Week 4 William Blake, William Wordsworth, John Keats

William Blake-

I thought it was very interesting in comparing his two pieces of work and how he used the same titles for most of them. This helped me to see the innocence from one poem and then the reality and experience of life in the other. I read the songs of innocence first and was able to see a sense of love and excitement for the life they lived. When I read his poems I was able to picture myself in the experience of the poem. Holy Thursday was probably the poem that was the most visually appealing to me. He was very descriptive in what the children were wearing and the flowers they would walk by and the happiness they had. I was able to see how these children had faith in their prayers to God and they knew they would be protected. At times I felt like I was reading nursery rhymes when reading the songs of innocence. He just had such an innocent approach to these poems. I liked how the poems had a mix of a child's perspective as well as from another writing about a child. The Lamb was probably my favorite poem. I liked how the child was asking made the lamb. To know that a lamb is how a child is able to see God is very innocent. Asking so many questions and thanking the lamb for all that the child received from the lamb. The Songs of Experience shows the harsh reality that has taken over their life. In Holy Thursday it is nice to see that through the hard times they experience they can still sing songs of joy. In the Chimney Sweeper religion is still addressed but the praise to God is not as powerful as it was in the songs of innocence. Prayer is still important and what they must do, even though they don't live the life they want.

William Wordsworth-

Reading through Tintern Abbey the first time was very hard to follow. I don't know why but I felt like I kept getting lost in the references to nature. I went back and read the reading material on William Wordsworth and I was able to get a better understanding of what I had read. After reading the poem again I was able to better understand this poem and the detailed imagery that he has throughout his piece of work. I did like how he was very detailed in describing what he remembered about the nature when he was a child. The details that he has he will always be able to remember when he is back in real life away from the beauty that he loved. I did not really understand the role that the hermit played throughout the story. Reading the poem it is hard to remember that a story is going on not just the description of what he is seeing in nature. The last two lines of the poem show how much that time means to him. "And this green pastoral landscape, were to me More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake". He truly appreciated what he was given with that experience and it will always be with him.

This World is Too Much With Us shows an angry side to nature. We see a side that shows that the functions of the earth are not always nice and beautiful as we would like them to be. Life is not always perfect and neither are the layouts of nature. We cannot always expect things to be a certain way all the time.

Expostulation and Reply and The Tables Turned: An Evening Scene On The Same Subject are poems that are about the same thing. In Expostulation and Reply someone is talking to Wordsworth and telling him to quit wastig his time out in nature. He is asked where his books were and to spend more time learing from books. They can feed their minds with other powers then of nature. The next poem I believe is Wordsworth's perspective on what was just told to him. He completely rejects what was just said to him and says that books should be put down. When reading this poem I feel that he was trying to get the point across that you should enjoy life in whatever makes you happy. For him it is being out in nature but that may not be the same for others. In nature you can learn many things and be happy with life.

John Keats

Ode on a Grecian Urn represents art giving permanence to our feelings and desires. After reading about Keats it made sense that all of his feelings, made their way into his work. This urn does not show age through years but through the stories it tells and the questions it answers. The speaker tries to relate to these stories on the urn and is unable to and has to accept that human life has its own changes in the story. Humans need to know that beauty and truth are the same and to accept that.