In both class discussion and in the many of the blog posts, I have seen a focus on the contrast and disharmony between the Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience. There is no denying that they, and what they embody, are "contrary states of the human soul" as Blake says. However, I feel as though there is an underlying harmony between the two, that while they might be contrary they are not disharmonious, but rather components of the entirety of what it means to be human.
What I mean more precisely is that Innocence and Experience do not exist independent of one another, as is evident in several of Blake's poems. The best example of this I could find is in "The Ecchoing Green" when the old folk say "Such, such were the joys. / When we all, girls & boys, / In our youth-time were seen, / On the Ecchoing Green." The old folk, who have lost much if not all of their innocence to the experiences of time, look on in enjoyment of the innocence in youth. They know that in time those children will take their place watching children and grandchildren of their own play without care, and the cycle will continue. The experienced watch over the innocent, protect their innocence in some cases, and take it away in others.
The idea of the green housing youth crosses over between Blake's poems, appearing in both versions of "Nurse's Song" again as a place where children are playing. However, it also appears in "The Garden of Love" where the speaker "used to play" but where there is now a Chapel and a graveyard. This is exactly the interdependence I am talking about, Innocence and Experience rely on each other for significance. The construction of the Chapel and the graveyard has an effect on the speaker because it destroys a symbol of the innocence of the speaker's childhood. The gaining of experience often results in a loss of innocence, but also fosters an appreciation for innocence that only losing it can. To a child who has only ever known innocence it is nothing special, while an adult seeking to enjoy the faded memories of innocence understands its fragility and value.
Blake demonstrates fully the distinction between innocence and experience, yet he also reveals that they are inherently related. Even as innocence is lost, new innocence is born into the world with new life. And while they may be contrary states of the human soul, it is the combination of both and the journey from one to another that defines the human life.
Zach, I agree with your argument about the interdependence between experience and innocence in Blake’s poems. Yes, we only start to appreciate innocence after having lost it. However. I think Blake also questions the virtue of this appreciation. In the dark version of Nurse’s Song, the childish voice incites two profoundly different reactions from the narrator, turning his face “green and pale” (4). Since “the voices of children are heard on the green” (1), the word “green” may reasonably stand for something positive and promising. At the same time, the narrator is saddened by the awareness of his lost days of innocence. Thus Blake posits the unavoidable fusion of delight and sadness in one’s appreciation of others’ innocence (his own innocence has long been lost when he comes to be able to appreciate it). This depressing duality of appreciation is further shadowed by the innocence of the children to waste their “spring & your day” (7), and the doom of the children to face “your winter and night” (8) that are now simply in disguise. Therefore, an appreciation of innocence entails not only the awareness of the absence of innocence within oneself, but also the awareness of the wasting of innocence by those who still possess it. Apparently, these are not very cheerful things to be aware of.
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