I dreamt a dream! What can it mean? And that I was a maiden Queen Guarded by an Angel mild: Witless woe was inner beguiled! And I wept both night and day, And he wiped my tears away; And I wept both day and night, And hid from him my heart’s delight. So he took his wings, and fled; Then the morn blushed rosy red. I dried my tears, and armed my fears With ten-thousand shields and spears. Soon my Angel came again; I was armed, he came in vain; For the time of youth was fled, And grey hairs were on my head.
Analysis Personal- I believe that Blake is emphasizing that fact that when we are younger we are encouraged to dream and to have fun because of our innocence and lack of knowledge of the consequences. But as we become older we are guided into achieving certain goals because we now understand the situations that we face. I believe that Blake is saying that we should live in the present and not the future, because our innocence (our youth) can never be regained but our imagination is continuous.
I believe that the ‘Angel’ in this poem is referring to our parent’s, because wrought the good and the bad, our parent’s will be there to help us. Literal- when Blake refers to the word “l”, he is referring to himself. He believed that he was the Maiden Queen. In the second stanza, the Angel offers its love to the Maiden Queen, but the Maiden Queen does not accept it. In the third stanza we read that the Queen is now willing to accept the Angel’s love, by arming his self with 10,000 shields and spears. The shields represent protection from being hurt, and the spears represent inflicting damage against people who wrong him.
In the fourth stanza we read the Angel had come again but came in vain. So Blake was now willing to love the Angel but as he had become old with grey hair, the Angel came in vain, this meant that the Angel could not love Blake. Time Period The Angel was written during the Romantic Era. It is a four-stanza poem written in quatrains, consisting of 4 lines and two sets of rhyming couplets in each. Relation to the Romantic Era The Angel written by William Blake demonstrates an emphasis of emotion, lack of redeem and the recognition of personal experience.
Emphasis of emotion it demonstrated when Blake writes “And I wept both night and day, And he wiped my tears away’. This indicates that the Angel has an impact on Flake’s life, which had impacted him in many different ways. A lack of freedom is demonstrated when Blake writes “Soon my Angel came again” as he spent many years devoted to preparing for the Angel’s return. Also when he writes “Guarded by an Angel mild”, indicating that Blake was sheltered by his Angel during his childhood.
Recognition of personal experience is exemplified throughout the entire poem. Some examples are demonstrated when Blake writes “And that I was a maiden Queen, So he took his wings, and fled, Soon my Angel came again,” these statements highlight the experiences Blake had his Angel. Stylistic Devices Rhyming couplet Biblical allusion Why I chose this poem I chose this poem because I believe that Blake was one of the best poets during his time. Even though he may have been a greatest poet, this is one of the only poems that I truly enjoy.
