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Piping down the valleys wild |
Background
William Blake's “Introduction” to his Songs of Innocence, first published in 1789, serves as a prelude to the themes and stylistic features of the entire collection. Blake, a visionary poet and artist, was deeply influenced by his spiritual beliefs, social concerns, and a desire to capture the purity and simplicity of the childlike perspective. This introductory poem sets the tone for the Songs of Innocence by presenting an idealized view of childhood and the natural world, central motifs in Romantic literature.
The poem employs a simple yet structured form, consisting of five quatrains with an ABAB rhyme scheme, which reflects the straightforward and musical quality of a song or nursery rhyme. The first stanza introduces a piper who is joyously piping songs. This image of the piper and the child establishes the pastoral and innocent atmosphere that characterizes the collection. The interaction between the piper and the child symbolizes the transmission of inspiration and creativity, themes that are central to Blake’s poetic vision.
The child, a recurring figure in Blake’s work, represents innocence and purity. In the second stanza, the child instructs the piper to “Pipe a song about a Lamb,” which introduces the motif of the lamb as a symbol of innocence and gentleness. The lamb, a traditional Christian symbol, aligns with Blake’s spiritual influences and his emphasis on themes of innocence and divine creation.
As the poem progresses, the child requests that the piper sing the songs and then write them down, thus transforming the oral tradition into written form. This transition reflects Blake’s own process of creating illuminated books, combining text and illustration to convey his visions. The act of writing with a “hollow reed” suggests a natural and humble approach to artistic creation, in keeping with the themes of simplicity and innocence.
Additional themes include the celebration of innocence, the power of the imagination, and the role of the artist as a mediator between divine inspiration and human experience. The poem embodies Romantic characteristics such as a focus on nature, emotion, and the childlike perspective, which Blake and his contemporaries saw as closer to spiritual truth.
Contemporary relevance lies in its exploration of the creative process and the value of preserving innocence in a complex and often corrupt world. The poem’s emphasis on simplicity, joy, and the purity of childhood continues to resonate, offering a critique of modernity’s loss of these qualities. In an era increasingly dominated by technology and materialism, Blake’s vision of returning to a state of innocence and creative freedom remains poignant and thought-provoking.
Questions for Consideration
- Analyze the roles of the piper and the child in the poem. How do these figures represent the themes of innocence and creativity? Discuss how their interaction reflects Blake’s views on the transmission of artistic inspiration.
- Explore the significance of the transition from the piper’s song to the written text in the poem. What does this shift suggest about Blake’s perspective on the relationship between spoken word, written language, and artistic creation?
- Discuss how Blake uses nature imagery to convey the theme of innocence. How does the pastoral setting contribute to the overall tone and message of the poem?
- Examine the use of religious symbolism in the poem, particularly the references to the lamb. How does this symbolism align with the themes of innocence and purity, and what does it reveal about Blake’s spiritual beliefs?
- Consider the emotional responses of the child to the piper’s song. How does Blake portray the relationship between emotion and creativity in the poem? What might this suggest about the role of feeling in the artistic process?
- Analyze the Romantic elements. How does Blake’s focus on childhood, imagination, and the natural world reflect broader Romantic ideals? Compare these elements to those found in the works of other Romantic poets.
- Reflect on the contemporary relevance of the themes in the poem. How might Blake’s emphasis on innocence, creativity, and simplicity offer a critique of modern society? What lessons can be drawn from the poem in the context of today’s world?
- Explore how the “Introduction” reflects Blake’s broader artistic and philosophical vision. How does the poem serve as a prelude to the Songs of Innocence as a whole? Consider how the themes introduced here are developed in the rest of the collection.
- Compare the “Introduction” to Songs of Innocence with its contrary “Introduction” to Songs of Experience. How do the two poems differ in tone, theme, and perspective? What do these differences reveal about Blake’s views on innocence and experience?
- Write a creative response to the “Introduction,” either in the form of a poem or a short narrative, that explores the themes of innocence, creativity, and the role of the artist. Use Blake’s imagery and themes as inspiration for your own artistic expression.
Notes
- ↑ The introductory poem from the Songs of Innocence, 1789, which defines the “emotional conditions” of the poems in this book Tomlinson 1987, p. 27). However, these are not poems that reflect an innocence in reality as many of them contain images of suffering and injustice, but instead show the emotional state of the, in Blake’s words, “human soul” that views them (Greenblatt 2018, p. 48). Much of Blake’s poetry is polyvocal in that he does not present one, unified voice, but shows many different “dramatisations of various mental states and attitudes” (Ackroyd 1995, p. 141).
Compare this poem to its contraries, the “Introduction” and “Earth’s Answer” from Songs of Experience. See also the introductory note on “The Lamb” for more background into Blake’s poetic composition and philosophy. - ↑ The narrator is the piper, a child in tune with nature, suggesting a more emotional, rather than intellectual or ration, connection with the world that is reflected in the content of the poem.
- ↑ The child, a personification of innocence and a care-free existence, asks the piper to to write down his songs to share with the world, and perhaps preserve them as remembrances of more innocent times for when he grows up Tomlinson 1987, p. 27). Indeed, the child disappears at the moment the piper begins to write, suggesting that the process of composition leads to wisdom in some way—compare to the Bard in this poem’s contrary, who “Who Present, Past, & Future sees.” The child may have been some aspect of the piper, an allegory of the waning innocence of the piper, perhaps. The purpose of these songs might be to spark joy, but also to remind us of what a lost innocence is like.
- ↑ Again, the act of writing stains the purity of the moment, passing it through the imagination and the pen of the poet. Perhaps there must be experience before the imagination may reflect on the state of innocence.
Bibliography
- Ackroyd, Peter (1995). Blake: A Biography. New York: Ballantine Books.
- Battenhouse, Henry M. (1958). English Romantic Writers. New York: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc.
- Bloom, Harold (2003). William Blake. Bloom’s Major Poets. New York: Chelsea House.
- Frye, Northrup (1947). Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Gardner, Stanley (1969). Blake. Literary Critiques. New York: Arco.
- Green, Martin Burgess (1972). Cities of Light and Sons of Morning. Boston: Little, Brown.
- Greenblatt, Stephen, ed. (2018). The Norton Anthology of English Literature. The Major Authors. 2 (Tenth ed.). New York: W. W. Norton.
- Makdisi, Saree (2003). "The Political Aesthetic of Blake's Images". In Eaves, Morris. The Cambridge Companion to William Blake. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP. pp. 110–132.
- — (2015). Reading William Blake. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- Paulin, Tom (March 3, 2007). "The Invisible Worm". Guardian. Retrieved 2021-09-04.
- Thompson, E. P. (1993). Witness Against the Beast. New York: The New Press.
- Tomlinson, Alan (1987). Song of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake. MacMillan Master Guides. London: MacMillan Education.
- Wolfson, Susan J. (2003). "Blake's Language in Poetic Form". In Eaves, Morris. The Cambridge Companion to William Blake. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP. pp. 63–83.
Links and Web Resources
- Blake at the Internet Archive.
- Blake’s Notebook at the British Museum.
- William Blake Study Questions
