The Theme of Innocence applied in

Antonine de Saint-Exuprys Little Prince

and William Blakes Songs of Innocence and Experience
Although quite different in style and approach, The Little Prince by Antonine de SaintExupry and Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake have a common major
theme, that is, the theme of innocence and coming-of-age. A comparative analysis on how the
two works present and approach this thought-provoking subject is both challenging and stirring,
as the two differ in various aspects, starting from the period of publication and ending with the
form and literary devices employed.
Antonine de Saint-Exuprys Little Prince is a novella published in 1943, a time that
places it in the category of modern literature, but which also means two centuries after William
Blakes Songs of Innocence and Experience, published in 1794.1 The story begins with the
narrative voice introducing the theme by pondering upon the strange nature of people, who, as a
part of a society governed by pragmatic principles, often tend to lose their imagination and joie
de vivre and, to focus more numbers and possessions. However, the protagonist of the story is the
little prince, who in his journey around the Universe, has decided to visit Earth. The narrator, who
is a pilot, remembers that after a plane accident was forced to land in the desert where he first
made the acquaintance of the little prince. This is also the moment when the contrast between the
two is set: the innocence of the little prince contrasting with the maturity of the narrator, who is
always worried about his engine and maters of consequence(Ch. 7). As the prince tells his
story and describes the people he has met on other planets, we see that our narrator is nothing like
those. He may have been shaped and constrained by society and adulthood to forget about his
imagination and creativity, yet he did not lose them. Spending almost a week in the desert with
the prince, the narrator rediscovers his child spirit his innocence and his imagination same as
the prince finds his way to maturity after having experienced the world and seen its people.
1Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc. The Little Prince. Web. 31 Jan 2015
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/344180/The-Little-Prince >Encyclopdia
Britannica, Inc. Songs of Innocence and Experience. Web. 31 Jan 2015
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/554468/Songs-of-Innocence-and-ofExperience>

If The Little Prince is a homogenous story which illustrates the evolution of a character,
Blakes collection of poems illustrate the poets change of vision; the emblematic poems and themes
that give an optimistic and joyful insight of life in Songs of Innocence reappear in Songs of
Experience in a darkened vision of a speaker who has seen how human nature degrades in time. Right
from the Introduction we are offered contrastive images of the Bard and its work starting by
Piping songs of pleasant glee, songs of happy chear in Songs of Innocence the artist/poet
acquires wisdom in Songs of Experience with the mission of (...) Calling the lapsed Soul(...) that
is, the attempt to reawaken the childlike spirit in every man who has been overwhelmed by maters of
consequence (Ch.7) The Little Prince). And this is exactly the effect the little prince has on the
narrator. All optimism, purity and incorrupt buoyancy are distorted by experience, which translates as
social injustice, poverty, misery and mischievousness. In Holy Thursday (Song of Innocence) the
image of the children in church changes along with the speaker they are no longer only with the eyes
but rather with the mind; the speakers mature mind can see beyond their temporary joy and beauty - it
can see the misery that envelopes them. their innocent faces clean, wands as white as snow,
these[children] flowers of London town! the aged men, guardians of the poor are images which
oppose Babes reduced to misery,/Fed with cold and usurious hand?, trembling cry It is a land
of poverty! And their sun does never shine./ (..)And their ways are filled with thorns/It is eternal
winter there. (Holy Thursday, Songs of Experience) The idea of looking beyond the surface,
using more than the eyes appears also in The Little Prince when the wise Fox tells the prince that the
essence of things, of people lies beneath the obvious: It is only with the heart that one can see
rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. (Ch. 21) an idea which the prince proves to have
acknowledged and understood when he looks back with regret at the way he treated his beloved rose:
I ought to have judged by deeds and not by words. (Ch. 8)
Another important element emphasized as essential to the human being is love; both Exupry
and Blake view it as a primordial complex experience in ones life and choose to represent it through
the symbol of the rose. Inexperienced as he is at the beginning, the prince cannot fully grasp and handle
the love the rose feels for him. He cannot see her essence, he cannot love beyond her beauty: I ought
to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little stratagems. Flowers are so inconsistent!
But I was too young to know how to love her.. (Ch.8) However, Blake presents a many-sided image of
love: divine love as it is described in The Shepherd (Songs of Innocence): He is watchful while
they are in peace,/ For they know when their Shepherd is nigh. or both maternal and divine love is

