William Blake

William Blake is not your average success story. He grew up poor and uneducated, though he loved reading, and for most of the 19th century was only known by his inner circle. As a child, he was probably seen as odd because of his claims of seeing "angels in the haystacks" and "beholding God's face". (74) One of his spiritual encounters speaks of his brother giving him the idea of "Illuminated Printing", which was a exhausting and long process of printing his books. This printing process along with the fact that he had limited funds, caused Blake to only be able to publish a few of his works, and therefore remain practically unheard until after his death.
In Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Blake shows us that the idealistic thought of childhood innocence can be quite contrary to the fact. Some children who are abused and neglected as infants can be said to have lost a sense of innocence. Adults, such as Michael Jackson, are often seen as children who never grew up. When we think of children, words like, pure, happy, and playful. But Blake shows us in The Chimney Sweeper, the the child Tom, was so tormented by the fact that he had to become a chimney sweeper, the night before he began, he dreamed that "all of them lock'd up in coffins of black" (81). Fortunately, he found some peace in the dream, (the Angel setting them free), that made his reality bearable. The saddest part of this, is that the parents seemed to feel this was an acceptable practice in the site of God. "Where are thy father & mother? say? They are gone up to the church to pray.....And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King" (89). This reminds me of the beatings and abuse that the children from The House of Prayer, in Atlanta, suffered some years ago. Their parents, under the guidance of the pastor, were taught that it was acceptable to God to use excessive force to correct a child's behavior. I believe that sometimes, what the "king" in our present day lives deems to be acceptable for the most innocent of our society, must not only be challenged but corrected.

William Blake - A Poison Tree

I love this poem! It speaks to me of the power of both forgiveness and unforgiveness. Sometimes forgiving someone who wronged us seems like we are "letting the person off the hook". What we don't realize is that holding on to the pain they caused us, gives that person a certain amount of control over us. For instance, have you ever been having a good day, just enjoying all that life has to offer and you happen to run into the person that wronged you? You immediately begin to remember what they did, said or didn't do or say. You may suddenly feel down or upset. Our poem say "I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end". (92) It may be easier to talk through a problem with a close friend, spouse or family member because deep down we don't want to be upset with them. But what about a co-worker, church member or mild acquaintance? We often dismiss their offense in our minds but not our hearts. Unforgiveness is like a poison that seeps into your veins. It can slowly take hold of your feelings for someone and turn it to bitterness or hatred. Where you initially were just upset with someone, if you choose not to talk it out, the bitterness and anger settles itself into the state of unforgiveness. When Blake says "I watered it in fears, Night & morning with my tears:" (92), I think he's saying sometimes we fear confronting the person that wronged us, maybe because of retaliation at work or being ostracized at church for instance. And because of this we may try to cry our pain away instead of dealing with it. When we see the person we may smile and use "deceitful wiles" to try to pretend like we're o.k. But in reality, the unforgiveness grows "both day and night. Till it bore an apple bright". It seems the offender saw this metaphoric apple looking so appealing that, they plotted to steal it from the garden, not knowing the poison that lied within. To the offended's glee, she found her "foe outstretched beneath the tree".

Now You Know

Hi! I'm Sherri D. Adams and I'm a Senior Criminal Justice student looking to get my degree December 2007. Why?, you may ask , did I wait so long to take my Literature class? I'm sure my punctuation was wrong on the previous sentence, but hey, i've been out of school for 8 yrs.
I'm trying to play catch-up with my education, so I'm taking 3 classes plus my intern this summer. It sounds like a lot, but working for the school system allows you to be off for the summer and still get paid......wait, why am I changing careers??? Well that's anothe story. I decided to take an online class so I wouldn't have to be away from the "little angels" another night. This is my first time, but I'm very excited, so that should make it a little easier. I expect that from this class, I will sharpen my writing skills through discussions, and I will explore an area of Literature that seems to be very interesting. The thing that makes me anxious about this class is that I'm just getting back into the swing of things and to try something new on top of that. But I love a challenge and I am a survivor!