ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -How does William Blake develops the concepts of Innocence and Experience in his poetry? William Blake described innocence and experience as “the two Contrary States of the human soul.” His theory of Contraries is summarised in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: “Without Contraries is no progression.

Detailed explanation-2: -Blake describes innocence and experience as “the two contrary states of the human soul.” By this, Blake is saying that a human soul is innocent through its youth and gains experience as it gets to adulthood.

Detailed explanation-3: -Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience ( 1794 ) juxtapose the innocent, pastoral world of childhood against an adult world of corruption and repression; while such poems as “The Lamb” represent a meek virtue, poems like “The Tyger” exhibit opposing, darker forces.