‘The experience of moving into the world can challenge an individual’s attitudes and beliefs.’
Discuss this view with reference to TWO of Blake’s poems and the visual text which you are directed to watch for this task.

Every individual has their own unique experience of moving into the world. The journey undertaken from the stage of innocence to the stage of knowledge and experience is one that many may find challenging to their personal attitudes and beliefs in relation to ones nearness to God and Nature. The Ecchoing Green (SOI) by William Blake is a deep insightful exploration of the cycle of life from one’s birth to death, whilst telling of the changes brought about by learning, which separates one from nature through fault of the adult’s cultured perspective of life. William Blake discovers a pattern in the natural maturation of humanity, he writes of this in London (SOE), where he portrays adult mind becoming increasingly repressed by the dictatorship of the corrupted church and state which throws at it the challenges to face which must be overcome in order to maintain the relationships with Nature and God. The provided visual text 49-Up (2005), produced by Michael Apted tells visually the story of Bruce’s growth from a young child every seven years until adulthood. Each of these three texts portray the cyclical nature of life to convey the transitions from the stages of innocence and happiness to the experience and indifference of adulthood. These texts also present the opportunities of moving into the world and how these opportunities may challenge an individual’s attitudes and beliefs about whether they should become separated from Nature and God through repression of external forces.
William Blake’s Ecchoing Green (SOI) expresses the experience of moving into the world, it tells of the challenges and of the confrontation with personal beliefs about having a strong relationship with God and Nature which can be lost as one matures and has more experiences. It is written in a jubilant, happy tone supporting the knowledge and expectation of society that childhood is a stage in life of joy and innocence. Blake explores the buoyancy of childhood and uses the hidden adult audience to juxtapose this buoyancy against their own indifferent attitudes of experience about life that have progressed with the coming of knowledge.This happiness and vibrancy is conveyed as being a product of innocence during the first stage of the cyclical nature of life and is portrayed through the sun being personified “The sun does arise and make happy the skies” and represents to the responder the beginnings of the first stages of life where external forces have no part to play in repressing of individuals beliefs. The title “Ecchoing Green” and the repetition of this phrase throughout the poem serves as a motif of the past and how this cycle continues to repeat itself, the “green” highlights the pastoral setting of childhood, both figuratively and literally in the poem and mirrors the connection between children and nature that creates an atmosphere of innocence and purity. There is a noticeable lack of questioning from the young alluding that if the adult mind didn’t take into account exterior negative influences as they moved into the world

Blake contrasts this innocence of childhood with his poem London (SOE) in which he writes with a more negative tone with which he captures the disillusionment of adulthood as we gain experience in the world. The repetition of “every”, “every man… every voice” leaves no one able to escape the experiences which will challenge their personal attitudes and beliefs, it is inclusive of all humanity and all individuals must undergo the transition from childhood innocence to experience, which is called adulthood. The despondent mood originating from a lack of freedom is created with auditory imagery emphasized by alliteration “soldier sigh”, representing the exhaustion and the weariness of life in the city which represents the bonds of adulthood. William Blake conveys his dissatisfied attitude towards the religious order by metaphorically speaking of the “Blackning Church” and “runs in blood down in palace walls” suggesting the moral corruption of the church and state. He speaks hyperbolically of the “plagues” making similar the disillusionment of adulthood to a disease suggesting the innocence and the connection with nature has decayed and festered into an illness of the mind.
The visual text 49-Up (2005) by Michael Apted explores the story of one individual’s life as moving into the world and the challenges that their attitudes and beliefs faced throughout the maturing from age seven to a middle aged adult. The visual text has a music overlay which evokes feelings of innocence through the use of a high note but also a hidden foreboding is told through the drums, this is portrays the transition from a childhood of innocence to an adulthood of disillusionment. This, again captures the obvious innocence that he had as a child now lost because he has questioned that his dreams have not come true

All three of these texts unveil to the responder the journey of moving into the world, from a stage of innocence to a stage of experience where innocence has been lost. They all tell of departing from relations with God and Nature to live a life of harsh reality and questioning of morality brought about by the repression of the corrupted church and state. Blake portrays through his poems the cyclical nature of one’s life and the unfolding of experience throughout one’s life. He alludes to a belief that once individuals have had experiences and been repressed they have forever left their relationship with nature, he tells of the irony of the church and the state, whose ideal should be to bring people closer to God and Nature, are in fact repressing individuals and are indeed breaking the ties which come so naturally with innocence. The visual text 49-Up (2005) just serves to further reinstate the opinion of removing oneself from reality as Bruce realizes that once you have lost you innocence you have to live without your dreams…