Question

How do the themes of purity and corruption intersect in these two poems? A) In both poems, the child starts out pure but turns corrupt. B) In the first poem, the child is corrupt; in the second he is pure. C) In the first poem, the child is pure; in the second he is corrupt. D) In the first poem, the child is corrupt but becomes pure; in the second poem is pure but turns corrupt.

Answer 1

Answer:

The two poems that the question is talking about are:

Innocence and Experience by the author William Blake.

The correct answer is:

C) In the first poem, the child is pure; in the second he is corrupt.

Explanation:

The author William Blake uses the collection of his two poems, Innocence and Experience in order to explain the different stages of the soul in terms of purity and corruption for the human beings.

In the first poem Innocence, the author talks about a pure child who is in the first stages of life only knowing about  goodness, chastity, purity, love and sweetness.

- "Sweet babe, in thy face

Holy image I can trace;Sweet babe, once like thee

Thy Maker lay, and wept for me:" -

Later on, in the second poem Experience the author mentions about the way in which human beings learn about corruption as life passes. Across this text, it is possible to see reflected different feeling and attitudes that people adopt, it is condition that leads humans to be immoral  in some way, this is to be considered the contrary of innocence.

- "Sweet babe, in thy face

Soft desires I can trace,

Secret joys and secret smiles,

Little pretty infant wiles." -