illustrated in A Cradle Song, where a speaker is impersonated by a mother watching over her child:
Sweet sleep, Angel mild,/ Hover over my happy child. The poem also alludes to the Biblical image
of Jesus Christ in Virgin Marys arms implying that the peace and serenity on the babys face is a result
of angelic protection. Nevertheless, the perspective changes again in Songs of Experience, the erotic
love here is emphasized, not only as sublime and beautiful but also dark and secret (e.g. The
Sick Rose) or selfish and painful when we lose the ones we love Love seeketh only self to please,/To
bind another to Its delight:/ Joys in anothers loss of ease,/ And builds a Hell in Heavens despite.
(The Clod & the Pebble)
Another element which strongly underlies Blakes collection of poems is divinity. In poems like
The Chimney Sweeper and The Little Black Boy in Songs of Innocence divinity appears as a
means of comfort for the children in pain; however, Morris Eaves argues that the voice which
emphasizes the importance and power of God may be highly ironic - very Blakean way between
contrary perspectives of harsh critique and Christian consolation. (Eaves, p.5) Ironic or not the poems
in Songs of Innocence echo strong praises to divinity, which may be interpreted as a source of hope
and happiness the human beings spiritual energy. As expected this perspective changes in Songs of
Experience where the nature of God is questioned ( e.g. The Tyger : (...) Did he smile his work to
see/ Did he who made the Lamb made thee?) The image of the tyger opposes that of the lambs in
that tigers in Blakes time were viewed as prodigiously and relentlessly bloodthirsty. (Gourlay, 258)
The poet inquires into the intended meaning of creating both, good and bad, innocent and corrupted. In
The Angel (Songs of Experience) it is clearly underlined how in time, overwhelmed by the
hardships of life people lose their faith in the existence and power of a supernatural entity, which is
physically unable to soothe their pain: Soon my Angel came again;/ I was armd, he came in vain:/
For the time of youth was fled/ And grey hairs were on my head. (The Angel) Apparently, for Blake
youth is the time of innocence, hope and belief, once the human being starts to experience, to live and
to grow the notion of divinity becomes of no use for his daily struggles.
In Blakes Songs of Innocence and Experience there are various symbols and stresses on the
idea of God which are completely absent from Antonine de Saint-Exuprys Little Prince. Being
rather a modern writing, The Little Prince focuses more on man and his nature without relating it to
any supreme being, implying that it is man who must try to keep his innocence and imagination as
means of fighting against the hardships and dullness of life. This is the wisdom we need an era of

technology and materialism the ability to look for beauty and happiness beyond misery without
losing hope.
In conclusion, both works illustrate beautifully by different literary devices the theme of
innocence and the coming-of-age period as a time important for the human being who struggles a
lifetime to find a sense of purpose.
Works Cited:
Blake, William. Songs of Innocence and of Experience. n.p. n.d. Project Gutenberg. Web. 31 Jan
2015 < http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1934/1934-h/1934-h.htm >
de Saint-Exupry, Antoine. The Little Prince n.p. n.d. @srogers.com. Web. 31 Jan 2015
<http://srogers.com/books/little_prince/contents.asp>
Eaves, Morris. Introduction: to paradise the hard way. The Cambridge Companion to
William Blake. Ed. Morris Eaves. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 1-16
Gourlay, Alexander. A glossary of terms, names, and concepts in Blake The Cambridge
Companion to William Blake. Ed. Morris Eaves. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 272287
Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc. The Little Prince. Web. 31 Jan 2015
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/344180/The-Little-Prince >
Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc. Songs of Innocence and Experience. Web. 31 Jan 2015
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/554468/Songs-of-Innocence-and-of-Experience>