Auguries of Innocence

Structured as a series of aphorisms or pithy assertions, William Blake’s 132-line-long poem uses narrative elements from both Biblical and religious sermons. Representative of Blake’s “prophetic” style, the speaker-persona delivers visions and epiphanies, as if from a pulpit. However, while Blake was a devout Christian, he was opposed to organized religion and the Church of England. In “Auguries of Innocence,” to be faithful means not to be faithful to the tenets of the church but faithful to Christian ideas of mercy, justice, and piety, as well as the Romantic ideals of prizing the imagination and childlike innocence.

The poem’s prophetic subject is clear from its title, which contains the word “auguries,” i.e., portents or signs. “Innocence” refers to a state of childlike wonder, in which the imagination is capable of faith, creativity, and the search for truth. In the Bible, Adam and Eve, the first humans, were innocent before eating the forbidden fruit of knowledge. After eating the fruit, they lost their innocence and were cast out of the Garden of Eden by God. In Blake’s philosophy, innocence is lost as people grow up and encounter the unjust institutions of the world, but can be regained through experience itself.