Abstract
In the vast bibliography on William Blake, scholars usually comment on the irony in his poetic works, but seldom they explain such comments. This paper is an attempt to understand the ironies present in some poems of Songs of Innocence and of Experience, while at the same time taking into consideration the dialectical quality of Blake’s thought. To do so, the concept of Romantic irony, developed by Friedrich Schlegel, is used, as it is also dialectical in its nature. In order to illustrate how Romantic irony is used to read the volume, an analysis of the introductory poems of each section, along with “Earth’s Answer” (the second introduction’s coda) and two plates which illustrate these poems, is made. The readings show some affinities between Blake’s and Schlegel’s way of thinking.
Highlights
Scholars and Irony in Songs of Innocence and of ExperienceIf one revises the vast bibliography on William Blake (1757-1827), several hints about irony in his poetic works will appear
In the vast bibliography on William Blake, scholars usually comment on the irony in his poetic works, but seldom they do explain such comments
When considering the poems included in this volume, critics commonly affirm their ironical attitude, but not thoroughly explain it. This is exemplified by Erdman, in what is one of the essential books on William Blake, Blake: Prophet Against Empire (2015): There are layers of innuendo [in the Songs] that reveal themselves only under careful and repeated examination, and the degree of tension between the surface meaning and the satiric implications depends much on the intellectual distance between the singer and the real author, Blake. (Erdman 118)
Summary
If one revises the vast bibliography on William Blake (1757-1827), several hints about irony in his poetic works will appear. Such way of understanding this relation suits well Blake’s aphorism in The Marriage for Heaven and Hell: “Without Contraries is no progression” (Blake 34) With this in mind, a reading which, like Gillham’s, treats the poems as dramatic monologues, and takes into account the dialectical aspect of the two contraries, will possibly be closer to the logic of the volume itself. A reading which, like Gillham’s, treats the poems as dramatic monologues, and takes into account the dialectical aspect of the two contraries, will possibly be closer to the logic of the volume itself Another aspect which Gillham does not consider, nor most of the commentators cited up to now, is that Blake’s poems should be treated as a composite art, which merges designs and text in each plate. This is justified by the idea that, by bringing to the fore the Innocent aspects of the poem from “Innocence,” the ironic contrast with the Experience of its mirror poem will be more readily revealed
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