Innocent perceptions

• 'Piping down the valleys wild,/ Piping songs of pleasant glee' 


  • unrestrictive setting - reflects limitless nature of childlike imagination, innocence & joy
  • free personal act of playing music
  • high sense of innocence
• A Dream - ‘What wailing wight/ Calls the watchman of the night?’

  • glow worm comes to ants rescue
  • sense of protection
  • Blake addresses world has dangers & the potential of suffering & grief but highlights that there can be protection from such dangers
  • glow worm as a natural source of light represents hope
• The Little Girl Lost - 'In the Southern clime/ Where the summer's prime/ Never fades away' 'Seven summer's old'

  • warm exotic setting
  • summer = innocence/ joy - Lyca in a constant state of innocence/ joy
  • her life is measured in summer - she doesn't experience winter/ coldness/ repression
• The Little Girl Lost - ‘She had wandered long,/ Hearing wild bird’s song’

  • Lyca follows call of freedom
  • she is trusting & as freedom is calling to her she is indulging in this instinct
• Introduction (I) - 'On a cloud I saw a child,/ And laughing said to me'

  • cloud suggests heavenly or divine origin
  • divine inspiration descending from above guides the poet's artistic expression
  • when you have a free innocent perception religion & Jesus can be an inspirational leader
• Introduction (I) - 'Pipe a song about a Lamb!'

  • lamb is symbolic of Jesus
  • associated with innocence & purity
  • creativity expressed through Jesus' inspiration
  • piper as a vessel of divine creativity, guided by the child (a heavenly figure)
  • links to 'The Lamb' and 'The Tiger'
• The Little Girl Lost 'The kingly lion stood' 'Then he gambolled round'

  • beasts shown to be passive - unexpected - Blake challenges our damaged perception by showing these creatures are innocent & playful
  • Blake invites us to the see the world as it truly is, through the eyes of innocence
  • how we perceive the world determines the way we interact with it - if we shift our perception we can see beauty, joy & innocence where we once saw danger or oppression
  • to Blake what is spiritual is innocence & perception & this is what we should seek - not atonement & submission to authority
• How does 'The Lamb' present innocence?

  • uninterrupted child's voice - no adult/ experienced voice
  • is a world of pure joy & security
  • but lacks deeper awareness - shown through single, simplistic view of world & limited vocab used
  • highlights limitations of innocence - we need both innocence & experience
• The Lamb - 'Gave thee clothing of delight,/ Softest clothing woolly bright'

  reflects childs joy in relationship with lamb
• The Lamb - 'He became a little child./ I a child and thou a lamb,/ We are called by his name'

  • we are identified with Jesus - all of god's creation has something divine within them
  • rejects hierarchies within religion & society
  • god is present within all creation, making everyone naturally pure * holy
  • everyone is born with divine in them - contrast with church's teaching of original sin & need to earn place in church & heaven
• The Shepherd - 'How sweet is the shepherd's sweet lot!'

  • intentionally redundant repetition of sweet
  • profoundly innocent word - gentle, childlike & lyrical
  • reflects a pastoral ideal - world untouched by corruption where shepherd lives in harmony w nature & his flock
  • emphasises overwhelming purity & contentment of the shepherd's life
• The Shepherd - 'He is watchful, while they are in peace'

  • in world of innocence he is watchful, implying sense of danger
  • acknowledgment danger/ anxiety exist
  • watchfulness maintains their state of innocence - because he is there it gives them peace
• Infant Joy - 'I have no name;/ I am but two days old'

  • at 2 days old technically not yet owned by God/ claimed by church
  • not yet named or baptised
  • innocent in fullest nature
  • not a part of established church & therefore has unbridled happy emotions
• On Another's Sorrow - 'Never can it be'

  • Jesus can never ignore our sorrow
  • portrayed as the good shepherd - he is always there
  • empathetic denial of his absence reflects role as an active adult protector who cares for his creation
  • divine presence who suffers alongside humanity
• On Another's Sorrow - 'he gives to us his joy'

  • Jesus presented as a powerful, sympathetic force that drives grief away
  • Whilst church teaches children they have original sin & they are raised being full of shame & grief, Jesus loves unconditionally
  • Jesus is a divine presence who suffers alongside humanity, not a distant judge
  • his love & empathy are healing forces, not punitive ones
  • strong through compassion, not his wrath
• The Schoolboy - 'I love to rise on a summer morn,/ When the birds sing on every tree' 


  • strong connection with children & nature
  • connection between innocence & energy of children with the instinctive nature of the birds
  • natural habitat of children established which is later contrasted with repressive institutions of education that don't allow children to express their instinctive sense of joy/ play in nature
• The Little Black Boy - 'And we are put on earth a little space,/ That we may learn to bear the beams of love'

  • though affected by racism, the boy responds w hope & love, believing his suffering will lead him closer to God's light
  • God's love does not discriminate - boy interprets hardships as preparation for divine joy, trusting in God's goodness
  • God's love is unconditional, unlike the conditional love of society
• Holy Thursday (I) - 'with radiance all their own' 'The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs'

  • children have sense of inner light & innocence - contrast to 'grey-headed beadles'
  • explicitly linked w lamb/ Jesus - view world as gentle - represent natural beauty & joy
  • have a single innocent perception - unaware they are victims of repressive charity - do not question
  • joy only a temporary escape - remain trapped in cycle of poverty & dependence on charity
  • single vision encourages passive acceptance of injustice - Blake urges people to look beyond appearances & question
• A Cradle Song - 'Sweet babe, in thy face/ Holy image I can trace'

  • mother sees divine purity in her child's face
  • linking of divine with humanity
  • children born with God in them - mother sees no original sin, shame or guilt in the baby
  • mother prays for child to stay untouched by corruption of world
  • reflects how we are not born fallen or sinful, instead innocence is our true, original nature
  • experience in the fallen world is what raises us to feel shame
  • innocence is not ignorance & experience isn't wisdom