The Contrast In William Blak's Poetry

William Blake not only faithfully recorded his age but also foretold the future with a great sense of imagination. He was talented, but what he wrote was too much ahead of his times, which won him no accepted by the public recognition during his lifetime. It was only in the 20th century that critics began to show concern about him, and his position in English literature was gradually established. In all his works, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience were his two famous short poetries that people focus most. This thesis will study Blake's poetry collections by studying their contrast which can reveal the poet's thinking about the religion and the society. Contrast is the core of Blake's concept, through which Blake's works and ideological connotations can be better understood.The main body of this thesis consists of three chapters.The first chapter deals with the contrast in religious views. Blake, as a devout Christian, believed God and had a fanatical idea about the ideal religion, so in Song of Innocence he spared no effort to praise God; but in reality, the poet hated the church's decadence and darkness. Then in Songs of Experience he criticized it bitterly. In such process of praise and criticism, Blake created a system of his own, which he hoped to enlighten the human beings.The second chapter analyzes the contrast in social thinking, for example, the development in industrialization made a strong impact on society. The poet revealed the contrast between industrialization and nature by his unique view point. Love is the eternal topic of human beings, and is also a social issue that has been explored for everyone. How to treat the two contrastive kind of love—divine love and secular love?Blake also expressed his views in his poems. He lived in the era in which rationalism formed and perfected gradually, while the poet wanted to wake up the human passion with his extraordinary imagination and at last cast off the bondage of rationalism.The third chapter discovers contrast in idiom. The words are the carrier of the idea, so the study of the words will help us understand the meaning of works. Blake was good at using the simplest language in his works, but when we appreciate them intensively, we can find the complex meaning he expressed. Meanwhile, design of image could show the contrast everywhere.