A detailed study of William Blake's 'Songs of Innocence and Experience' in relation to the principles of the pastoral convention.

Literature Coursework Kara-kaye D'Aguilar Hoilett Questions:(a)What does the Pastoral Convention refer to? (b)By detailed reference to Blake's poems, show how they highlight features of the pastoral.(c)What is the underlying significance of Blake's usage of the Pastoral? (What message is he conveying by using it? In the poetic anthology, Songs of Innocence and Experience by ardent romanticist William Blake, the reader is exposed to a kinship of poems, a majority of …showed first 75 words of 1644 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1644 total…Instead, he opts for an arguably unrealistic existence devoid of the misery and imperfections commonly attributed to the world of experience. Blake's use of the pastoral may be said to be a means by which the writer takes a stand against the corruptive realities of an imperfect society. As a resolution to this piteous state, Blake offers through his Innocent works an almost perfect world empty of uncontained hate and hypocrisy, prejudice and societal inequality.