Introduction (Innocence)

Question 1

What is blakes alter ego in introduction (I)

Answer 1

a piper

Question 2

What is the Tone of Introduction (I)?

Answer 2

Lilting, song like.

Question 3

What is the rhyme scheme of Introduction (I)

Answer 3

Stanza 1/ 4: abab
Stanza 2 / 3 / 5: ABCB

Question 4

What does Introduction (I) do?

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

What does the repetition of “piping” indicate?

Answer 5

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

Question 6

“Valleys wild”

Answer 6

Unrestrained freedom
Context: contrasts with reality of 19th century life

Question 7

“every child may joy to hear”

Answer 7

Songs are universally available to everyone
Childhood equality = idealistic compared to 19th century reality

Question 8

“And i made a rural pen, / And i stained the water clear”

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What does the shift from piping to writing reflect?

Answer 9

A transition from what is free and unrestrained to something more rigid/ formal
This could echo the transition from innocence into experience

Question 10

“In a book that all may read”

Answer 10

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

Question 11

“So i piped, he wept to hear” and “while he wept with joy to hear”

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Summarise Introduction (I)

Answer 12

• 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

Question 13

What are the main themes of Introduction (I)

Answer 13

• Childhood
• Equality
• Utopia/ idealism
• Romantic era

Question 14

”-/ so he vanished from my sight”

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

What is the effect of the repetition of “and i”?

Answer 15

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

Question 16

“Pipe a song”

Answer 16

Imperative language
Indicates childs authroity

Question 17

“piper, pipe that song again”

Answer 17

Shows how the child is holding authority over the piper

Question 18

“on a cloud I saw a child”

Answer 18

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

Question 19

“And he lauging said to me”

Answer 19

Verb ‘laughing’ = idealised freedom and childhood innocence

Question 20

repetition of “happy”

Answer 20

lexical field of joy

Question 21

What does the lamb symbolise in the poem Introduction (I)

Answer 21

innocent happiness, and a religious image through its association with jesus
Blake makes complicated areguments about religious

Question 22

“song about a lamb”

Answer 22

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

Question 23

What do the weeping in Introduction (I) and the lamb have in common

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

Was blake a musician?

Answer 24

Blake was an instinctive musician, who often sang tunes to his poems which were set down by musicians who heard them.

Question 25

What form is the poem written in?

Answer 25

Ballad form: with alternate rhyming lines

Question 26

What do the alternate rhyming lines suggestive of?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

What does the child represent?

Answer 27

the sprit of poetic inspiration which is here associated both with innocence and with the idea of the sheep and the shepherd

Question 28

Poems sematic field

Answer 28

containes many worlds that show the nature of the sonf

Question 29

List 5 semantic field quotations

Answer 29

‘pleasant glee’ ‘laughing’ ‘merry chear’ ‘happy pipe’ ‘wept with joy’