Analysis of 3 of Blake's poems dealing with nature and true love in innocence

1. William Blake
The Angel
The Lilly
Spring
Christina Meaders

2. I dreamt a dream! What can it mean?
And that I was a maiden Queen
Guarded by an Angel mild:
Witless woe was ne'er beguiled!
And I wept both night and day,
And he wiped my tears away;
And I wept both day and night,
And hid from him my heart's delight.
(1) The Angel
So he took his wings, and fled;
Then the morn blushed rosy red.
I dried my tears, and armed my fears
With ten-thousand shields and spears.
Soon my Angel came again;
I was armed, he came in vain;
For the time of youth was fled,
And grey hairs were on my head.

3. The speaker dreams she is a “maiden Queen” watched over by an angel. She
weeps all the time, and the angel takes pity and wipes away her tears. However,
even when she is happy at heart, the maiden Queen continues to weep in an
attempt to evoke pity from the angel. Instead, the angel sees no contentment
and departs. When the angel once again returns to offer her solace, it is too late.
She has grown old and no longer seeks his pity as she did when in her youth.
The Angel (Summary)

4. I dreamt a dream! What can it mean?
And that I was a maiden Queen
Guarded by an Angel mild:
Witless woe was ne'er beguiled!
The Angel (Stanza One)
Tone: Hopeful, youthful and uncorrupted
➔ The repetition of dream sounds childlike and fast
paced (youthful feel)
➔ Blake references angels a lot. He claims to have seen
angels (specifically his brothers as a child)
➔ While the child might be foolish it is only because she
is untainted and never been cheated yet

5. And I wept both night and day,
And he wiped my tears away;
And I wept both day and night,
And hid from him my heart's delight.
The Angel (Stanza Two)
Tone: Helpless and Pitiful
➔ As hardships hit her optimistism begins to fades into
sadness and weeping
➔ Requires the angel to take care of her
➔ The repetition of this line emphasizes there was no stop
➔ Almost manipulative because she is hiding the delight
she feels in order to invoke his pity
Polysyndeton (Repetition of And) - Continual sorrow with
no break for crying

6. So he took his wings, and fled;
Then the morn blushed rosy red.
I dried my tears, and armed my fears
With ten-thousand shields and spears.
The Angel (Stanza Three)
Tone: abandoned and recovery
➔ The angel abandoned her because he saw no
satisfaction
➔ The morn blushing red represents adulthood rising
on the Maiden Queen
➔ She replaced her tears and fears with shields and
spears
➔ The maiden matures and arms herself with “shields
and spears.” These weapons are a metaphor for her
experience and growing cynicism.

7. Soon my Angel came again;
I was armed, he came in vain;
For the time of youth was fled,
And grey hairs were on my head.
The Angel (Stanza Four)
Tone: Cynical and guarded
➔ Instead of being cheerful when her soul mate returned
she seemed sad because her ability to love the angel has
been hampered by her guard
➔ ALL the childishness from the first stanza is gone
➔ A sense of wisdom that comes from life experience has
ruined innocence.

8. ❖ RHYME: This four-stanza poem consists of quatrains, each with rhyming couplets.
(AABB)
WHY?
➢ The constant rhyming gives the poem a quick rhythm and urgency like the speaker's
dream.
➢ In the final Stanzas the rhyme emphasizes the end of naiveté, because the rhyming
feels old and forced.
(The punctuation adds to this effect because the semicolons makes the entire last stanza a
run on sentence)
❖ LENGTH: This poem is relatively short compared to the amount of time it covers. This
increases the feeling that youth and innocence is quickly
❖ Tone - Blake utilizes a tone shift to match with the maiden queen growing up and losing
her purity
Angel (Analysis)

9. The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheep a threat'ning horn:
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
(2) The Lilly

10. This four-line poem suggests the Lilly is superior to the Rose and the
sheep because it offers no harm or defense of itself to love. The rose
and the sheep can not truly be overcome by love because they
provide defense towards the ones that care for them.
The Lilly (Summary)

11. The Lilly (Lines 1 and 2)
The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheep a threat'ning horn:
➔ Even though the Rose is “modest” it tries to
protect itself from love
➔ Like the rose the sheep is both quiet in its looks
but actually threatening
There is a paradox between the look of the rose and
the sheep and the actual pain than could cause

12. The Lilly (Lines 3 and 4)
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
➔ The Lilly can be consumed by true love
because it does not put up any defences
➔ The Lilly’s outer beauty is intensified because
it gives into the bliss
The lily offers itself as it is: pure and vulnerable.
This vulnerability allows it to enjoy love, but also
leaves it open to pain. This suggest the only way to
truly give way to love is to be completely open to
getting hurt.

