Symbolism and Themes in English Literature: Blake to Joyce

Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience

Infant Joy

This poem, from Songs of Innocence, is about a mother who has just given birth. Blake uses simple and direct language (despite some archaisms) to create an atmosphere of childlike simplicity. Through this simplicity, the poet conveys the intimacy between the two main poetic voices: the mother and child. An alternative interpretation suggests the dialogue is between the child and a poetic persona, rather than the mother.

The child remains nameless, serving as an embodiment of childhood itself. More importantly, names were traditionally given to introduce children into society. By having no name, the child represents pure innocence, as the Romantics often associated society with corruption. A name makes one a member of society, constraining freedom. The baby, once named, is no longer entirely free and loses a part of its identity, emphasizing the fragility of innocence, which may last only a few days. Once you have a name, you belong to something or someone.

The idea of innocence is central from the very beginning. We enter society—and are thus corrupted—when we are given a name. This is emphasized through two approaches:

1. Entering society
2. Entering the church

Since society is conflated with corruption, we become corrupted. Childhood is presented as a blissful state. The baby's declaration, “Joy is my name,” portrays it as a blessing.

Key elements of the poem include:

• Repetition: The repetitions in the second stanza, such as “Sweet joy,” resemble a lullaby, making it easy to remember and conveying the happiness and sweetness surrounding the baby. This repetition emphasizes the positive aura around the child and reflects how people talk to babies.
• Language: The language is non-complex and simple, suitable for addressing a baby and reinforcing the theme of innocence.
• Intimacy: The poem captures the intimate bond between a child and a mother, transforming this personal moment into a universal lullaby, with its musicality reinforced by the line, “I sing the while.”

The overall atmosphere is one of happiness, created by the interplay of songs, a mother, and a happy baby.

Infant Sorrow

This poem from Songs of Experience serves as the counterpart to “Infant Joy.” While the previous poem featured two voices, this one has only one: the child. This single voice conveys a sense of solitude—a newborn who is alone. In stark contrast to the happy atmosphere of “Infant Joy,” this child comes into the world surrounded by tears and pain, fighting against it from the start.

The poem begins with the line, “My mother groan'd! my father wept.” This can be interpreted in two ways:

1. The mother is groaning from the pain of childbirth, and the child feels abandoned by her.
2. The father is weeping because the baby is another mouth to feed, a burden he does not want.

Negative verbs describe the parents' reactions, establishing a tone of pain. The child's perception is that “Into the dangerous world I leapt,” viewing the world as dangerous, not sweet.

The poem's tone is active and dynamic, with verbs in the gerund form like “binding, struggling.” This contrasts with the passive tone of “Infant Joy.” The repeated use of the pronoun “I” emphasizes the child's solitude and feeling of being homeless and exposed to the world's dangers, despite being with its parents.

The phrase “piping loud” refers not only to the baby's crying but also alludes to a probable future for many children: working as chimney sweeps, cleaning pipes. This is reinforced by the word “cloud” in the next verse, which carries a negative connotation. This imagery connects to the themes of experience and corruption.

There is also a subversion of the pastoral setting. While “piping loud” might evoke the image of a shepherd boy playing a flute, Blake presents the opposite, distancing the child from the idealized image in “Infant Joy.”

The second stanza introduces the idea of a fight. The alliteration of the “s” sound (“Struggling, striving, swaddling”) is related to the serpent from the Bible, which represents sin and experience. In this sense, the baby is subtly connected with Satan, sin, and corruption. Blake, deeply engaged with religion, uses this literary device to put forward the idea of sin.

The newborn already feels tired and trapped, as if in bonds, which may be a reference to slavery or the corrupting influence of society on the individual. The final lines, “Bound and weary I thought best / To sulk upon my mother's breast,” show the child clinging to life out of fear. It seeks its mother's breast not out of intimacy, but as a desperate act of survival. The atmosphere of sorrow represents how a child's innocence is corrupted by society from the moment of birth. There is no idealized maternal image here, unlike the intimacy of “Infant Joy.”

The Role of Nature in Romanticism

Throughout the Romantic period, Nature played an important role in literature and painting, serving not only as a source of inspiration for artists but also being personified as Anima Mundi, a living soul. The role of nature is clearly stated in the poetry of William Wordsworth, such as I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud and Tintern Abbey, and in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Both writers put forward common themes that allow for intertextuality in their literary works.

In I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, the poet states that nature is awarding him its greatest gift: inspiration, which develops into poetry as the result of “emotions recollected in tranquility.” For him, nature provides the greatest wealth. Even though he is lonely, he is not alone; he is one with nature, the Anima Mundi. He becomes a prophet of nature; unlike his peers, he has received the gift to see with his “inward eye.” He is superior, and it is his job to introduce others to nature, to make them feel the company of this living soul. He also uses personification, for example, describing the daffodils as a “crowd” to contrast the tranquil crowd of nature with the bustling crowd of the city. The breeze is used to explain inspiration, acting as the conduit for nature's gift.

