‘The School Boy’ is a typical example of Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience in it’s themes and imagery. Like many of the other poems in this work it deals with childhood and the subjugation of it’s spirit and uses imagery from the natural world. While first published in 1789 as one of the Songs of Innocence there are strong reasons why Blake moved it to the Experience1 section of the 1794 edition. If we compare it to other poems in the collection it sits better with others in Experience than those in Innocence.
On first reading ‘The School Boy’ is the voice of a young boy complaining of being shut inside at his schoolwork instead of playing outside in the sun. When we look at the poem further we can see that the poet is returning to the theme of childhood subjugated and its natural joy destroyed that can be seen in other poems in the collection such as ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ in Experience with its comparison of the child who was ‘happy on the heath’ to now “Crying ”weep! ‘weep!’ in notes of woe!” .
The poem begins in Stanza I with the poet giving us a pastoral image of the innocence of nature reminiscent of that in ‘The Introduction’ from Innocence, some critics have pointed out the similarity of ‘The distant huntsman winds his horn’ in this poem with ‘Piping down the valleys wild’ in ‘The Introduction’ of Innocence2 . The poem gives us an image of rising with the company of many natural joys, not just the huntsman but ‘birds sing on every tree’ and ‘the sky-lark sings with me.’ It is in Stanza II that we see the oppression of the natural by authority typical of Experience and continued through the rest of the poem. This stanza compares the pastoral imagery…
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…glewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1966.
Hyland, Dominic, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Harlow: Longman York Press, 1982.
Notes To avoid confusion between the 1789 edition Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Innocence section of the 1794 combined edition I have shortened the section names to Innocence and Experience throughout and refer to the 1789 edition as Songs of Innocence and the 1794 edition Songs Of Innocence and Of Experience as the 1794 edition where it is necessary to draw a distinction. One example is found in D. Hyland, William Blake Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (Harlow: Longman York Press, 1982), p. 48 William Blake, Songs Of Innocence and Of Experience, (London: Rupert Hart Davis, 1967) plate 53 . D. Hyland, William Blake Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (Harlow: Longman York Press, 1982), p. 48
Hamlet’s Self-Perception
Hamlet’s Self-Perception
The way we see ourselves is often reflected in the way we act. Hamlet views himself as different to those young nobles around him such as Fortinbras and Laertes. This reality leads us to believe that over time he has become even more motivated to revenge his father’s death, and find out who his true friends are. How can you be honest in a world full of deceit and hate? His seven soliloquies tell us that while the days go by he grows more cunning as he falls deeper into his madness. This fact might have lead Hamlet to believe that suicide is what he really wants for his life’s course.
The way we perceive our lives is echoed in the way we comport ourselves in everyday life. Hamlet is a man of visible education and he would rather use his mind over his fist. He is quick to look for an explanation on behalf of the actions of others. Hamlet is not a man to search out blood without a rational justification. When dealing with Laertes and Fortinbras you can vividly see the contrast between the extremes. Once Laertes finds out his father has been unjustly murdered, he swiftly swears revenge without give the situation a second thought in contrast to Hamlet who takes all factors into mind before carrying out a sentence.
Laertes-
How came he dead? I’ll not be juggled with.
To hell allegiance, vows to the blackest devil,
Conscience and grace to the profoundest pit!
(IV;V;129-132)
Each man deals with grief in extremely distinct manners, when looking at Laertes in comparison to Hamlet you can swiftly see their great contrast to one another. Hamlet would rather create reason before madness; he is the type to use his brain before his fist. Whereas Laertes is always caught up in his anger that he sees no means to absolve the actions of others.
Hamlet-
When honor is at stake. How stand I then,
That have a father killed, a mother stained,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep, while to my shame I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men
(IV;IV;56-61)
This reality leads us to believe that over time he has become even more motivated to revenge his father’s death, and find out who his true friends are.