Introduction (Innocence) Flashcards
What is blakes alter ego in introduction (I)
a piper
What is the Tone of Introduction (I)?
Lilting, song like.
What is the rhyme scheme of Introduction (I)
Stanza 1/ 4: abab
Stanza 2 / 3 / 5: ABCB
What does Introduction (I) do?
It introduces the ‘Songs of Innocence’ but also introduces us to a kind of innocent writing, This writing is symbolised in conventional 18th century pastoral terms by the shepards pipe.
What does the repetition of “piping” indicate?
Indicates a superficially simplistic, nursery rhyme feel to the opening stanza.
It is also a repetetive present participle
The buoyant unrestrained freedom of the child is established here
Lyrical/ nursery rhyme
“Valleys wild”
Unrestrained freedom
Context: contrasts with reality of 19th century life
“every child may joy to hear”
Songs are universally available to everyone
Childhood equality = idealistic compared to 19th century reality
“And i made a rural pen, / And i stained the water clear”
To write about innocence, you have to stain clear, pure water
- antithesis, Blake desire to bring clarity and understanding
- even the act of writing is subject to taint innocence
What does the shift from piping to writing reflect?
A transition from what is free and unrestrained to something more rigid/ formal
This could echo the transition from innocence into experience
“In a book that all may read”
This is idealistic but also reflects Blakes use of simplistic language that he used to try and instigate change and make his message accessible to all
“So i piped, he wept to hear” and “while he wept with joy to hear”
The piper is happy to respond to the child requests which is a subversion of 19th century achild-adult realtionships
It also creates the vision that the world they are in is beautiful/good but not without pain
- freedom and unrestrained emotions = romantic/enlightenment
Summarise Introduction (I)
- The poet sees a vision of a child on a cloud
- the child instructs him to first play a tune, then sing, then write his poems down
What are the main themes of Introduction (I)
- Childhood
- Equality
- Utopia/ idealism
- Romantic era
”-/ so he vanished from my sight”
The child is very mysterious as he suddenly disappears
This reflects the ambiguous nature of the child
Could also represent the visions Blake experienced and who thought that these visions were ‘true’ perceptions of reality.
What is the effect of the repetition of “and i”?
The effect of this is that it increases the sense of urgancy towards the end of the poem and creates the idea that writing is a lot more rigid than the pipe
“Pipe a song”
Imperative language
Indicates childs authroity
“piper, pipe that song again”
Shows how the child is holding authority over the piper
“on a cloud I saw a child”
Epitomises childhood freedom and symbolises the child as an angel of god
- also symbolises the innocence of child and the joy of free-flowing creativity
“And he lauging said to me”
Verb ‘laughing’ = idealised freedom and childhood innocence
repetition of “happy”
lexical field of joy
What does the lamb symbolise in the poem Introduction (I)
innocent happiness, and a religious image through its association with jesus
Blake makes complicated areguments about religious
“song about a lamb”
When this “song about a lamb” is first piped, we are told of the pipers merry cheer. However when he pipes the second time, he “wept to hear”
- we are later told he was weeping “with joy” however it does not erase the impression we get when we are first told he is weeping
What do the weeping in Introduction (I) and the lamb have in common
The fragility of the lamb and the fragility of innocence - The world of innocence is not all there is to apprehend and we see in later poems the more brutal side of the world.
Was blake a musician?
Blake was an instinctive musician, who often sang tunes to his poems which were set down by musicians who heard them.
What form is the poem written in?
Ballad form: with alternate rhyming lines
What do the alternate rhyming lines suggestive of?
Childhood rhymes and songs, this is reinforced by the use of repetition and by imperatives from the child that tell the piper what to do
What does the child represent?
the sprit of poetic inspiration which is here associated both with innocence and with the idea of the sheep and the shepherd
Poems sematic field
containes many worlds that show the nature of the sonf
List 5 semantic field quotations
‘pleasant glee’ ‘laughing’ ‘merry chear’ ‘happy pipe’ ‘wept with joy’