In Tintern Abbey, we also see how the poet states that we are part of nature, as we are all connected, again putting forward the concept of Anima Mundi. Other concepts repeat, such as the superiority of the poet who can see with the imagination and how the wanderer moves through nature, becoming a priest of nature. However, this poem also deals with the passing of time and how we change with nature. This relates to the concept of Panta Rhei, which states that the wanderer's experience of nature makes him grateful but also sad, as times that have passed will never return. This realization comes from his understanding of nature and its ways. According to Wordsworth, nature is an active force that gives the poet new sight and wisdom, and it is his purpose to share Nature’s lessons with others. He is the ultimate priest of Nature, which can be equated to a religion. It is a mix of different traditions, as when he talks about his sister (with whom the reader can identify) being guided by the moon—a feminine symbol, a representation of the goddess Diana, and a personification of a natural entity.

In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, nature is not only a giver but also a punisher of those who commit transgressions, as seen when the Mariner breaks the rules of hospitality by killing the Albatross. Although this poem blends different traditions—such as the Christian symbolism of the Albatross representing the cross, the two characters resembling Sin and Death in Paradise Lost, and the Journey Motif—we will focus on the role of nature as an active force that can punish as well as nurture (Natura Naturans). For example, nature relates to mutability; when it becomes static, it is negatively connoted, seen as unnatural and a clear symbol of the supernatural gothic, as well as a form of punishment. The passing of time is also a characteristic of Nature, which is ultimately necessary for all living beings. In this poem, solitude is negatively connoted, as nature is not giving its gifts to the mariner but is instead punishing him. This is a journey of restoration and a lesson for the mariner, in which nature begins to forgive his sins by raining, providing him with redemption. Here, the wind, although not related to inspiration but rather to movement, is positive, as movement is now a gift of nature. This also conveys mutability in a positive light. This breeze cleanses the Mariner, but he also needs to meet the other priest of Nature, the Hermit. The Hermit acts as a guide, a holy man who sets the ultimate change for the Mariner: to become a priest of truth himself, to tell his own cautionary tale, and to prevent others from committing transgressions against the laws of nature.

The Role of Setting in Victorian and Modernist Texts

Far beyond the common understanding of setting as a secondary vehicle, in novels like Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, Orlando by Virginia Woolf, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and “The Dead” by James Joyce, the settings frame not only the development of the characters but also communicate inner atmospheres and hidden meanings. These texts also share similarities, such as employing the structure of a Bildungsroman or offering criticisms of the society of their time.

Jane Eyre

In Jane Eyre, a clear example of a Bildungsroman, the main character undergoes a transformation through the different settings she experiences. These settings mirror the development of Jane’s personality.

• Gateshead: Here, we encounter the first gothic elements in the Red Room. Jane is portrayed as an intense and feisty little girl with passionate anger and resentment towards her aunt and cousins. The reader can also feel the suffocation of being an orphan child.
• Lowood School: She goes here to receive an education and gains a surrogate mother, Ms. Temple, and a sister in Helen Burns.
• Thornfield: When she becomes a governess, she goes to Thornfield. The name itself has an inner meaning, as it is a “thorny place,” connecting to the journey motif—a pilgrimage of sorts, a journey both internal and external. Here, she meets Mr. Rochester and is exposed to important lessons about her role as a woman in society and how Rochester tempts her to become a fallen woman, contrary to the path she has made for herself through education. Thornfield is where Jane learns important lessons through unexpected situations, such as the violent encounter with Bertha Mason (Mr. Rochester’s wife), which prevents her from making a grave mistake. This journey ends with fire, as Thornfield burns to ashes, purifying her path.
• Moor House: In opposition to the previous setting, this place has a cold atmosphere where Jane learns to master her troublesome emotions.
• Ferndean: This is where Jane's full development is realized. She becomes independent not only through her inheritance but also through her mental state. She achieves equality with Mr. Rochester and is herself without restrictions.

Orlando

Along the same lines, Orlando is a Bildungsroman, but in a very different way. Virginia Woolf challenges traditional narration and establishes a new kind of Bildungsroman where the main character develops mentally and physically through the novella, including experiencing a sex change across different time periods. This Künstlerroman shows the main character changing not only as a person but as an artist. It also states that everything is changeable and that social standards are mutable, with the plotline serving as the main justification for this idea. It is of utmost importance to notice how Virginia Woolf describes several ages, for example, portraying the 18th century as a time of serenity and the Victorian era as an oppressive environment.

Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness is another modernist novella in which settings play an interesting role. In this text, Marlow experiences a mental and physical journey; he changes by discovering the truth. This is conducted through settings like London, Belgium, and Africa. The rivers Thames (London) and Congo (Africa) frame the narrative to convey its hidden meaning. In the first setting, there is a melancholy about the times; it is dusk, a metaphorical ending of an era and an empire. It talks about civilization and how it was thought to enlighten others, in this case, Africans. An ambiguity is introduced through chiaroscuro, contrasting the light of the empire with the darkest place on the planet, the Congo. From London, Marlow goes to Brussels, where the journey motif becomes evident with two women guarding the gates of a hell that will be the Congo, reminiscent of Paradise Lost. From here, a mythic quest is put forward to the Congo River, described as a snake—an animal related to the devil—as it will test Marlow just as it tested Kurtz. This “heart of darkness” represents not only a physical place but also the isolation of the self from reality and the impossibility of reaching the truth. This is why at the end of the journey, Marlow becomes a prophet, as he has revealed a secret so hurtful that it is not worth knowing.

The Dead

In “The Dead,” we also find interesting settings transmitting important information. The main character, Gabriel, whose name symbolically refers to the angel that carries the truth, is unable to tell the truth about the setting, Dublin, and the reality of the city he is part of. Just as in Heart of Darkness, there is an inability to transmit one’s mind into words. In both settings, Dublin (deeply related to English imperialism) and the Congo, people were experiencing isolation and a thirst for truth.

The Concept of Mutability in Romantic Poetry

William Blake believed in the power of imagination, knowing that his visions were more real than reality itself. At the same time, Blake firmly believed that “without contraries, there is no progression,” questioning the Christian concepts of good and bad and asserting that all depends on the point of view. This leads us to the concept of mutability, in which Nature can be mutable or immutable, putting an emphasis on the passing of time and change.

William Wordsworth

In Wordsworth's “Tintern Abbey,” there exists a contrast between how the poet perceived the abbey and nature the first time he was there and how they were perceived when revisiting the place. This remembrance poem emphasizes the passing of time, introducing the concept of mutability. In this case, mutability is associated with positivity because the poet is in tune with nature, and the individual is engulfed by it, so it remains active. This is seen in references to movement in connection with an active nature (Natura Naturans) and the idea of Anima Mundi. The poem suggests we are “laid asleep in body” (referencing Plato's myth of the cave) until we are enlightened and become a living soul, part of nature. The River Wye is referred to as a wanderer, a very important and positively connoted Romantic concept.

P. B. Shelley

In “Ozymandias” by P. B. Shelley, we find a nature with a negative connotation regarding the concept of mutability. The poem uses notional ekphrasis, the textual description of a visual object that does not actually exist, to create a debate between art and literature. The setting, a desert full of sand, establishes a connection with human mutability, death, and political power. The poet uses sand to allude to the biblical idea, “dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return,” meaning that no matter what one achieves, all will turn to sand. This is reinforced by Latin concepts like Ubi sunt? (a motif connected to greatness) and Sic transit gloria mundi (“Thus passes the glory of the world”). The ruins represent the passing of time and, therefore, mutability. The sublime desert location conveys eternity, with no boundaries for our imagination, reflecting the Romantic desire to escape to past, exotic lands.

Imagery of Light, Dark, Fire, and Ice

William Blake, “The Tyger”

• Uses chiaroscuro (contrast of light and dark) and imagery of a blacksmith to represent the power of imagination.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

• Ice: Represents paralysis and the unnatural.
• Fire: St. Elmo's fire and the lighthouse appear as supernatural or guiding lights.

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

• Fire: Represents the duality of creation and destruction, referencing Prometheus. A tree destroyed by lightning contrasts with the spark of life given to the creature.
• Ice: The letters and the setting of Mont Blanc convey sublimity, punishment, and paralysis.

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

• As a Bildungsroman, imagery is a vehicle for transformation, independence, and balance.
• Ice/Cold: Represents starvation, submission, and emotional coldness (e.g., at Moor House).
• Fire: The Red Room symbolizes oppression. Fire both destroys (Thornfield, the chestnut tree) and regenerates, purifying Jane's path.

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

• Chiaroscuro: The blurring of light and dark reflects fading reality and the impossibility of grasping truth or understanding the “other,” leading to solipsism.
• Light/Enlightenment: Marlow is described as a Buddha, enlightened by his journey. Colonizers are seen as “torch bearers,” but this is ironic. The image of the blindfolded woman symbolizes a civilization that is a lie.
• Settings: London at dusk contrasts with the darkness of the Congo.

James Joyce, “The Dead”

• Warmth vs. Cold: The warmth and hospitality of the party contrast with Gabriel's inner monologue of isolation.
• Snow: Represents paralysis, epiphany, and the separation between the living and the dead, as well as among the living, highlighting themes of miscommunication.