William Blake wrote during the Romantic period which between 1785 - 1830. Some said that the Romantic period was the fairy tale way of writing through symbolism and allegory and also an age for individualism. Blake was little known as a poet during his lifetime. His reputation became established late in the 19th century. Blake's first book of poems was Poetical Sketches. Blake was said to write symbolist poetry in which things such as a cloud, a flower, or a mountain was presented as an object represent with significance beyond itself.
             In comparison to Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience there is a distinction between the imagined states of innocence and experience is stated as thus: world of innocence: unfallen world/ unified self/ integration with nature/ time in harmony with rhythm of human existence. world of experience: fallen world/ fragmented divided self/ alienation from nature/ time as destructive, in opposition of human desire (Feldman). This can be seen in "The Lamb," and "The Chimney Sweeper;" from Songs of Innocence and in Songs of Experience "The Tyger". Blake along with other poets explored visionary states of consciousness that are common among children but violate the standard categories of adult judgment. This can be seen in Blake's Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. In Songs of Innocence the speaker is often a child and in Songs of Experience the speaker is often an adult. This could be due to the fact that children thought to be of what innocent adults have already "experienced." Blake experimented with partial rhymes and novel rhythms and employed bold figures of speech that at times approximate symbols. One of the strongest features in Blake's philosophy was his belief in imagination as an active force. He attacked rationalism, authoritarianism, industrialization, and organized religion as destructive of creative a...