Lighten up, yo

"A slumber did my spirit steal"
Those opening words get me every time. This is one of my favorite poems, and its simplicity, beauty and meaning mesh together to make a morbid peace that leaves you feeling at complete ease with our mortality. Wordsworth's use of alliteration in the first line create this soft, peaceful state in your mind that lulls you into a sort of softness, as if you were being sung to sleep by a guardian. This is what he is trying to make you understand what he feels death feels like. It isn't a violent ripping of the soul from the body, but a gentle, quiet taking of it in the night, while you don't even notice it, you are changed. The imagery of the soul being lifted from the body and the idea of the body being left behind with the rocks and trees and the dirt lends itself to the naturalists that were emerging at this time and changing the views of the gothic forms of literature. We were no longer in the time of the obsession with the dark and when death was viewed as a coming of the soul into a blackness of the unknown. Wordsworth is vocalizing the peacefulness of death's coming that should put our minds at each, we are all mortal, we are all made to live and die, and whether you believe in an afterlife or not, or whether your soul lives on without you or not, this is what we should all accept our lives to be. Wordsworth leads us into the time of the World Wars very well, when pretty much all of British poetry was about our mortality and the idea of our mortality being for a cause: the victory of good over evil. This poetry was beautiful and strong and perspective changing in the strongest sense.

So again, I tell myself, lighten up yo.

Where is Lucy?

In William Wordsworth's poem "Lucy Gray," he creates the story of a young girl who disappears in a snowstorm, causing her family to go searching for her with little hope. The ballad is bleak and heart-wrenching as the mother follows her young daughter's footprints but fails to bring her home, and yet the final stanzas give a trace of hope with the words "Yet some maintain that to this day She is a living Child." This verse could have easily have been more haunting, saying something along the lines of "To this day, her spirit dwells in the midsts forever searching for her family..." (which would certainly give it more of a Gothic influence) but instead it claims that she could be alive. Could this futile optimism be to spare the reader the idea of the death of a child? Is it even optimism at all? The idea of Lucy being alive or at the very least having her spirit still lost in the wild could either be interpreted as her being apart of nature now and being preserved as an innocent child, or it could be seen as her being forever lost and ignorant much like in Purgatory. Innocence and ignorance seem to hand-in-hand when it comes to the bliss of naivete but Wordsworth is well aware that there is nothing blissful about a child being lost in the height of a snowstorm. He based the poem on a real story of a girl who got lost in a snowstorm and was later found drowned in a canal. Rather than tell that story and give Lucy a conclusive and finite ending, he gives the story a certain vagueness that is looming. Should we feel hopeful or haunted?

Won’t somebody PLEASE think of the children!

William Blake critiques the status of children through the symbolic use of animals in his collection. In Song of Innocence he often refers to children as lambs, and the poem itself describes a soft and gentle creature being “meek and mild.” This is a classic Christian symbol that is meant to invoke a sense of innocence and helplessness. However, Blake meant to make a more sinister connection with the addition of Songs of Experience. The lamb is also used in the Old Testament as a sacrifice; during Passover a Paschal Lamb was killed in order to atone for sins, basically washing away sin in blood. Blake saw children as being abused by religious leaders who supported an economic environment that allowed children to be the victim of cruel work conditions. This is most evident in “Holy Thursday” were he speaks about children being reduced to misery and poverty, most likely working instead of attending Thursday night services. These children sacrificed their innocence in order to serve a system that did not support them economically or spiritually. The companion piece to “The Lamb” is “The Tyger.” The tiger in Christianity represents martyrdom. There are many stories of Christian being thrown to lions and tigers in huge arenas for all to see. This is much like the children being thrown into a life of labor with “good Christians” as the spectators simply watching as the children get devoured by a life of poverty and hardship.

