • Submitted By: mcdavis
  • Date Submitted: 12/02/2009 1:31 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1171
  • Page: 5
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In William Blake’s poetry he presents a strong theme that the innocence of the individual’s spirit is polluted through time by the obscurity of the outside world. Samuel Coleridge also addressed the theme in his poetry but he specifically identifies nature as the purest form of innocence and truth. Coleridge presents the idea that nature, or the outside world, is in fact the victim of the individual’s obscure perceptions and ideas which are perpetually passed on to new generations from the old. Coleridge laments and empathizes with the infant in his poetry because he views the infant as the closest an individual will ever get to the purity of nature. These two themes seem to contradict one another but there is a lot of overlap between the two author’s complex ideas, which actually share more similarities than contradictions. Both authors agree that a child grows farther from innocence with age and becomes entangled with fear and obscurity which is the most significant aspect of both poetic themes. In comparison, the perpetrator of this phenomenon, whether its origins lie in aspects of the outside world or the inside, seems inconsequential. Blake and Coleridge’s poems “Infant Sorrow,” “Infant Joy,” “Tyger,” “Nightingale” and “Frost at Midnight” share similarities and contradictions within their themes of childhood and innocence.
In Blake’s poem “Infant Sorrow” he powerfully depicts a child’s birth into the “dangerous world.” The narrator states “my mother groaned, my father wept,” which are strong images of the mother and father’s sadness. This is a clear allegory for the fate that awaits the infant who will inevitable become like his parents. In direct contrast with this poem is Blake’s “Infant Joy” which is embroidered with optimism. “I am but two days old.' What shall I call thee? 'I happy am, Joy is my name.' Sweet joy befall thee!” This poem asserts that every infant is born full of happiness and purity and also suggests the infant has potential to grow in...

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