At the young age of ten William Blake entered a drawing school and studied at the school of the Royal Academy of Arts. When Blake was fourteen he then decided to try his hand at poetry. The contemporary world and the war that was going on led him to write about the religious, moral, and political opinions he had, which were expressed in his poems. Blake is most known for his "illuminating printing" where he wrote the text and also drew the illustration. If someone were to read one of Blake's poems without the pictures, they would miss something that was truly important. Since the mid-1920s Blake finally came into his own, both in poetry and painting, as one of the most dedicated, intellectually challenging, and astonishingly original artists" (Lynch and Stillinger).
             Blake wrote "From Songs of Innocence" and "From Songs of Experience", which parallel one another. "The state of purity and childlike perspectives, discussed in "Innocence", establishes Blake's ideal condition for humanity. "Experience" was born out of the political troubles both in England and abroad, which, to Blake, exemplified the struggle of spirit against oppression" (Vines). The Songs of Innocence dramatize the naive hopes and fears that inform the lives of children and follow their transformation as the child grows into an adult. Many of the poems draw attention to the positive aspects of natural human understanding prior to the corruption and distortion of experience. The Songs of Experience explain the cruel occurrences of adult life that destroy what is good in innocence. With regard to religion, "The Songs of Experience is less concerned with the character of individual faith than with the institution of the Church.
             The Poems "Infant Sorrow" and "Infant Joy" are two different aspects of the same thing. Blake presents the reader with two positions of the birth of life. The main themes of "Infant Joy" and "Infant Sorrow" are individualism. "Infant Joy" repres...