Blake's case

In Songs of Innocence/Experience, William Blake likens the transition from childhood into adulthood as one of almost spiritual importance. In Innocence, Blake portrays the unbridled joy of childhood innocence in its most pure form. This, to Blake, is the period in which we are our greatest and even likens children to angels. As children, we are pure because innocence is all we know - we know not of the struggles and sacrifices necessary to maintain a stable life. Given the time period in which he was raised - one of industrialization in Britain - Blake was given the luxury of being able to live as a child for far longer than most lower-middle income children. He only attended school until he was 9 and was pulled out by his parents and home schooled by his mother for the rest of his adolescent years. During this time, Blake was prone to visions and had a very active imagination, which often alienated him from his peers and caused his neighbors and extended family to think him mildly insane. At the age of ten, he claims to have seen God and a gathering of angels in a tree outside of his window. I believe much of the idealism and holiness that Blake writes about in Innocence is a view of childhood reminiscent of his own experience growing up.

To see what isn't seen.

Upon first reading Song [She dwelt among th’untrodden ways], it seems like Wordsworth is simply describing a woman (Lucy) he sees and fancies, but after reading it a few times, my initial thought changed. I think Wordsworth is describing Lucy to some extent, but at the same time, I can’t help but think that he’s also describing some part of himself; he’s projecting the loneliness within himself - to an extent - onto this woman. Aside from his projection of his suspected loneliness, Wordsworth seems to also explain how he sees this woman when no one else does or can, as described in the line:

A violet by a mossy stone

Half-hidden from the Eye!

- Fair, as a star when only one

Is shining in the sky.

I can't tell how he feels about possibly being the only one that notices this woman. Does he want others to see her too? Yet at the same time, does that also mean that he wants others to see the loneliness he has, if he really is projecting any sort of emotion onto this woman. 

One with Nature

In William Wordsworth's lyrical poem "Lucy Gray," a young girl ventures out into a stormy night and is never seen again. Rife with eerie imagery of nature, the poem links Lucy's presumed death with the idea that she lives on through nature. A similar event happened to Wordsworth's sister, so the poem holds even greater meaning as a possible coping mechanism Wordsworth wrote to indirectly immortalize his sister not only through words, but imply that life does not completely end in death, but rather continues on through  nature.

In the poem, Lucy originally goes out into the storm to light the way for her mother when she returns home. When the search party goes looking for Lucy, "the Mother spied/ The print of Lucy's feet." Lucy ends up leading her mother after all as the search party tracks her footprints "downward from the steep hill's edge," "through the broken hawthorn-hedge," "by the long stone-wall," and "(across) an open field." Lucy goes through all the aspects of nature but is barred by the manmade stone wall that she does not cross but only walks beside. She is essentially already one with nature and when her footsteps disappear in the middle of the bridge, she is disappearing on a man made item. The bridge, of course, can symbolize a variety of things, the most obvious being the bridge between life and death; or man's interruption of nature. Lucy presumably doesn't die from the weather, but rather the bridge is what causes her death, probably from slipping off.

The fact that Lucy's footsteps are still visible in the snow, the comparison of Lucy to "the Fawn at play" and "The Hare upon the Green," and Wordsworth's final stanzas depicting Lucy as "sweet Lucy Gray/ Upon the lonesome Wild," all indicates that she has a strong relationship with nature that transcends and even extends life. She lives on in the woods, not hauntingly as the Gothics would prefer, but instead happily, singing, whistling, and never looking back. Lucy is essentially just as alive at the end of the poem as she was in the beginning.

Man vs. Nature

Wordsworth’s poem, “Lucy Gray,” to me, caught the essence of not only the harsh battle between humankind and nature, but how human interference with nature can backfire and lead to tragedy. Lucy’s father sends her with a lantern to show a path to town for her mother, but because of the harsh winter blizzard, she never makes it. She becomes lost in her trek, and when her parents see that her footsteps have stopped on a bridge, they know that their child has died during the cold night.

                This poem, by showing both Lucy and her parents’ struggle and helplessness in the storm and darkness, presents that nature has a sort of authority over man. Lucy goes out on a mission – fully prepared by leaving early enough and carrying a lantern with her – to find a path but nature, in a sense, wins over and prevents her from completing her task. In the end, it is man’s creation that ultimately leads to Lucy’s demise. She comes to a bridge (manmade) and there her footprints, which her family has been following, cease. Lucy finds this bridge after she has “wandered up and down” though the snowy hills, believing that this will help her in her journey. Maybe if she had come to the river below instead, she could’ve have turned around and gone back home. Man’s interference in nature is what causes Lucy’s death.

