Re: songs of innocence, how are ye?

Sorry, Scottie, but you're totally full of shite here :). Head to toe.
The whites of your eyes even have a brownish tint to them.

I'm not sure how he's using the word "braces," I've never heard the
phrase "bless relaxes" in any other sentence (chalk one up for Blake),
and I'm really, really not sure how he's using his punctuation. It
certainly doesn't follow modern usage.

As big as you are on proper grammar, I would think you'd appreciate the
difficulties of reading sentences that didn't employ it.

Let's assume the word "bless" is a verb, since that is how it is usually
used. Is "relaxes," then, a noun or a verb? I ask because the word
"relaxes" is also usually a verb. It would be really odd to read two
verbs together and get any definite meaning -- the tendency is to make
either "bless" or "relaxes" a noun and read the other as the verb.

For example, does the speaker want to "bless" those things that relax us
(so that "relaxes" is really a noun), or is he pronouncing "blessings"
on the state of relaxation (so that "bless" is really a noun)? Perhaps,
it doesn't matter -- it's either or both, and that's how the sentence is
supposed to be read.

Who is the speaker, anyhow?

How would we read the clause if both were verbs? That our act of
blessing relaxes...whom? Us? The recipient of the blessing?

What does this mean once we understand it as a Proverb of Hell?

Most people I know that pay attention to Blake tend to think his
simplicity is deceptive. It's interesting that you refer to the Songs
of Innocence in the subject line of your e-mail; songs like "The Little
Black Boy" and "The Chimney Sweeper" seem charming in their naive
acceptance of the current world and hope for the sufferings of this
world to be alleviated in the next one. But this very charm is what
revolts us the longer we look at it -- the naivete of both the Chimney
Sweeper and the Little Black Boy seems to stand in judgment upon a
society that creates their suffering.

Their acceptance is disturbing because it seems to lead us to accept the
unacceptable, and for that reason we're not entirely comfortable with
their innocence. If you read the companion "Chimney Sweeper" in the
Songs of Experience, you find a reaction that's more what you'd expect
after reading the Songs of Innocence but, at this point, you mourn the
loss of innocence since all that is left now is unmediated bitterness.

So what's being said by the juxtaposition of innocence and experience?
Perhaps I am bloody stupid. Somehow I think I'd be even stupider,
though, if I took all this at face value. Or perhaps not really stupid
-- just a child. I understand the Songs of Innocence were very popular
as children's lit in Blake's day.

Jim

-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
Received on Fri Jun 13 10:14:38 2003