Q10. Briefly define the two contrasting sides that William Blake presents in his Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794).

Answer:
William Blake presents two opposite sides of human life in his Songs of Innocence and Experience.

  • Songs of Innocence shows the world of purity, love, faith, and happiness as seen through a child’s eyes.
  • Songs of Experience shows the world of pain, corruption, and loss of innocence found in adulthood.
    Together, they represent “the two contrary states of the human soul.”

Q11. Why is Blake’s poetry not as simple as it apparently seems? Explain briefly.

Answer:
Blake’s poetry may look simple and childlike on the surface, but it carries deep symbolic meanings. His poems talk about complex ideas such as innocence, experience, good and evil, and the spiritual nature of man. To understand his poetry fully, one must study the layers of meaning, imagery, and symbols hidden beneath the simple words.

Q12. What does Robert F. Gleckner opine with regard to William Blake’s poetry?

Answer:
According to Robert F. Gleckner, Blake’s poetry is rich with major and minor symbols and hidden meanings. These meanings need to be interpreted carefully by readers. Gleckner believes that Blake’s poems in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience correspond to each other and must be read together to understand their full message.


Q8. Mention the reason for which the lady is suddenly moved to tears while singing her cradle song.

Answer:
The lady (mother) is moved to tears while singing the cradle song because, as she looks at her baby’s innocent face, she remembers the suffering of Christ. She feels both love and sadness — love for her child’s purity and sorrow because she knows that innocence will not last forever, and that every human must face pain and sin in life.

Q9. What is the change that is found in the tone of the second cradle song?

Answer:
In the second “Cradle Song” (from Songs of Experience), the tone changes from peace and joy to sadness and worry. The mother’s voice becomes sorrowful as she realizes that her child will one day lose his innocence and experience the harshness and suffering of the world.


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