Songs of innocence and Experience by William Blake shows “Two contrary states of the human soul” (Sagar, 2011, pp.1). These two contrary states can also be identified as the achievement of “Dualism” (Sagar, 2011, pp.1) which is considered as the division of the state into Innocence and Experience (Sagar, 2011). Blake not only achieves these two contrary states he states in the Introduction (innocence), introduction (experience), and Earth's response (experience), but his engravings provide a clear indication of the change from innocence to experience. In this essay I will critically discuss the extent to which Blake manages to show these two contrary states of the human soul, in his poems and in his etchings. You will be able to identify the two contrary states and understand what informed Blake's poems and engravings. William Blake fell within the "Romantic period" (1798-1832) according to the chronology of British literature. The Romantic period “was born out of frustration resulting from the Industrial Revolution” (Parra, Mejia, Golden & Croston, 2013, pp. 7) and introduced many different ideas of Romanticism. During this period, writers focused on “personal experience and imagination in their work” (Parra, Mejia, Golden & Croston, 2013, pp.8) rather than focusing on writing that would impact society . This literary period focused primarily on youth and innocence (Parra, Mejia, Golden & Croston, 2013) and “questioning authority and tradition” (Parra, Mejia, Gordon & Croston, 2013, pp. 8). One might agree that this is where Blake's attitude towards religion would play a significant role in what informed his poems and etchings. “In Blake's day dualism had led the Christian churches into a spiritually barren dead end of... middle of paper... dreary and sad,” from which she cannot escape. This cruelty suggests experience and the use of alliteration makes the portrayal harsh. “His light fled” suggests that the earth was once pure and innocent but is now imprisoned. The etching (etching 3) shows a serpent at the bottom of the image which is a symbol of the devil. The use of the serpent shows an experience which clearly describes the message as the Earth's response is based on experience, yet seeking to regain or regenerate innocence. In the last two stanzas, innocence is in a sense regained through the use of more innocent objects such as “buds and flowers”. This suggests a new life and therefore innocence in general. In conclusion, it is possible to see through this critical analysis of the three poems and engravings of Blake's "songs of innocence and experience" that he successfully showed the contrary states of the human soul.