All of the projects were very creative but the student project

that meant the most to me was the fourth project about the blurred line

between innocence and experience. The part that really caught my interest

came with the reading of Jennifer's story. The words about her life and

the hardships that she has dealt with concerning her biological father

were expressive and intoxicating. Jennifer sites this time period as the

point in her life when she knew she entered the world of experience. "Am

I loved?" was the question brought up in this project as the turning

point between innocence and experience that led Jennifer to analyze her

life and find this specific moment. This question encouraged me to look

at my own life for that moment, if there was one. The moment I asked "Am

I loved?" came when I moved with my family from Iowa to California at the

age of ten. I felt lost and alone without my childhood friends and the

rest of my family. I began to question the motives behind the love offered

to me for fear of getting to close and having to leave again. I could no

longer take their love without questions as I had when I was "innocence".

I can look back at this situation and realize that the knowledge of being

loved existed in both innocence and experience. The only difference was

how important the knowledge was to me. After this look into myself, I was

able to better understand another claim made in the project. The claim

that we can encounter both states of innocence and experience at the same

time. The students observed Blake displaying this possibility with the

plates "The CLOD & the PEBBLE" and "The Voice of the Ancient Bard".

Tamara Skerik

I really enjoyed the projects that were presented to us in class. I was very impressed with the creativity and effort that the groups put into their presentations. There was one presentation that very much seemed to share my personal views on the subject of innocence versus experience. This group related innocence with the first time an individual has sex. This was a very straightforward correlation of innocence being lost, which can be equated to many other experiences in someone’s lifetime. Events such as living on your own without the help of your parents, experiencing the death of someone close to you or many others apply to the general view. The group continued by explaining the thoughts and feelings that someone might have before they lose their virginity. This is a time which is very special, the imagination soars wildly and the anticipation of what sex would be like is actually more exciting than the sex itself. Once the individual enters the realm of experience by finally committing the act their perception is tainted. They forever become on a quest to try and achieve that initial excitement once again. This idea of experience wishing for innocence once again can be seen through many events in an individuals lifetime. Like I said earlier, the experience of losing someone close to you to death is a very harsh reality check. It is relaxing to sit and remember the careless days of our youth when we had no worries of things like death. As with sex, everyone will always remember in great detail the day they lost their virginity and the nervous excitement that accompanied it.

Sean Lavery

 I really enjoyed the creativity and artistic talent shown by each of the groups. I felt all groups did a very good job in presenting the material in a new and interesting manner. However, the fourth group to do their presentation was able to make the biggest impact on me. They began their presentation by relating innocence and experience to sex. Innocence was related to the wonderful experience of making love for the first time in one's life. Whereas experience was related to the desire one feels after that breath taking experience, to once again attain the feeling of innocence. I really like how he was able to articulate his opinion, and I was able to relate to what was said, especially about the desire to attain innocence again. The most moving part of their presentation was the story of Jennifer's experience in trying to contact her blood father. Her story really caught my attention. I have multiple friends who are in similar situations. Her story has given me a greater awareness of the strong feelings one could have for someone they have never met. Next they compared her life to The Clod and the Pebble. Until she was seven years old she was the clod... innocent and confident she was loved. She made the transition to a state of experience when she was nine years old and was rejected by her blood father. Now she was the experienced pebble; worn out by time and left asking the question, "Am I loved?"

I was also very impressed by the artistic talent one of the students was able to show when he drew incredible images on the chalkboard. He was able to mimic William Blake's style of drawing amazingly well.

Brian Smith

Michelle’s story of how her biological father was never a part of her life had the most profound effect on me. She described how her biological father was not ready to take the responsibility that comes with being a father, and so left Michelle’s mother before Michelle was even born. She was innocent of this knowledge until she was nine years of age. At this point, her mother explained to her that the father she had grown up with was not her biological father, and that her true biological father was far from them. Thus Michelle entered the age of experience, as Blake puts it. There is a quote that exemplifies Blake’s outlook on innocence and experience that says we enter into the age of experience when we first ask, "am I truly loved?" Michelle came to this point when her mother told her of her long-lost father, and Michelle began to wonder if her biological father would accept her, lover her or desire a relationship with her.

I, too, have grown up without the blessing of having my biological father as part of a nuclear, healthy, family. My parents separated just after my seventh birthday. Though my dad only moved a few blocks away and my brother and I saw him every other weekend, I began to ask myself, "How will my parent’s love for me be shown?" and "is my parent’s love for my brother and I not strong enough to change this situation?" Thus I began to realize that all is not innocence and purity in this world.

