The juxtaposition of innocence and experience in William Blake’s poems “Infant Joy” and “Infant Sorrow” shows the same conflict that Grendel has in the novel Grendel. The balance that Grendel desperately tries to find in the novel is depicted by the two poems, with each representing a different extreme.
In the poem “Infant Joy”, Blake depicts the joy that can be found in innocence. The child in the poem, new to the world, knows nothing about its complexity. With his lack of understanding, the infant is in a state of blissful ignorance. Through the child’s eyes, the world is incredibly simple. This can be seen in the repetition of words as well as the simple diction used in the poem, as opposed to “Infant Sorrow”. In this simplicity, however, there is only “sweet joy” and “smile[s]”.
In Grendel, this blissful ignorance is represented by the human’s way of seeing the world, with the Shaper as their guide. Man sees the world as an idealistic series of events that happen for reasons ordained by a higher power. When looking at treachery, man sees only glory and godliness that the Shaper uses to veil the truth. This clouded view of reality keeps man trapped in a world made of illusions but is also what causes man to continue to thrive.
On the other hand, the poem “Infant Sorrow” shows the reality of the situation. In this poem, reality is looked upon as “the dangerous world” and the child is a “helpless, naked” creature in this dangerous world. The idea of entrapment within and struggle against the society can be seen in the second stanza when the baby is “struggling” and “striving” against the restraints put upon him. The hands of the father and the “swaddling bands”, things that usually represent safety and protection for a child, instead are looked upon as chains that hold the child down. With knowledge of the world, safety is seen as restraint while life is a constant struggle between individuals and society.
In Grendel, this idea is given to Grendel by the Dragon. With his knowledge of the world and reality, Grendel sees the men as children chained by their ideology. With his knowledge, Grendel is dissatisfied with his existence and sees that within their false reality, the men have happiness, something he cannot achieve. This creates Grendel’s inner conflict as he searches for balance.
The poems represent the two extremes that Grendel is between. They show the effects of the lack of balance that plagues Grendel. The ongoing inner conflict within Grendel remains unresolved at the end of the novel where Grendel’s imbalance ultimately destroys him.
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