The document discusses the changing views of childhood during the Romantic era as portrayed by William Wordsworth and William Blake. Specifically:
1) Prior to the Enlightenment, children were seen as miniature adults, but thinkers like Rousseau and Wordsworth began to see children as distinct from adults, needing freedom and protection from harm.
2) Wordsworth's poetry portrayed an idealized view of childhood centered around experiences in nature, influenced by his own happy childhood.
3) Blake also emphasized childhood innocence in his work but acknowledged that experiences of life often corrupted this innocence, as shown in his Songs of Innocence and Experience.
The document discusses the changing views of childhood during the Romantic era as portrayed by William Wordsworth and William Blake. Specifically:
1) Prior to the Enlightenment, children were seen as miniature adults, but thinkers like Rousseau and Wordsworth began to see children as distinct from adults, needing freedom and protection from harm.
2) Wordsworth's poetry portrayed an idealized view of childhood centered around experiences in nature, influenced by his own happy childhood.
3) Blake also emphasized childhood innocence in his work but acknowledged that experiences of life often corrupted this innocence, as shown in his Songs of Innocence and Experience.