A portrait of Dealing with Death

I find that in his poem “We Are Seven” Wordsworth really does something unique with his writing and that is give a glimpse into how a poor young girl sees the world. In the conversation between the man and the young girl we learn that there are seven children total, it becomes very quickly understood that not all is as it seems. She says there are seven but two dead and four are gone away. This strikes me on a number of levels. The first is because it was not uncommon for non- aristocratic families to have large numbers of kids and depending on their social status or income may not have been able to care for all of them on their own and for Wordsworth to make a reference to this seems a bit odd. The second reason is even though her two siblings are gone she still counts them as among us as if nothing had happened. I cannot pretend to know what Wordsworth vision for the cultural sentiment towards the dead in this poem would be. Reading this made me more curious as to what his views on the place of the dead in his own society were and was this poem based on some of his own life experiences or was he taking in descriptions and looking at how certain groups viewed their deceased?

Peace That Transcends Understanding

 Wordsworth’s poem, “We Are Seven”, is a short and simple ballad that packs a heavier punch than it appears to have. I really enjoyed reading the dialogue between the man (the narrator) and the little cottage girl with thick curly hair. As I was reading, I found myself wondering why this name was interrogating the little girl about her siblings so much. He insisted upon bursting her innocence and having her accept the fact that she no longer had seven siblings, but five. He seems to get frustrated halfway through the poem when the little girl won’t abandon the idea that all of her siblings are still there. At the end of the poem, the narrator realizes that there is no changing her mind and he describes trying to sway her was a waste of his breath, saying “’twas throwing words away; for still the little maid would have her will.” The little girl’s persistence had me rooting for her. I wanted her to keep her innocence. I couldn't help but feel that the man was evil for even trying to shake this little girl’s innocent and pure faith. Why was he even talking to her in the first place? For this reason, I was very satisfied with the last line of the poem, “Nay, we are seven!” She got the last word. She won. This symbolizes that if there is a will to keep one’s innocence and pure mindset and there is a strong faith to back it, it is possible to fight off and defeat this world’s dark and cruel ideologies.

  I couldn't help but be captivated by this little girl. She describes her sister’s death by saying “In bed she moaning lay; Till God released her of her pain, and then she went away.” This is a very peaceful understanding of death, and it was surprising to me that it came from an 8 year old girl. It often takes adults many years to view death as a resting place for their loved ones rather than a dark gloomy end. She knew something about death that the man didn't. His words didn't matter to her. She had an understanding and peace the surpassed his understanding, and that was something that could not be shaken. 

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.

The Spectrum of Human Nature

                When I read Songs of Innocence and Experience, I immediately identify the common themes occurring in both books.  However, the two books broach these subjects from two completely different perspectives.  It is for that reason that The Lamb and The Tyger stand out the most. 

                These two poems seem to break the tradition of  common poems detailing a similar, if not the same, situation or thing.  It is difficult to imagine a Tiger and a Lamb being on in the same unless we are prepared to throw biology completely out of the window.  In a sense, though, they are one in the same.  It's just that the poems aren't about the animals at all.

                The poems themselves invoke a religious reading considering how they both observe and question God's creation of the "animals."  That much is obvious, but I feel like the poems are deeper than that.  If we consider the teachings of Christianity, we see that Jesus often preached a message of love, tolerance, and acceptance.  In that sense, a true Christian would be like a lamb in that they should be a fairly peaceful person.  Moreover, that is how Christianity believes humans should be.

                People, however, are inherently flawed.  We oftentimes fall short of our goals or compromise on our morals.  We have the capacity for love and tolerance, but oftentimes excel at hate and destruction.  We hunt, kill, and wage war on our fellow man.  In that sense, humans share common ground with bestial predators like the tiger. 

                Thus, I believe the common themes of Songs of Innocence and Experience hold true for The Lamb and The Tyger, and that the common theme is the nature of humanity itself. 

