Paper Summary:

William Blake's "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience" were written between 1788 and 1801 and contain a collection of nineteen individual poems and twenty seven poems, respectively. This paper looks at whether Blake's works could still be enjoyed and understood if the individual poems within the collections were read independently and not within the context of the collection. The paper uses evidence from the poems to show that ultimately, the poems should be read as part of the collection to be appreciated.

From the Paper:

"The individual poems do not describe the whole of the human experience because they approach life from the perspective of either innocence or experience. In order to appreciate Blake's comment on the human condition, they must be read in the context of the collection as a whole. "Songs of Experience" is a retort to the "Songs of Innocence." Together they capture the loss of security each of us experiences as we move from childhood into adulthood, and the longing for the innocence we leave behind. Blake's treatment of this state of being endures because it a universal expression of our common nostalgia."

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