English Revision Guide
Blake’s Songs of Innocence and
Experience
LANGUGE STRUCTURE CONTEXT CRITICAL QUOTES FORM/TONE
Poems
The Little Black Boy (Songs of Innocence)
Key Quotes
“Black Boy”
- The plosive reflects the harsh life that people of colour face during Blake’s time
of writing and conveys Blake’s attitudes towards slavery which was firmly
aligned with that of William Wilberforce (leader of the movement to abolish the
slave trade) and abolitionists.
- The monosyllabic alliteration protests equality and mirrors how we are all the
same
“I am black, but oh! My soul is white/White as an angle is the English child...bereaved of
light”
- The contrast between the child's outward and inward appearances in
accordance with religious equations between black/evil and white/good,
subverts the beliefs of the Church with his belief in the divinity of humanity.
Blake protests that the black boy “bereaved of light” (connoting ignorance and
darkness) has light in his soul, appealing to the reader to look beyond the
outward physical difference to the real person beneath.
- The simile “white as an angle” links to the principle of white supremacy which
Blake challenges.
“Sun” “light” “flowers” and “trees”
- Semantic field of nature links to the Schoolboy poem – suggesting nature to be
the better educator
“Lambs”
- Anaphora of the lambs is a biblical allusion to Christ’s sacrifice
,“And be like him and he will then love me”
- Religious imagery of God, is satirical, presenting God’s love to be conditional but
God loves unconditionally
“When I from black, and he from white cloud free”
- Bodies are referred to as “clouds” suggesting that they are hiding the light
beneath (in their souls) and that they are insubstantial. The spiritual imagery
created here reiterates Blake’s belief that all people have the divinity of Christ
and therefore having equality in the sight of God. This is further shown through
the narrative voice of the black child, contrasting with his inability to have one in
real life, and the engraving that shows both children (black and white) being
welcomed by Christ.
- These lines also make another reference to the lamb as a symbol for children
and innocence. After experiencing the hardships of life, the boy believes, he and
his companion will become as pure and carefree as lambs.
Tone
- The poem has a tone of sadness which is underlying as the boy comes to
understand the social constraints he will face for his race
Form
- Heroic quatrains (stanzas of iambic pentameter) gives it a conversational tone
as though the child is addressing the reader.
- The poem is written in ballad form to preserve the simplicity and directness of
the narrative. ABAB rhyme scheme which reflects the contrasts between black
and white throughout the poem, which are resolved at the end with a vision of
unity between races within God’s tent and silver hair.
Structure
- The poem has three narrative voices: the mother, the little black boy and God.
The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)
Key Quotes
“so your chimney’s I sweep and in soot I sleep”
- Sibilance is used to illustrate the youth of the child through their soft voice, is an
attack by Blake on those who promote such atrocities.
- The direct address in the pronoun “your” points an accusing finger at the reader,
which shows the complicity of the adults in this cruel exploitation.
, - “soot I sleep” phrase highlights poverty and the chimney sweep condition as
inescapable
“Tom Dacre, who cried when his head/That curled like a lamb’s back was shaved”
- Biblical allusion to the sacrificial lamb, portrays the sacrifices made by young
children and symbolic of their movement from innocence to adulthood. The
shearing of a sheep is, essentially, the harvesting of a part of that sheep, just as
the children are harvested for their labour.
“the soot cannot spoil your white hair”
- The narrator heartbreakingly imitates an adult and advises Tom that shaving his
hair is all for the best. Blake reveals the normalisation of such atrocities and its
perpetuation through children.
- Contrast between the angelic nature of the child to the darkness of the soot and,
by implication, with the evil of those who exploit him – symbolic of corruption of
innocence.
“thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned and Jack...locked up in coffins of black”
- Lexical field of familiarity is built through use of common names, which also
indicates ubiquity of childhood suffering emphasised by “thousands.”
- Tom’s dream symbolises the position the little chimney sweeps are in as the
claustrophobic darkness of the chimney’s is inescapable and depicts their
enslavement and restrictions and the living death they endure daily.
“laughing” “sun” “green plain” “naked and white”
- The children find themselves in an earthly paradise (green plain and wash in a
river). Semantic field of liberation symbolises the change in their condition from
exploited slaves to free, playing children which is what Blake wants for all
children. Being “naked and white” presents them in a state of innocence as they
have washed away their enslavement and misery.
“if all do their duty, they need not fear harm”
- poetic voice, Blake parodies exploitative religious narrative
Tone
- The tone is sinister as Blake protests the indoctrination of the church “and the
angle told Tom if he’d be a good boy, he’d have God as his father and never want
joy”.
- This is reinforced at the end of the poem: “if all do their duty, they need not fear
harm” which condemns how an institution that is supposed to protect does the
opposite.
