Blake 'Introduction': Plot

“Blake ‘Introduction’: Plot

Setting and The Piper

• The poem begins with the speaker, a piper, in a pastoral setting.
• This is significant as it introduces the Romantic motif of the natural world, often seen in Blake’s work.

The Child on a Cloud

• A child appears on a cloud within the scene, laughing as it oversees the pastoral setting.
• The child is symbolic of innocence and purity, common themes throughout the Songs of Innocence and Experience.

The Piper’s Song

• Following the child’s request, the piper plays a song. The scene is joyous and the music triggers happy reactions in nature, emphasising the harmony of innocence with nature.
• Note how the child cries with joy when hearing this song - it underscores their innocence and the power of simple pleasures.

The Child’s Request

• Eventually, due to its beauty, the child asks the piper to “pipe a song about a Lamb!” initiating a recurring theme of lambs throughout the Songs, symbolising Christ and innocence.
• Next, the child requests the piper to “write it down” so that all children can celebrate in its joy.

Creation of the Songs

• The Piper makes a pen out of a reed, an ink of a dew from the river bank, and a book out of a wild flower. This connects the creation of the Songs to nature and reinforces the ideas of innocence and purity.
• This final act transitions the Piper from musician to poet, emphasising the power of the written word and its ability to capture and share joy and innocence.

The Introduction of the Songs sets the tone of innocence, purity and joy for the rest of the Songs of Innocence, and prepares the reader for the examination of these themes from various perspectives in the rest of the poems.