Group 2

I would first like to say that I did like all of the presentations. You all gave
great examples and made it easier for me to understand the meaning behind
some of the plates discussed.
There were three presentations that really stood out in my mind. One of them was
the second group that went. They did it on the divine and abstract theory. I
really liked the use of the pictures. I felt like it gave a better idea of what
we see as innocent and what we see as experience. It put the whole innocence and
experience into better perspective for me. Another group that I liked was given
on the different ideas of love. There is self-love, love of one person, love of
many people, and celestial love. I really liked how they explained each one and
stated what songs went with what category. For example for self-love they showed
hoe the clod and pebble song went with this certain idea. That the clod was not
self-seeking and the pebble wanted everything for himself. They just went on
with this idea and really opened my eyes to the meaning behind these songs.
Lastly, I also liked the fourth group that went. This presentation was more
touching than anything was. This presentation was the one where Jennifer told
the story of her life while asking the question, Am I loved. This group did a
great job in breaking down what is meant by those three little words, Am I
Loved. Jennifer's story was touching, but it also gave the reality that people
ask this to themselves all the time. I feel that their presentation was so real
that I was able to relate in certain ways, which made it even easier to
understand.
All the groups did a great job of getting the idea that innocence is where we
have no worries and that these worries come with experience. It almost makes you
not want to become experienced and just stay a child for life in order to be
innocent.
Thank you for giving great presentations!
Michelle Uithoven
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Honestly, I enjoyed an aspect of each of the different group
presentations. I think that it was encouraging to see the different ways in
which Blake's work enable these individuals to have a creative expression. I
especially enjoyed the second presentation by the group that made their own
plate. What most affected me was how they said that you can see innocence on
it's own, but experience cannot exist with out innocence. The way in which they
illustrated this was illuminating (no pun intended). I thought that it was
extremely clever how they had they part of the poem from innocence written in
bold ink which was easily seen and then had the part of the poem from experience
written in an ink that needed a black light to be seen.
The more that I thought about innocence being need to have experience
the more I came to realize that I believe this to be true. It is entirely
possible that as children we are completely innocent and living in a state
without any experience of our own. Gradually one gains experience and the state
of complete innocence is shattered, but one can never reach a state of complete
experience. There is never a point at which we live a life of pure experience. I
believe that no matter what we, as individuals, experience there is no possible
way for us to experience everything. There will always be areas of innocence
within ourselves. To often, I believe people rush through life to get to the
experience only to look back and wish that they had held on to more of their
innocence. Perhaps through Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence, Blake was
trying to illustrate that it is okay to hold on to and cherish the innocence.
And although you can not go back and reclaim innocence you can hold on to the
innocence that you still possess.
Keira Kirby
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As we read the "Songs of Innocence and Experience" by William Blake I
was very intrigued by the use of intricate artwork as a way of adding to
literature. That is why I related to the project done by the group that
created the poster of how to relate innocence and experience to our modern
society today. They did a very good job of using symbols we see every day of
our lives that represent the innocence and experience in our world. We are
bombarded by these symbols through magazines, television, and just other
people's attitudes toward us.
As we know the concept of innocence and experience was the main theme
behind Blake's work and was discussed through not only his writing but also
his artwork. This was a strong point in this group's project because I liked
how their poster represented their thoughts on innocence and experience by
the use of modern concepts of art and technology. The use of the blacklight
definitely showed how art is influenced by technology these days and I took
that as a relationship to how Blake used a method of staining and acids to
make his artwork for the series of plates. They both represent a new
innovative way into expressing ideas through artwork that is not conventional
by any means to past ways of doing it.
The group also did a very good job of explaining how we tend to look
at innocence and experience in our modern society. We tend to look at things
such as babies and nature as models of innocence while on the other hand we
have all these desires that we want to fulfill such as sex, power, and lust
that tend to represent that we are experienced. The group also did a good
job of explaining how even though we want all of these things that we desire
for experience in a way we always want to get back to innocence that we tend
to relate once again as us as newborns or starting over with everything we
have learned. Overall this group's presentation had the most interest to me
because of the use of artwork and explanation working together to describe
concepts similar to those of Blake's just as he did when actually making the
plates that used artwork and writing as a means of expression.
Danny Prodoehl
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All the presentations given on Tuesday, April 13th were insightful
and really seemed to dig into the meanings of Blake's work. One common
thread that I noticed between the presentations was the fact that they all
correlated William Blake's historic poetry with today's society in some
way. It seems rather intriguing that work done so long ago can still
equate directly to our lives today. Blake's writing is without a
timetable of applicability and continues to have modern-day correlation.
These groups showed innocence and experience through pictures and words.
The second presentation (Divine and Abstract) visually depicted their
comprehension of Blake's writings on innocence and experience by magazine
clippings posted on a presentation board. This group's "picture" of
innocence was consistently portrayed through smiling, happy faces of
children (primarily infants). Experience was portrayed through adults,
generally pictured in the throws of passion or tempting the viewer.
It seems strange that these portraits are so black and white: one
is either innocent or experienced. the fourth presentation shows us how
similar, and at times how indifferntiable, innocence and experience can
be. They state that because we are all human, we cannot live in such a
sheltered world where one can be purely innocent or experienced. We are
always living each instant as both innocent and experienced at the same
time. When we view innocence and experience as mutually exclusive, we are
emphasizing their differences and blinding ourselves to their
similarities.

If we adhere to the notion of the infant being innocent and the
adult being experienced, we are focusing the gap simply on time. The
passage of innocence in this case may come with something as arbitrary as
a birthday. Ironically, the fourth group also addressed this issue in the
story read about one childs rejection from her biological father. They
stated that when her stepfather left, she was forced to ask the question -
am I loved? - and thereby, lost her innocence. It was not however, until
two years later when she was faced with the rejection of her father that
she became experienced. the question then is what lies between these two
phenomena? During those two years, was she not both innocent and
experienced?
Bhicks
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