Blake’s Songs of Innocence and
Experience
LANGUGE STRUCTURE CONTEXT CRITICAL QUOTES FORM/TONE
Poems
The Little Black Boy (Songs of Innocence)
Key Quotes
“Black Boy”
- The plosive reflects the harsh life that people of colour face during Blake’s time
of writing and conveys Blake’s attitudes towards slavery which was firmly
aligned with that of William Wilberforce (leader of the movement to abolish the
slave trade) and abolitionists.
- The monosyllabic alliteration protests equality and mirrors how we are all the
same
“I am black, but oh! My soul is white/White as an angle is the English child...bereaved of
light”
- The contrast between the child's outward and inward appearances in
accordance with religious equations between black/evil and white/good,
subverts the beliefs of the Church with his belief in the divinity of humanity.
Blake protests that the black boy “bereaved of light” (connoting ignorance and
darkness) has light in his soul, appealing to the reader to look beyond the
outward physical difference to the real person beneath.
- The simile “white as an angle” links to the principle of white supremacy which
Blake challenges.
“Sun” “light” “flowers” and “trees”
- Semantic field of nature links to the Schoolboy poem – suggesting nature to be
the better educator
“Lambs”
- Anaphora of the lambs is a biblical allusion to Christ’s sacrifice
,“And be like him and he will then love me”
- Religious imagery of God, is satirical, presenting God’s love to be conditional but
God loves unconditionally
“When I from black, and he from white cloud free”
- Bodies are referred to as “clouds” suggesting that they are hiding the light
beneath (in their souls) and that they are insubstantial. The spiritual imagery
created here reiterates Blake’s belief that all people have the divinity of Christ
and therefore having equality in the sight of God. This is further shown through
the narrative voice of the black child, contrasting with his inability to have one in
real life, and the engraving that shows both children (black and white) being
welcomed by Christ.
- These lines also make another reference to the lamb as a symbol for children
and innocence. After experiencing the hardships of life, the boy believes, he and
his companion will become as pure and carefree as lambs.
Tone
- The poem has a tone of sadness which is underlying as the boy comes to
understand the social constraints he will face for his race
Form
- Heroic quatrains (stanzas of iambic pentameter) gives it a conversational tone
as though the child is addressing the reader.
- The poem is written in ballad form to preserve the simplicity and directness of
the narrative. ABAB rhyme scheme which reflects the contrasts between black
and white throughout the poem, which are resolved at the end with a vision of
unity between races within God’s tent and silver hair.
Structure
- The poem has three narrative voices: the mother, the little black boy and God.
The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)
Key Quotes
“so your chimney’s I sweep and in soot I sleep”
- Sibilance is used to illustrate the youth of the child through their soft voice, is an
attack by Blake on those who promote such atrocities.
- The direct address in the pronoun “your” points an accusing finger at the reader,
which shows the complicity of the adults in this cruel exploitation.
, - “soot I sleep” phrase highlights poverty and the chimney sweep condition as
inescapable
“Tom Dacre, who cried when his head/That curled like a lamb’s back was shaved”
- Biblical allusion to the sacrificial lamb, portrays the sacrifices made by young
children and symbolic of their movement from innocence to adulthood. The
shearing of a sheep is, essentially, the harvesting of a part of that sheep, just as
the children are harvested for their labour.
“the soot cannot spoil your white hair”
- The narrator heartbreakingly imitates an adult and advises Tom that shaving his
hair is all for the best. Blake reveals the normalisation of such atrocities and its
perpetuation through children.
- Contrast between the angelic nature of the child to the darkness of the soot and,
by implication, with the evil of those who exploit him – symbolic of corruption of
innocence.
“thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned and Jack...locked up in coffins of black”
- Lexical field of familiarity is built through use of common names, which also
indicates ubiquity of childhood suffering emphasised by “thousands.”
- Tom’s dream symbolises the position the little chimney sweeps are in as the
claustrophobic darkness of the chimney’s is inescapable and depicts their
enslavement and restrictions and the living death they endure daily.
“laughing” “sun” “green plain” “naked and white”
- The children find themselves in an earthly paradise (green plain and wash in a
river). Semantic field of liberation symbolises the change in their condition from
exploited slaves to free, playing children which is what Blake wants for all
children. Being “naked and white” presents them in a state of innocence as they
have washed away their enslavement and misery.
“if all do their duty, they need not fear harm”
- poetic voice, Blake parodies exploitative religious narrative
Tone
- The tone is sinister as Blake protests the indoctrination of the church “and the
angle told Tom if he’d be a good boy, he’d have God as his father and never want
joy”.
- This is reinforced at the end of the poem: “if all do their duty, they need not fear
harm” which condemns how an institution that is supposed to protect does the
opposite.
