William Blake's Songs Of Innocence And Experience

On November 28, 1757, one of the most eminent poets from the Romantic period was born. William Blake, the son of a successful London hosier, only briefly attended school since most of the education he received was from his mother. He was a very religious man and almost all of his poems enclose some reference to God. “Night” by William Blake is part of a larger compilation of poems called Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. This collection of poems, published in 1789, depicts innocence and experience. “Night” dramatizes the conflict between heaven and earth.
“Night” focuses on how evil is born when darkness rises. In the first stanza the speaker reveals that the day is ending and night is beginning. The moon and the sun are personified when the speaker says “the sun descending in the west” and “sits and smiles on the night.” Throughout the beginning of the poem the speaker’s tone is comforting. For example, he mentions “warm, sleep, and bed”; then towards the end of the poem the tone changes drastically. William Blake is famous for mentioning a guardian angel in his poems, and he does so in the second stanza.
The poet establishes an
He says, “And there the lion’s [i.e. Jesus Christ’s] ruddy eyes / shall flow with tears of gold” (33,34). Then the speaker says, “Wrath by his meekness, / and by his health, sickness” (37,38). Here the poet is referring to how Jesus does not retaliate, and that Jesus protects his people through self-sacrifice. The poet is saying that everyone is a child of God’s great flock and that Jesus is the shepherd. In the final lines of the poem the poet refers to a river. He says, “For, wash’d in life’s river [i.e. heaven]” (45). The poet to conclude the poem when he says “My bright mane for ever / shall shine like the gold / as I guard o’er the fold” (46,48) which means that the sun, also known as Jesus, will always be there to watch over the creatures on