William Blake and Grendel

A stanza from William Blake’s poem, “The Mental Traveller” can be found at the beginning of John Gardner’s novel, Grendel. The reason for the poetry’s inclusion most likely lies in the fact that the traditional themes of Blake’s poetry, such as cycles, knowledge, the loss of innocence, can be found again and again in Grendel. Grendel describes his innocent childhood, as he played alone in the dark cave. The darkness is not only literally describing the lair, but also symbolizes the lack of knowledge, which is commonly associated with light. Grendel is innocent because he is in the darkness of his cave, protected from the truth that is brought with knowledge. He is strongly dependent on his mother for comfort and survival. The idea that youth is innocent and free, but at the same time, lacks knowledge and greater understanding is strongly reminiscent of Blake’s poetry. For instance, in “Infant Joy,” in which the infant is evidently representative of youth, the infant says: “I happy am, Joy is my name.” The child in the poem does not seem to be aware of her surroundings, nor her own identity. This lack of awareness is representative of the lack of knowledge that is associated with joy and youth in Blake’s poetry and in Grendel’s early stages in the cave.

“Infant Sorrow,” the sister poem to “Infant Joy,” brings another perspective, which is that of truth and realization. In this poem, the child appears to be aware and possesses her own identity, rather than simply being an extension of her mother. The world into which the child leaps is “dangerous,” and in the poem, is a struggle the child must face. One of those struggles is against her swaddling bands. Swaddling bands are used to restrain babies into feeling safe and secure, almost like a shield or cover. Comparatively, Grendel’s own “leap” into the world is the night he crosses the pond and discovers the world outside the cave. As the child observes in “Infant Sorrow,” the world Grendel finds is not safe and innocent like the cave in which he resided. It is full of violence and death. Grendel watches men meaninglessly murder each other and letting livestock and property go to waste. Much like the child possesses her own identity in the poem, Grendel becomes independent of his mother the night he finds himself trapped in the double tree and his mother is not there to comfort him. The swaddling band with which Grendel clashes is the beautiful, comforting view of the world that the Shaper produces. This “truth” is meant to cover the meaningless brutality of the world so that the Danes may feel safe, like babies in swaddling bands. However, like in Blake’s poems, the loss of innocence that comes with time is also accompanied with knowledge and wisdom. Grendel is now aware. He dives into his own subconscious and meets his dragon, which brings him knowledge unknown to the men who are shielded in the darkness of the Shaper’s swaddling bands.