Song [She dwelt among th'untrodden ways]

In Song William Wordsworth talks about a maid who feels will go un missed because there were not many close to her. He portrays her as a maid "whom there were none to praise and very few to love".  It becomes apparent that he feels she is more than the average person and felt strong about her when he starts describing her. Describing her qualities as one would not describe the average, such as "a violet by a mossy stone". He describes her as "unknown" which is a strong label to give. This is obviously a person he thought highly of, but what is the reason. Was this a lover of Wordsworth or a person he just strongly admired? He is not straight forward describing her in a romantic manner. This could be a person who he admired for actions she has committed.  Maybe he believed she was unique and should be praised, but she wasn't and it had become to late.

Perspective as it relates to Romanticism (We Are Seven)

William Wordsworth's We Are Seven is a very romantic poem that invokes deep philosophical thought about mortality.  This poem is structured like a ballad yet contains several things to set a serious tone within the poem.  Focusing on the first stanza there are quite a few details that convey the whole meaning of the poem.  The very first line "a simple child" gives the reader a sense of curiosity, life, fertility, and pacifism.  This is sharply contradicted by the third line "what should it know of death?"   Not only does this contrast the first line of the poem, but it's also juxtaposition for the B rhyme on line 2 "and feels its life in every breath" So mechanically the poem is contrasting the words in the 2nd line, it is also conflicting with the readers expectations from the previous 3 lines.  In those we get such words as: life, lights, child, and draw are all things that can be perceived as "happy" words that set a light tone.

A good way to take in the overall feeling of the poem is to listen to a reading with music by composer Mohammed Fairouz.

Listening to the music "performed" as opposed to just reading it to yourself gives you a different feeling.  Much like Wordsworth, this is a very romantic poem that focuses on something so simple as a dialogue.  On the surface we get a simple banter between an an adult and a child about why she considers her two dead siblings to be alive.   Deep down however, Wordsworth is using the child's innocence to represent the universally polarizing ideologies that reside between the young and old (age and experience coincidence?).  The exterior frustration of the man, is really the fact that the man sees the naivety of the child, because he once was young.

Natural Communion

Wordsworth’s “We Are Seven” is a surprisingly innocent and sweet poem surrounding the idea of death. In it, Wordsworth tells of a little girl’s connection to her late siblings, and relates it to human connection with nature. The innocence of a child is often thought of as natural, and the child this speaker addresses is “a little cottage girl” with “a rustic, woodland air.” The child, in her youthful and wild state, is closer with the natural world. As the poem continues, the reader learns that she is also close with her siblings who “in the church-yard lie.” She refuses to reduce her number of siblings, insisting that they are seven even though two have passed away. As a poet who loved nature, Wordsworth may be suggesting that those connected closely with nature are also connected with the dead in a way that most do not understand. He allows the child to have the last word in the poem, as she again says, “Nay, we are seven!” This suggests the authority of the child’s statement, as if she knows a truth that the readers and speaker have forgotten.

The graves in this poem are not described as frightening or ominous. Instead, they are “green” and close to the home, as if the departed children never truly left. The little girl spends time with her siblings, communing with the graves as she sits in the grass and sings to them. From this perspective, death is as natural as the environment itself, and there is little to prevent the little girl from being with the dead. The poem is somewhat reassuring, perhaps suggesting that as long as humans, dead or alive, are all a part of nature, nothing can separate them.

William Blake: Illuminated Book

William Blake was more than just a poet. He was “The Voice of England,” “A Prophet of Europe,” and a visionary. From a young age he saw visions on angels, in response he wrote poetry of these visions and then later in his life revived the art form of the illuminated book. He created his own copper etchings to create his books after studying under James Basire. Without the art his work is simply words on a page. The etchings themselves morph into his poems and create a new level of thinking about his poetry. His contemporaries called him crazy and he wasn’t even a well-known figure during his life time. It wasn’t until decades after his death that his work would become one of the most crucial pieces of art in all of British history. Below are examples from his illuminated book "Songs of Innocence and Experience"

The cover of Songs of Innocence and of Experience
http://www.ursusbooks.com/item31915.html

Blake's London

My personal favorite Blake's A poison Tree