Innocence vs. Experience

Through out William Blake's "Songs of Innocence", there is an uplifting sense of possibility and jovial spirit, where as in "Song's of Experience" there is tension, distress and struggle. This contrast is most clearly evident in the poems "Infant Joy" and "Infant Sorrow". In "Infant Joy", Blake writes "I have no name/ I am but two days old/ What shall I call thee?". These lines portray a certain confidence in the face of uncertainty. Blake is in no anxious distress to give this infant a name, he knows the possibilities are endless. Patiently, Blake names the infant "joy", and takes his time to bask in the sound of joy's name for 5 lines. By the end of the poem, Blake convey's innocence as a period of confidence and patience with no regard for time. In "Infant Sorrow" however, Blake begins with, "My mother groand! my father wept. Into the dangerous world I leapt". Experience's environment is a midst groans and cries before the infant has even had a chance to leap into the world. Blake writes the infant is "Helpless, naked", suggesting no possibilities for the future and no chance of the world getting better. The infant ultimately ends up "Bound and weary", left to sulk upon his mother's breast. Blake's idea of experience seems to be associated with an uphill battle or sorts that makes one tired and jaded. Still, despite the differences in the portrayals of Innocence and Experience, there is an undeniable similarity in the brevity of the poems. Whether in a state of innocence or experience, each state is ultimately cut short.