In this first essay, I will be dealing with poems from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience. Moreprecisely, I shall be dealing with the Introduction fromSongs of Innocence, as well as its counterparts Introductionfrom Songs of Experience and Earth's Answer. For my thesis,I shall attempt to demonstrate how Blake used the symbols ofthe Piper and the Bard to represent the states of innocenceand of experience, and how he passes from one state to thenext through the use of these symbols.Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience are twoseries of poems which complete one another. Each poem has acounterpart in the opposite series. Many people tend tomisread or misinterpret these poems. In order to be able tofully understand what Blake is saying, we must look at bothcorresponding poems as one. Let us examine the images of the Piper and the Bard. The OED defines Bard as an "Ancient Celtic order ofminstrel-poets, whose primary function appears to have beento compose and sing verses celebrating the achievements ofchiefs and warriors." In his poems, Blake's definition isfundamentally the same, except that he utilizes the term tomean someone "Who Present, Past, & Future sees". The Bardis able to see through time and space. He is what Blakedefines as a Visionary. The Piper, on the other hand, isnot of this nature. He is a simple man who dwells ininnocence. He listens to the child he encounters withoutthinking. In his mind, everyone is good, everyone ishonest. But while the Bard is living in a world ofexperience, he sees without judging, he knows withoutthinking. The Bard is at the highest level attainable byhumankind. He has returned to the perfect unity that wasbefore the creation of our fallen world. Therefore, helives in innocence. But a Bard he cannot be withoutexperience, because he is destined to tell the stories ofthose from the past to the masses of the future. He cannotbe whole without combining both innocenc...
