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TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > English > Illustrate from ‘Innocence and Experience’ Blake’s views on love and sexuality
Blake often conveys a positive presentation of love and sexuality, together with a non-conformist attitude to the restraints and sexual confines of society. He tends to express the view that sexual love is something to be treasured and embraced, rather than hidden and kept quiet. He illustrates this through the use of various methods including rhythm, symbolism and colour imagery.
Blake presents the exploration of natural sexuality as positive. This is especially evident in ‘The Blossom’, where the title itself connotes new life and potential. Immediately, Blake hints to the reader that sexual relationships are good by linking them with nature. This is further compounded when Blake describes ‘leaves so green’ and the use of colour imagery here suggests growth and vitality, all positive ideas. Blake reiterates this later, through the phrase ‘sees you swift as arrow’. The sibilance in this phrase has the effect of softening the tone, which, together with the ‘arrow’ as a phallic symbol, implies that the sexual experience is gentle and enjoyable. Blake also present the emotions associated with the sexual experience as overwhelming when he mentions the ‘sobbing’. Throughout the poem simplistic positive words like ‘pretty’ and ‘happy’ are used, so although ‘sobbing’ could be negative, it seems more likely that it is a positive reaction, hence Blake maintains the view that sexual love has brought joy. Indeed, even the trochaic rhythm of the poem adds to the upbeat, happiness of the ideas addressed in the poem.
In contrast, Blake suggests a darker side to sexual love in ‘The Sick Rose’, which is vastly different from the attitudes expressed in ‘The Blossom’. Again, the title of the poem is symbolic of painful love, due to the thorns of a rose, while also being the English flower. As a result, the poem could be perceived to be about the sexual conventions in England. Similarly to ‘The Blossom’, Blake uses colour imagery when he describes the ‘crimson joy’. By using this vivid red colour, Blake is hinting at the illicit enjoyment of sexual love- it becomes something sordid and secretive due to the fact that English society will not allow it to be expressed openly. Furthermore, the idea of life being ‘destroyed’ by this ‘dark secret love’ implies that suppressing these feelings is damaging to the individual. By using the idea of a ‘rose’ which is ‘sick’ Blake is hinting at the prevalence of sexual disease in England at the time, due to the numerous brothels and the thriving world of prostitutes. Implicitly, Blake suggests that it is the sexual conventions and peoples’ inability to be open about their sexuality that had led to this ‘diseased’ society.
Similar ideas about the negative impacts of suppressing sexual desire are conveyed by Blake in ‘The Angel’. For instance, Blake describes how the ‘maiden queen’ ‘hid from him’ her ‘hearts desire’. It is the denial of her feelings that causes her to lose her ‘youth’ and become ‘old’ and ‘grey’. By linking her rejections to her age and the progression of time, Blake suggests a tone of regret and implies that the ‘maiden queen’ missed her chance of love because she was unwilling to express her sexual desire. Indeed, words such as ‘shields’ and ‘spears’ provide evidence of how Blake uses the lexis of war to become symbolic of the conventions in society regarding sex and love and how they are barriers to happiness. The very fact that the ‘maiden queen’ has to use these weapons to protect herself from the ‘angel’ is indicative of the way that Blake views love as an awesome power which causes extremes of emotions, which are often too painful to face. Blake presents the poem as a dream, which fits in with the need to hide emotions and sexual love in England at the time because it separates the reader from the narrator, while suggesting a distance and unreality.
Furthermore, Blake also presents suppressed desire due to commitment from marriage and how this can be negative in ‘My Pretty Rose Tree’. Blake uses the ‘flower’ and the ‘rose tree’ as symbols of women in order to show his own belief that marriage was not a reason to stop having lovers. Blake uses extended vowel sounds in this poem to demonstrate how the voice in the poem is tempted by the ‘flower’. This is clear when Blake writes ‘I passed the sweet flower o’er’. The sibilance in this phrase also helps to illustrate the beauty of the other woman and how much of a sacrifice he is making for his wife, due to the lingering tone. The ‘thorns’ as his ‘only delight’ become symbolic of the grief he gets from his wife, despite his restraint. Blake is clearly conveying the idea that the man would have been happier if he had pursued a sexual relationship with the ‘flower’ and it is the convention of marriage which is preventing him from being happy. In this case, the predictable ABAB rhyme scheme reflects the restrictions and limitations of the narrator’s relationship with his wife. Thus, Blake presents marriage as yet another restrictive factor of English society n the expression of sexual love, which only serves to create unhappiness.
In conclusion, it is evident that Blake was someone who strongly believed in sexual freedom and abhorred the conventions of discretion and hidden love, perceiving them to be damaging to the individual and society as a whole. His view seems to suggest that sex should be something natural due to the way in which he often links it to nature, as well as something pure and open. He presents the idea that sexual desire only becomes something sordid and bad when it is suppressed.
Comments
These notes are aimed at A Level English Literature students at A2 level.
Originally written by cooksie5 on TSR Forums.
