Childhood Essay -- Literary Analysis, Blake and Wordsworth

At its funda psychological level, adulthood is simply the end of puerility, and the two stages are, by all accounts, drastically distinguishable. In the major works of poetry by William Blake and William Wordsworth, the dynamic between these two phases of life is analyzed and articulated. In both Blakes Songs of Innocence and of Experience and some(prenominal) of Wordsworths works, boorhood is portrayed as a superior enounce of mental capacity and freedom. The two poets echo one another in insist that the individuals progression into adulthood diminishes this childhood voice. In essence, both poets demonstrate an adoration for the vision possessed by a child, and an aversion to the mental introduce of adulthood. Although both Blake and Wordsworth show childhood as a state of greater innocence and spiritual vision, their view of its relationship with adulthood differs - Blake believes that childhood is embarrassed by adulthood, whereas Wordsworth sees childhood living on within the adult. In the William Blakes Songs of Innocence and of Experience, the vision of children and adults are placed in opposition of one another. Blake portrays childhood as a time of optimism and positivity, of heightened connection with the natural world, and where joy is the overpowering emotion. This joyful nature is shown in Infant Joy, where the speaker, a newborn baby, states I felicitous am,/ Joy is my name. (Line 4-5) The speaker in this poem is portrayed as being immediately joyful, which represents Blakes larger view of childhood as a state of joy that is untouched by humanity, and is untarnished by the experience of the real world. In contrast, Blakes portrayal of adulthood is one of negativity and pessimism. Blakes child saw the most cheerful aspects of the natural wo... ...lake and Wordsworth see the relationship between childhood and adulthood as one of difference in vision and state of mind. The two poets mirror each other in this assertion, but differ elsewhere. While Blake sees this dichotomy as one of conflict, Wordsworth feels that the two mindsets are able to coexist within the individual. The relationship between children and adults is one that is by no means new to human life. The two epochs of human existence are drastically different in their mindsets and their views of the world. In the poetry of William Blake and William Wordsworth, this difference between children and adults and their respective states of mind is articulated and developed. As a person ages, they move undeniably from childhood to adulthood, and their encephalon moves with them. On the backs of Blake and Wordsworth, the reader is taken along this journey.