Blake’s Songs, Their Introductions and the Bible

Abstract

Although William Blake was highly eclectic and drawing from multifarious sources, religious system, philosophical thoughts and traditions, the Bible was Blake’s most predominant concern. Throughout his life of meticulous and tedious composite art Blake aimed at decoding the Bible as the Great Code of Art for helping people to be imaginative and visionary like Jesus Christ. Both in his complex and sophisticated prophetic works, meant for the illuminated people, and in his deceptively simple lyrics of the Songs of Innocence and of Experience, meant for the rank and file of society, Blake did keep this up. The present study is an attempt to focus on this element, by delving deep into the texts and designs of the Introductions of Songs of Innocence as well as of Songs of Experience, inevitably considering the totality of Blake’s works and in the special context of their marked allegiance or affinity to the themes and symbols from the Bible. Blake visualized a blend of lamblike meekness and mildness with the ferocity of tigers of wrath for having the human form divine perfect.