Duality In William Blake's Poetry

“Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion, Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence” (“The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”). The duality or contrary aspects of life produce a balance within human nature. These aspects are not just contradictory, they are complementary. To fully understand the dual nature of mankind, William Blake utilized his poetry to compare the divergent forces that are part of all individuals. In his poetic collection the “Songs of Innocence” he illustrates the childlike expectations and uncertainties that inform the lives of children and examines the transformation as a child matures. Various poems within this collection demonstrate the optimistic characteristics of natural human understanding prior to the distortion and corruption of experience in life. His supplementary collection the “Songs of Experience” contrast the ways in which experience characterizes adulthood and brings …show more content…
When examined together, these poems illustrate diverse reflections of the religious ideas of human origins and how they transform through the progression of life. Consequently, analyzing these poems together, they illustrate how human beliefs develop continually, never to reach absolute awareness due to constant questioning of the unknown. Thus, they represent the duality of human belief concerning ideas on existence at the beginning and the end of a life span. Simultaneously, these poems ask unanswerable questions which torment the human soul. In the “The Lamb”, Blake illustrates the human ability to ask the questions that defines humanity; however, in “The Tyger” identifies that the essence of humanity may never be answered. Furthermore, he continues by illustrating that a new understand occurs with age, but humanity remains in a state of perpetual uncertainty. Blake illustrates that one period in time