13. The Lilly (Analysis)
❖ This 4 line poem has a AABB rhyme scheme
❖ Tone: The tone in the first 2 lines is defensive while in the last 2 lines it
shifts to being happy and guiltless

14. (3) Spring
Little lamb,
Here I am;
Come and lick
My white neck;
Let me pull
Your soft wool;
Let me kiss
Your soft face;
Merrily, merrily, to welcome in
the year.
Little boy,
Full of joy;
Little girl,
Sweet and small;
Cock does crow,
So do you;
Merry voice,
Infant noise;
Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the
year.
Sound the flute!
Now it's mute!
Bird's delight,
Day and night,
Nightingale,
In the dale,
Lark in sky,
Merrily,
Merrily merrily, to welcome in
the year.

15. The poem starts with a flute sounding starting the new season of life (Spring).
As the poem continues the birds singing and the children playing represent a
celebration of the new year. The lamb in the final stanza represents Christ and
the speakers acceptance of it represents the speaker coming to accept the
beauty of the life God created in the new season.
Spring (Summary)

16. Spring (Stanza One)
Sound the flute!
Now it's mute!
Bird's delight,
Day and night,
Nightingale,
In the dale,
Lark in sky,
Merrily,
Merrily merrily, to welcome in the year.
Starts the poem VERY playful and upbeat with punctuation
of exclamation marks
➔ Sound the flute represents something is beginning
➔ The birds are delighting in the beginning of spring
➔ Nightingale is best known for its powerful and beautiful
song
➔ The Lark has a song that is delivered in flight.
➔ The first Stanza uses birds to represent the elation of
Spring

17. Spring (Stanza Two)
Little boy,
Full of joy;
Little girl,
Sweet and small;
Cock does crow,
So do you;
Merry voice,
Infant noise;
Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the year.
➔ Blake refers to the boy and girl as little saying that the
most joy comes from youth and unexpectedly small
entities
➔ Compares the children to the birds referenced in the first
stanza to show both have the same happiness in their
song
➔ Blake cherishes "infant noises" because of their purity in
their delight

18. Spring (Stanza Three)
➔ The lamb is a symbol both of innocence and of Christ
➔ The lamb goes to greet the speaker and in return the
speaker kisses it. This shows a accepting response to Gods
beauty throughout nature.
➔ The diction of "soft" and "white" leaves the readers with a
warm and childlike feeling
Little lamb,
Here I am;
Come and lick
My white neck;
Let me pull
Your soft wool;
Let me kiss
Your soft face;
Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the year.

19. ❖ "Spring" has three stanzas. Each stanza is nine lines long and has the rhyme scheme
AABBCCDDE.
❖ Three-syllable line in each instance
❖ This gives the poem an upbeat and fast quality
❖ The exception here is the last line of each stanza, which has twelve
❖ This gives the poem a song-like quality
This gives the poem a songlike quality as the speakers welcome in the new season of life.
Spring (Analysis)

20. All 3 poems compared
All three poems have a very similar theme!
In the angel Blake tells a story that shows a loss of innocence is reflected by a loss of love. The
Lilly strengthens this ideal suggesting that truly loving requires true vulnerability. Similarly,
in Spring the pristine joy and happiness felt when welcoming in a fresh start comes from
the innocence and purity that accompanies Springtime. Overall even though the poems
have different subjects the message remains the same: the intensity of love comes to those
who are naive enough to not guard against it.

21. Citations
Gordon, Todd. Wang, Bella ed. "Songs of Innocence and of Experience Study Guide". GradeSaver, 31
May 2011 Web. 3 March 2015.
"William Blake." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.