Novitiate: ‘Holy Thursday’

Abstract

Appreciation of Songs of Innocence and Experience has been advanced by scholarship and criticism of many kinds: the editions of Keynes and Erdman, the poem-by-poem commentaries of Wicksteed and Hirsch, the work of Damon and Frye on Blake’s philosophy and symbols, Nurmi’s investigation of the sociohistorical context and Raine’s quest for Swedenborgian and Neoplatonic sources, Gardner’s recreation of Blake’s physical surroundings and Larrissy’s analysis of his ideological stance. Interpretations which at first seem incompatible often prove on closer examination to be complementary; and the best recent contributions, such as Glen’s reading of ‘A Poison Tree’, achieve a depth of understanding at which differing perspectives are convincingly reconciled. The writer who can tell us most about Songs of Innocence and Experience, however, is still Blake himself; and because the book’s composition was spread over three decades at the height of his career, a high proportion of his literary and artistic work is in some sense contemporary with it. Since Blake continually revised and developed his vision, one must always be wary of interpretations derived from his later inventions; but the relative chronology of Blake’s writings is now sufficiently understood for each poem to be considered in the light of earlier and roughly contemporary texts.