William Blake: A Never Understood Parent

The society in which we live is a mixture of different types of individuals who differ in their attitude and behaviour. There are some humans who are confident while some who are nervous, some who are submissive while the others who are dominating, some who have more of positivity within them while some who have more of negativity. If a human being's behaviour fits within the norms of the society, he is regarded as social and accepted in society, but if his attitude and behaviour is negative and not according to the prescribed code of conduct, then he is subjected to indignation and scorn. The society blames the individual instead of realising the reason for such a behaviour which is largely the result of the experiences he takes, the environment to which he is subjected during his childhood and the type of parenting style exercised on him.

The following research paper is based on the selected poems of the two most famous anthologies of William Blake namely Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience through which he gives excellent examples of the various parenting styles that were researched upon by Diana Baumrind in 1967, and their impact on child psychology, which determines a child's social behaviour in future. It also aims at revealing Blake's attempt to make the parents realise their moral responsibility towards their children.