WILLIAM BLAKE’S “SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE” AS A PRACTICE AND MANIFESTATION OF THE ENGLISH ROMANTIC MOVEMENT

Year 2019, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 15 - 22, 27.11.2019

Mustafa Canlı

Abstract

The agricultural and industrial revolutions of 18th
century changed Britain radically: rural people became urbanized and the social
conditions were terrible and inhumane because of the ongoing economic progress
of the Imperial Britain. There was a climate of turbulence and instability, the
bygone eras were much remembered and recognized as “good old times” by the
people and the literary circles. In this age, a group of artists and poets were
disillusioned; they believed in the importance of individual and personal
experience. They were called romantics. In this study, William Blake’s “Songs
of Innocence and Experience” (1789 and 1794) as a manifestation of Romantic
Movement in English literature is presented and analyzed in depth six poems
form the collection to find out what Blake manifests in terms of poetry,
subject matter and style, and how he puts his romantic ideas into action in his
poetry. The poems to be analyzed are “Introduction to Songs of Innocence”,
“Introduction to Songs of Experience”, “Holy Thursdays” in “Songs of Innocence”
and in “Songs of Experience”, “A Poison Tree” and “Earth’s Answer”.

Keywords

Romanticism, William Blake, Poetry, Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience

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