Concise Remarks on Angels and Devils of William Blake in Songs of Innocence and Experience

【摘  要】 對立性是布萊克美學(xué)思想的重要組成部分，也是他詩歌創(chuàng)作風(fēng)格的中心要素。本論文在探究18 世紀(jì)英國社會復(fù)雜的政治環(huán)境及思想潮流的基礎(chǔ)上，結(jié)合布萊克傳記中對其思想及經(jīng)歷的記錄，系統(tǒng)地研究布萊克的對立性思想產(chǎn)生的根源、特點及其在布萊克早期作品的具體體現(xiàn)。

   以詩集《天真與經(jīng)驗之歌》中相同題材的“對詩”為例，探討對立性思想在人類認(rèn)識上的體現(xiàn)：天真與經(jīng)驗的對立。天真與經(jīng)驗代表人類認(rèn)識的兩種對立方向，它們的對立性體現(xiàn)在對自然及權(quán)威所做出的不同反應(yīng)。

   布萊克是新浪漫主義文學(xué)的先驅(qū)。從布萊克的《天真之歌》等作品中，我們能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)布萊克對自由想象的追求和對理性桎梏的排斥。布萊克毫不留情地把這現(xiàn)世的一切苦難歸咎于抽象理性的束縛。

   以《倫敦》和《老虎》兩詩為例，來尋找布萊克詩中的反叛性和革命性。在他最好的作品當(dāng)中有一部分的靈感來源于法國大革命。在他生前最后一天寫下的第一部傳記Alexander Gilcrest 中，他將自己稱為“自由之人”。布萊克最廣為人知的一首詩是：《倫敦》。在這首詩當(dāng)中，布萊克看似描繪著他的城市，其實講述的是人性。布萊克對教堂雇傭天真的兒童以及身邊虛偽的情愛感到非常憤怒。在倫敦，這種虛偽的情愛，讓賣淫和染有性病的人走向婚姻的殿堂。但是，詩中之怒似乎比現(xiàn)實之怒刺得更深.

【關(guān)鍵詞】布萊克；對立性；想象；革命性

【Abstract】 Contrariety is a very important aspect of Blake’s aesthetic thoughts, which is the central element underlying his poetry. Tracing the complex political and ideological milieu of the 18th century, as well as the biographical records of Blake’s life experience, this dissertation aims to investigate the origins and features of Blake’s notion of contrariety as well as its embodiments in his early poetry.

The embodiment of the idea of contrariety reflected in human perception: an opposition between innocence and experience, with the paired poems in Songs of Innocence and of Experience as the focus of analysis. Innocence and experience indicate opposing directions of human perception, and their opposition lies in different responses to nature and authority.

Black is a pioneer of the New Romantic Literature. From Blake's Songs of Innocence and other works, we can found that Blake’s pursuit of free imagination and exclusion of rational shackles. Black relentlessly blamed all the sufferings in that age to the abstract rational shackles. 

In third part, taking both the "London" and "Tyger" poems as example, we can find rebellion and revolutionary in Blake’s poem. Some of his best works were inspired by the French Revolution. His first biographer, Alexander Gilcrest, wrote that down to his last days Blake always avowed himself a "Liberty Boy". One of Blake's most moving and accessible poems is London. In this poem Blake describes his city, which is also a way of describing the condition of humanity. Blake shows his anger at the church which is complicit in the exploitation of children, and at the hypocrisy surrounding sexuality, where marriage goes hand in hand with prostitution and venereal diseases. But the anger of the poem cuts even deeper than that.

【Key Words】Blake; Contrariety; Imagination; Revolution 

Table of Contents

扉 頁 i

Acknowledgments iii

摘 要................................................................................................................................................iv

Abstract...........................................................................................................................................iv

Chapter One   Introduction 1

1.1 Historical Background 1

1.2 Literature Characteristic 1

Chapter Two   Contrariety in Human Perception 3

Chapter Three   Angels in Imagination and Devils in Reality 5

3.1 “Angels” in Children’ s Eyes：Irony Effect 5

3.2 Darkness in Reality Even in Church 6

Chapter Four   Revolutionary and Rebellion in London 9

Chapter Five   Blake’s Imaginary World 11

5.1 Blake’s Visional World 11

5.2 Free from Shackle through Imagination 12

Bibliography 15