In our class discussion of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, we discussed innocence being about observation versus cynicism, thereby making perspective the defining element in differentiating innocence from experience. We also said that Blake’s poems about experience are a call to action, whereas the poems about experience center around higher concepts and philosophical discussions. The very nature of innocence as a trait is a philosophical discussion in that there are multiple arguable ideas about what innocence is, how to define it in characters, and how it can be lost. Many of our texts from this semester raise questions of innocence, and in this essay I will trace connections between these texts in relation to this discussion.
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| Innocence by Alexei Harlamov (1840-1925) Innocence portrayed by both purity and youth |
Both Walpole’s Castle of Otranto and Rossetti’s Goblin Market suggest that innocence is defined by sexual morality and can be taken away by compromise of moral standards. Innocence is illustrated in Castle of Otranto through the character of Isabella and her resistance of Manfred’s “tyrannical and illegitimate rule” (Frank 419). Isabella’s moral integrity is emphasized by juxtaposing it with Manfred’s “poor impulse control,” which creates an image of innocence for her (Frank 419). She manages to maintain her purity, so her innocence is never lost. In Goblin Market, readers see what happens to a character when she compromises and loses innocence. Laura succumbs to temptation, giving part of herself for the taste of forbidden fruit. Allegorically, this is akin to sexual immorality, as the fruit’s “association with nuptial pleasures suggest that Laura’s transgression is a sexual one,” (Poetry Foundation). In contrast with her sister, Lizzie restrains herself from tasting the goblins’ fruit though a fleet of them taunted her, “mad to tug her standard down,” (Rossetti 815). She is proved innocent not only by her selfless sacrifice for her sister, but mainly by her refusal to partake in fleshly pleasures. In both of these texts, innocence and sexual purity are closely connected. However, another popular literary definition of innocence relates it to childhood.
There are a few child-like aspects found in some of our texts that imply innocence, including lack of experience and exhibition of dependence. In Browning’s Cry of the Children, the children who work in factories are on the verge of losing their innocence because they are forced to work in harsh conditions. This suggests that innocence itself is something that one can only possess when one lacks difficult experiences. Browning describes in detail the way of the youthful birds and fawns, which are animals generally associated with innocence, and their freedom to enjoy time without worries. She then mentions the children who “are weeping in the playtime of the others,” (Browning 623). Browning herself believed that children needed to be free to enjoy childhood, and that they “should never be forced to study…they would come to all that is needful in their own time” (Taylor 427). It is significant, then, that the needy children in her poem are forced to do worse things than studying, and this makes clear her assumption that it is experience that strips people of innocence. Children are also often identified by their dependence on others, which is another possible attribute of innocence used in our texts.
In both Cry of the Children and part of Kipling’s Epitaphs of War, innocent characters exhibit dependence, especially upon their mothers. Browning frequently describes the children as “weeping sore before the bosoms of their mothers,” seeking comfort through relying on someone familiar (Browning). The same imagery is used in Kipling’s epitaph Shock, in which a soldier in the hospital lays his head upon his mother’s bosom. The association between innocence and childhood is made clear in the texts by the way childhood is clung to in times of despair and rare innocence. As previously mentioned, the children in Browning’s poem face incredible mistreatment in factories, and the horrors of war that Kipling draws from are equally grave circumstances. The soldier in Shock would have been joined by fellow wounded soldiers in great numbers and would have been surrounded by the dead and dying, as in the photo above. Such horrors bring forth a desire for dependence upon something strong and familiar, as illustrated by the victim’s longing to be near his mother. By reverting back to a child-like state at a mother’s breast, the soldier in Shock is attempting to free himself of his experiences, clinging to innocence that is nearly gone, as the children did. Another definition of innocence that is exhibited in texts through children’s dependence is the possession of faith in challenging circumstances.
Faith, especially faith in God, characterizes innocence in both Blake’s The Chimney Sweeper and Wordsworth’s We Are Seven. The little girl in We Are Seven confuses the experienced adult narrator with her confidence that her late siblings should still be counted among her current siblings. Her innocence is exposed by the narrator’s position that aligns with that of the adult reader. This girl’s youthful confidence is not simply due to her age, but to her faith that God has allowed her siblings to die and that it is for the best. She trusts that God “released” her sister Jane “of her pain/ and then she went away,” (Wordsworth 113). Unlike the doubting adult, she has no fear that God will take care of her, therein proving her innocence under this definition. In a similar way, the child in The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Innocence is not terrified by death as an adult may be. When telling of a fellow sweeper named Tom and his death, the narrator does not grieve over the lost boy. He trusts that if Tom would “be a good boy/ He’d have God for his father & never want joy,” (Blake 44). The innocent joy that the narrator feels is illustrated by the warm, playful colors in Blake’s visual representation of the poem, as seen above. The chimney sweepers are free to run and play thanks to God’s angel who came to save them. It is not their youth but their trust in and reliance upon God that creates their character of innocence.
In most of these texts, regardless of their characterization of innocence, it is agreed that innocence is a primarily positive thing. Innocence through purity is prized in Castle of Otranto and Goblin Market, it is clung to in Cry of the Children and Epitaphs of War, and it guides characters to peace in The Chimney Sweeper and We Are Seven. At the end of We Are Seven, the “little Maid” wins the argument with the narrator, acting as a victor for the side of innocence. The narrator tells the reader that in arguing with the girl—or with innocence personified—that he was “throwing words away; for still/ The little Maid would have her will,” (Wordsworth 114). Perhaps these all assert that innocence, when uncompromised, will prevail as a beacon of goodness.
Quotes from reputable scholarly articles
· Frank, Marcie. “Horace Walpole’s Family Romances.” Modern Philology 100.3
(February 2003): 417-435. JSTOR. Web. 6 May 2013.
· Taylor, Beverly. "Elizabeth Barrett Browning and the Politics of Childhood."
Victorian Poetry 46.4 (2008): 405,427,515. ProQuest. Web. 6 May 2013.
Reference to Class Discussion
· Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience from February 13, 2013.
Web Based Sources and Images
· Art Experts—Alexei Harlamov
http://www.artexpertswebsite.com/pages/artists/harmalov.php
· The Blake Archive
http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/search.html
Quoted Text
· Black, Joseph Laurence. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature.
Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 2007. Print.
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