University of Strathclyde

Department of
English Studies
Glasgow G1 1XH
0141-552 4400

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

Seminar on Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1789, 1794).

Compare and contrast 'The Nurse's Song' (Innocence), 'Nurses Song' (Experience), and 'The School-Boy' (Experience). Try to get copies of these poems that have the original illustrations.

1. What image (or images) of childhood is (are) presented in these three poems?

1.1 Does this image (or do these images) conform to Romantic ideas about childhood or to other ideas?

1.2 Do the Songs celebrate their child characters' innocence or experience?

2. What evidence is there to suggest that the Songs of Innocence and of Experience are examples of children's literature rather than simply texts about children? In other words, who is the intended reader?

2.1 What assumptions do the songs make about their readers?

3. Is the relationship between text and illustration typical of what you might expect in a children's book?

Further reading

Heather Glen, Vision and Disenchantment: Blake's 'Songs' and Wordsworth's 'Lyrical Ballads' (CUP, 1983), chapter one.

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