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Abstract

William Blake states that the purpose of his work is an endeavour to restore “the Golden Age” of human beings. His vocation for the restoration is revealed explicitly in Songs of Innocence and of Experience, an early production in his writing career. In the epigram, he says that the songs are written for “shewing the two contrary states of the human soul.” From the title itself we can draw easily what the two contrary states of the human soul are. And in Songs of Innocence, it’s easy to tell what ‘innocence’ means. The prevailing motifs and imagery in the poems show that it’s an innocent status of the human mind which can be found in young boys and girls inexperienced in the tough world. But in Songs of Experience, ‘experience’ resists obstinately being translated into ‘corruption’ as opposed to ‘innocence.’ Songs of Experience witnesses many young boys and girls deserted and tormented by grown-ups especially by the established. The fact that the former-dwellers in the world of innocence are harshly abused in the world means that the experience is not the state of the human soul or mind but ‘the conditions in living.’ And also the translation of experience into corruption impairs the coherence of the whole context in Songs of Experience. Experience as the conditions in living invites inevitably the problem of ‘justice.’ In Songs of Experience, Blake criticizes severely the ‘logocentrism’ which has been corrupted into the dominant ideology by the ruling class, especially by the religious. The religious who have monopolized all the information in the name of religious mysticism curb the reasons of people and their bodies as well. Blake believes in the original status of human beings but also believes that the deep-rooted injustice done by the established has been spoiling the prime quality. Only the society of justice in which reciprocal equality is fulfilled can restore “the Golden Age” of human beings. The predicaments of the modern world in which the social polarization between the rich and the poor has been deepened clarify that Songs of Experience can be a prophetic and apocalyptic gospel for us.