The Innocence of Youth

The innocence of youth is a major theme that lies at the heart of Songs of Innocence as Blake seeks to emphasize innocence as the default condition of humankind.

Throughout the collection, a multitude of youthful characters are introduced, with each one as innocent and pure as the last. This motif begins as early as the first poem in the book, “Introduction,” in which the speaker meets a child sitting upon a cloud who asks nothing of him but song and happiness, and to spread the cheer the speaker has given to him to all children. The archetype of the innocent child continues as the poems progress, such as in the poem “Echoing Green” wherein the children of the poem are described playing with one another in a picturesque field until they grow tired and return to their mothers’ laps in the evening...