Indo-Tibetan Buddhist perspectives on William Blake's 'Songs of Innocence and of Experience

This dissertation examines the poetic expressions of William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience" from an Indo-Tibetan Buddhist philosophical perspective.;Indo-Tibetan Buddhist philosophy provides a framework for understanding the complex psychological and existential dimensions of the themes embedded in Blake's songs. Novel and profound meanings are to be gained from Blake's Songs by using Buddhist perspectives a heuristic lens. Additionally, this dissertation employs a Buddhist analysis of Blake's dual conceptions of Innocence and Experience as two contrary states of consciousness.;By examining the songs in this distinctive way, this study shows how Indo-Tibetan Buddhism and Blake's songs provide a sense of what Arvind Sharma calls Reciprocal Illumination.-- a mutual lighting-up that occurs when a comparison is made between two distinct perspectives.