Church and Religion in the Songs of Innocence and Experience Essay

perform and worship in the Songs of honour and Experiencethroughout artlessness and Experience, many poems incorporatereligious enchants and imagery. Blake presents many contradicting viewson the Church and holiness, the contrast be particularly clearbetween Innocence and Experience. within the Songs of Innocence a child-like portrayal of Church and trust is portrayed. Throughout Innocence there are manyreferences to The Lamb representing Jesus savior who was thesacrificial Lamb, as shown in the poem The Lamb. An opposite commonimage of morality used by Blake is that of religion as the Shepherd,the Shepherd is watchful and perpetually watching over his sheep,protecting them, Blake is showing religion as being ever so-present andconstantly present. This is a very child-like and partial view ofChrist. Religion is portrayed in a child like manner, as is Christ inthe poem On Anformer(a)s Sorrow, Christ is portrayed as giving hisjoy to all as he is embodied two within an infa nt small and menof woe. Also in On Anothers Sorrow, religion is seen as immanent,as God gives to us his joy. A simple view is portrayed one that Godis ever present and is there within everyone. Images of the Church andreligion are put to images of joy, fun and laughter, showingthe simple view of religion portrayed. This view is elongated in The worshipful Image in which the balanced structure continues the child-likeview of religion. The image that God is present within everyone isalso shown in The Divine Image is that God is ever-present withineveryone. In The Chimney Sweeper, religion is used to help thechimney sweeps get through their arduous days, and the lot ofChrist helped h... ...are shown as walking around inblack gowns and rear briars with his joys and desires thorns,representing the Church and religion, were restricting his life, andjoy was prohibited. Within The Human Abstract religion is referredto as the dismal shade of mystery, and the priests are the ravenswhich have made their nests in the thickest shade. A negativeimage of the Church is explored, as the Church is blend people fromthe light.The theme of religion is one central to both The Songs of Innocenceand the Songs of Experience as a result of this, Blake could be seenas to begin with a religious poet. Although the theme is ongoing, withinExperience many other themes are also explored, showing that Blake,although concentrating primarily on religion, did explore other themesrelevant to everyday and the current state of living.