Discuss any poem or set of poems from William Blake's Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Focus on the various literary and/or pictorial elements that Blake employs to convey his ideas or themes: elements such as speakers, verbal and visual imagery, versification, points-of-view, allusions to the Bible, irony, and the like. In general, explore what Blake means by the "contrary states" of innocence and experience, drawing on your own as well as Blake's understanding—but, in particular, seek to show how Blake conveys his thinking about any theme or combination of themes: childhood, protection, suffering, creation, divine humanity, sexuality, spirituality, encroachment, slavery, social inequality, solidarity, authority, Christianity. No matter which theme you discuss, be sure focus on how literary and/or pictorial elements support your claims.

The poems in Songs of Innocence and of Experience present William Blake's views of "the two contrary states of the human soul." Blake emphasizes the importance of innocence as a quality that must be shielded from the taint of experience. Among the themes he uses in this regard are childhood, including children's need for protection from suffering; the latter is one of the inevitable, although often negative consequences, of experience. Christian themes and images are frequently deployed in relationship to those themes. Blake frequently reminds the reader that experience brings considerable burdens which can be managed, though not always lifted, through faith in God.
Numerous poems would be very appropriate for analysis in relationship to childhood, protection, suffering, and Christianity. Most but not all appear in the "Innocence" portion. "The Shepherd" and "The Lamb" refer directly to established images associated with Jesus Christ and appeal to a personal apprehension of God. That relationship is established in the "Introduction" at the beginning of "Innocence." The paired poems "The Little Boy Lost" and "The Little Boy Found" address the idea of protection and guidance, equating God with the father.
The child and the lamb are established as related ideas in "Introduction." The speaker identifies a child as the one who demanded "a song" about a lamb, a request that this book of poems aims to fill in a joyful manner. The poem uses an extended metaphor in equating piping songs with writing poems:

'Pipe a song about a Lamb!'So I piped with merry cheer. . . .And I wrote my happy songsEvery child may joy to hear.

"The Shepherd" lays out the idea of Christ as a pastoral caretaker who protects the innocent. This poem also equates Christians with lambs and Christ with the shepherd:

For he hears the lambs' innocent call,And he hears the ewes' tender reply;He is watchful while they are in peace….

In "The Lamb," the poet uses a related metaphor, calling the subject a lamb, and the speaker identifies with innocence by saying he is a child: "I a child and thou a lamb." Blake uses apostrophe, direct address, as the speaker directs his remarks to the Lamb: "Little Lamb, who made thee?" The connections with Christ are clearly established in the answer: "He is called by thy name, / For He calls himself a Lamb."
"The Little Boy Lost" uses a first-person speaker who is a child and seeks his elusive father, then switches to third-person to indicate the father's absence: "The night was dark, no father was there." The darkness is metaphorical for a lack of spiritual enlightenment. In the next poem, "The Little Boy Found," instead of darkness, there is "the wandering light" that guides the lost boy. Here the equation of God to father is made using a simile—"God, ever nigh, / Appeared like his father"—and protection is expressed as guidance: "He kissed the child, and by the hand led"