Contradictory Ideas In William Blake's Poems

English Romantic poet,William Blake,is nearly unknown in his lifetime.30 years after his death,some people began to realize his poems' value.In China,60 years later,Blake and his works drew people' s attention.Then,many Chinese scholars,such as Zhou Zuoren,Tian Han,Liang Shiqiu,Xing Pengwu,Bian Zhilin, Yuan Kejia,Fan Cunzhong,wrote many articles to introduce him and his works, which arose the climax of Blakean study which lasts till today.From these studies,we found an interesting phenomenon:these scholars hold totally different opinions on Blake's poetry,even opposite.Besides their different study angles,we must admit that Blake' s poetry contains many contradictions itself.When reading Blake's poems,the researcher found many contradictory ideas. Logic Dictionary defines it as law of contradiction,which means everything is self-contradictory;contradictions exist in both objective and thought phenomena; contradictions and unity are the powerful inner forces of changes and development inside everything(Logic Dictionary).This dissertation will try to use the theory to interpret Blake's poems in six chapters.Chapter One introduces the research findings about this topic and this paper's significance.Many scholars have studied Blake from angles of religion,mysterious images and so on.But they mainly fall into two opposite catalogues.The researcher thinks Blake always describes things from two different angles.That asks us to understand his poems from two angles,too.This paper will analyze contradictory elements in his poems and the reasons. From Chapter Two to Chapter Five,Blake' s poems are classified into four classes according to themes----religion,morality,human' s soul,and female.The four chapters will demonstrate how the different contradictory elements come into being and why.Blake's relational understandings come from Bible and other revolutionary thoughts,which makes him have original opinions about God.As the spokesman of mercy,pity,peace and love,God and religion are praised by Blake. Once losing the four virtues,God becomes a cruel and selfish father.Such a contrary attitude results from the conflict between ideal religion and the religion in reality.Talking about morality,the poet detests that traditional morality binds human's vigor and calls on fights against the "chains".As is claimed by antinomians,it is moral to respect instinct and do what you do according to impulse. Yet,such a doctrine must lead to a world in disorder.So Blake also wants there to be built morality which both respects and limits human's instinct.In addition, Blake' s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience describe the happy innocent state of childhood and the experience state full of misery.On surface,he praises the former while hates the latter.However,after careful reading,we will find the two are inevitable during human's life.And they contain elements leading to the other side.There are also contradictions in Blake's attitudes to female.Influenced by patriarchy and feminism at the same time,Blake holds relatively enlightened attitudes to female on the one hand.While between the lines of his poems,readers can feel his deep-rooted traditional views.Chapter Six is conclusion.Blake witnessed a changing period in which many contrary thoughts had a complicated affect on this poet.Although those thoughts struggle in his mind,the poet does not want to give up either side because he knows that no contrary,no progress.Therefore,he created his special style with these. thoughts reflected in his woks.