Throughout the Romantic era, many major themes are used, one of which is the state of innocence and its connection to the spiritual world. These characters were perfect examples of the purity to which many Romantics aspired.
The Songs of Innocence by William Blake reveal the hopes and fears about children growing into adulthood. Some of the poems are written from the perspective of children, while others are about the children as seen from an adult. Many of the poems draw attention to the aspects of human understanding before experience. Others take a more critical approach toward innocence. For example, while Blake touches on the emotional power of innocence and purity, he also exposes Christianity for what it actually is: promotion of injustice and corruption.
In Blake's poem "The Lamb," the speaker is a child and makes a comparison between himself and the lamb to whom he speaks. The lamb is referred to as "wooly bright," and is wearing "clothing of delight." The lamb is white, which is the traditional color of purity, and is wearing clothing of delight, which is one emotion connected with innocence. Basically, the speaker says that he is an innocent child by comparing himself to the innocent lamb. After the state of innocence is established, a spiritual connection is created.
Blake is trying to say that society and experience distance you from the spiritual world. Therefore, the child and the lamb experience the spiritual world by living in the same way that Jesus lived, as creatures of God.
While Blake’s poem “Lamb” described innocence and purity, his poem “The Human Abstract” describes something completely different. This poem analyzes the four virtues, including mercy, pity, peace, and love.
“The Human Abstract” states that pity would cease to exist without poverty, that mercy would not exist if everyone was happy, that the source of peace is in fear, which produces only selfish loves. The poem describes how cruelty plants and waters a tree...