Economical and religious repression Essay

Illustrate from Blakes songs the ways the poet shows that the pack of his time were alienated from their natural selves and from society by political, economical and religious repression A major organize of Blakes in the conquest to correct the unnatural state of society was that of holiness and the Church. Blake was an unconventional Christian.Although netherstandably religious, as seen in meters such as The Lamb and Night, he abhorred the concept of organised religious belief and believed it to be an extremely damage institution which was more concerned with the oppression of the lower classes and the continuance of the uneven status quo than with true religion. Blake believed the moral codes that were extolled by the Church were significantly damaging to society, making innocent concepts degenerate and causing bitter unhappiness. In The Garden of Love, Blake conveys his feelings on the repressing qualities of religion.This poem is the basis for Blakes theory on repressive religion, using The Garden of Love as a basis for the damaging effects of religious bans, Blake then goes onto portray how the effects change with different experiences such as bask and stir. In the poem, the vocalizer returns to The Garden of Love where he used to play (which seems to refer to the innocent baring of sexuality by children) and finds that it has been transformed. Where once children used to play on the green there are direct priests in black gowns, and gravestones where there used to be flowers.The speaker has become aware of Church police and its oppressive bans, Blake emphasises the influence of the religious morals by use of metrical technique. The power of Thou shalt non paralyses the poem, with three successive stresses halting the regularly anapaestic rhythm. In the same way that Thou shalt not stops the flow of the poem, the construction of the Chapel stops the innocent play of children. In the design which accompanies the poem children are seen prayi ng over the graves of Joys & Desires, which were murdered by the Church.Blake further expands his theory on how repressive religion alienates sight of his day from their natural selves in his two poems on sexual intercourse, The open and The upchuck arise. The Blossom is a celebration of what Blake would call completely natural sex, beingness free from morals and repressive religion it is a wonderful and joyous occasion, so full of emotion that it makes the robin sob with joy. The Blossom is full of positive language, such as happy, merry and pretty and contains a simple and alert rhythm that conveys the naturalness of the act and how positive such sex is.The Sick rosaceous on the opposite hand portrays sexual intercourse at its most vitiate and shameful. The poem is a vision of sex under the influence of repressive religious morals and restricting social conventions it portrays sexual intercourse under the influence of repressive religious morals. The poem utilises a compl icated and lumpy rhythm, with a mix of anapaestic and iambic feet and a disturbing first line which is difficult to scan, the world of Experience is clearly evoked through Blakes metrical technique.The poems imagery of an invisible worm flying at night in a howling storm is full of darkness, violence and depravity. The Rose hides (implied by found out) her sexual pleasure, her bed of crimson joy, which reveals the hypocrisy of female pleasure in this depraved form of sex the Rose has sexual desire but hides it from the invisible worm. In the lowest two lines Blake sums up his point of the poem, that this kind of sexual intercourse, this dark secret love, Does thy life repeal.Through his portrayal of love and sex in the Songs, Blake shows the damaging effects of religious repression. Repressive religious morals and laws have led to the body becoming detached from the soul, and sex, which the Church associates with the body, has become a single-seeded and deviant act. In these po ems, Blake has shown that the Church has alienated people from their natural selves. In My Pretty Rose guide, Blake reveals his beliefs on the unnatural constraints of man and wife.Blake repudiated any kind of binding contracts or morals, which might constrain the natural egotism from its freedom and sexual union fell firmly within his sights. As far as Blake was concerned, marriage was a dead institution (as revealed by the marriage hearse of London) and an unnatural social prison which severely shamed peoples natural selves. In the poem, a flower was offered to the speaker, a metaphor for an extra-marital affair, by a woman which the speaker finds attractive (Such a flower as May never bore).However, the unnatural constraints of marriage cause the speaker to unhappily, suggested by the slowing of the rhythm with a double stress in And I passed the sweet flower oer, turn down the offer and return to his wife, his Pretty Rose tree. The artificial boundaries of marriage have le d to the speaker giving up the chance of being happy with his sweet flower and to being trapped with his jealous Rose tree whose thorns are his solely delight.Blake suggests that without the constraints of marriage that the speaker would have been free to follow his heart, rather than conforming to an artificial law and becoming unhappy. In London, Blake further expresses his attitude towards marriage. In the poem, marriage is presented as a hearse, a vessel for carrying the dead, though with their bodies (their sexual selves) being dead in a loveless and institutionalised marriage which extols the virtues of the soul over the deviant and depraved body. Blake blames the unnatural state of love in society on the Churchs separation of body and soul.The separation has forced the soul to be encapsulated in marriage and the body to be forced to become deviant and turn to youthful Harlots. Sexual pleasure has unaccompanied two options, either a loveless marriage or buying pleasure from s eedy and ghoulish prostitutes. Marriage, in Blakes eyes, has made all sexual pleasure the kind found in The Sick Rose, depraved and hidden, whereas in a world free from the unnatural constraints alienating people from themselves, people would be able to enjoy the pleasure found in The Blossom.