Unlike Michelle’s biological father, mine did (and does) desire to have a relationship with my brother and me. We continue to maintain a relationship with our father, but both experienced and grew a lot in those first couple years after my father moved out. Nearly every single weekend after visiting my father, we would come home, completely distressed about our visitation, having been torn between siding with our virtuous mother versus our (at the time), versus our father who often tried to shed a tainted light on our mother. These were very trying times, and definitely awakened both my brother and I to the fact that there are indeed trials in life, and that all is not always peaches and cream. This we learned from the separation and later divorce of our parents. And like Michelle, have learned much of our experiencing the tearing apart of what would ideally have been a happy, complete home.

David Lang

All of the projects presented on April 13 concerning the Songs of Innocence and Experience provided individualized and distinct interpretations and responses to William Blake’s work. I felt that all of the presentations were well thought out and that I learned something new from each group. I was most affected by the group that chose to interpret the distinct separation there is between innocence and experience as the moment in our lives when we ask ourselves the question "Am I Loved?"

The reference to W.H. Auden’s poem was extremely effective in their interpretation of the cross over from one state of being to the next: innocence and experience. The question of "Am I Loved?" isn’t truly recognized until we have experienced enough in our lives to realize that there is such a possibility that everything we have believed to be true may not be true and we come to question these supposed truths. The way the group coordinated Jennifer’s personal account of asking that question at the young age of nine, with this idea which is felt throughout many of Blake’s plates was very effective.

Another reason this group’s presentation touched me was because I, too, have experienced divorce and have dealt with that question regarding myself. Although my circumstances and experiences were not the same as Jennifer’s, I could easily identify with the feelings of not understanding why a father would choose to live his life without taking an active role in raising his own children. I can only say that with time comes understanding and a deeper peace within yourself which allows you to accept the things that you cannot change.

I would like to commend all of the groups on their originality and thoughtful interpretations of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience. This group did an excellent job tying together Blake’s work, Auden’s poem, and with Jennifer’s personal account into a relevant experience that all of us have experienced and hopefully answered the question "Am I Loved?"

Jessica Renninge

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Jacqueline McDonald

April 15, 1999

Response to Group 4's

Presentation Group 4 delivered a strong impression of Blake in the 1990's. Auden's question, "Am I loved," so clearly represents the end of innocence, according to Blake. On the same note, the narrative of the young girl without a father presented this occurrence in our own lives. The evolution of her soul, from a state like the clod to that of the pebble, tied directly with the songs of experience in our Blake readings. This group's presentation gave me goosebumps, as I listened to a reading from the heart of a fellow classmate. Her story showed me a real life situation by which to understand Blake's writings. Her story made me reflect on my own, and she helped me to examine that day when I first asked, "Am I loved." Although my family structure differed from hers, I found myself trapped in the middle of a four-child family. There were many times when I wondered if I was special in the eyes of my parents or just another mouth to feed. This questioning so often marks the end of innocence among Americans today. I also enjoyed the analysis of her story in light of Blake's wisdom. The group touched upon the gap between the realms of innocence and experience. I agreed with his statement about walking between the two realms, which the girl did for several years. Maybe this stage is where doubt begins, but the actual question, "Am I loved," has not surfaced yet. Their presentation created a question within my own mind. Is the wisdom and knowledge gained through experience of as much value as the purity and beauty of an innocent, na•ve heart?

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James M. McGarry

Project #1 Response

ENGL 253-08 SPR 1999

Where does one begin defining the significance of othersÕ works? And how does one know such significance really exists? Well, each of the presentations did have itÕs own meaning, but there is one that continues to drill my subconscious: when Jennifer shared her last living moments of innocence. Her willingness and outright courage to share her innocence with the class was, to say the least, amazing. JenniferÕs autobiographical experience, so poetically documented, allowed for the direct comparison of her transformation from innocence to experience. Her illegitimate situation was outrageous, but altogether well-timed and practical to the discussion. In its entirety, her group performed well. There was a clear introduction to their idea of "in-differential innocence and experience," as well as issues from real life situations and William BlakeÕs "the Clod and the Pebble." Their presentationÕs organized progression, or rhythm; which included evidence from society as a whole, to real life situations, and finally to BlakeÕs songs, only furthered my appreciation for this groupÕs presentation Ð it was orderly and prompt. Also, it was interesting to find such a close relationship of sexual activity to the loss of innocence. Not that the loss of innocence comes with sex, but the actual desire to feel such a release, or such an overwhelming emotion of pleasure, over and over again (of course!). It was established, too, that we as a civilization strive to feel the same innocence that only a true "first time" can offer; which leads to the notion that as a society, striving for such innocence brings us only more tedious experience. FINAL THOUGHT: DonÕt dwell on the past, go out and discover new "first times!"

JAMES MCGARRY