Blake is highly symbolic poet and his poetry is rich in symbols and allusions.

Almost
each and every other word in his poems is symbolic. A symbol is an object which
stands for something else as it literally means as Dove symbolizes peace. Similarly,
Blakes Tyger symbolizes creative energy; Shelleys wind symbolizes inspiration; Ted
Hughess hawk symbolizes terrible destructiveness at the heart of nature. Blakes
symbols usually have a wide range of meaning and significance.
There is scarcely any poem in Songs of Innocence and of Experience which
does not have a symbolic or allegorical of allusive implications. Though these
poems are rendered in the simplest possible language they also have unfathomable
meaning. As in the poem A Cradle Song:
Sleep,

sleep, happy child,

All creation slept and smiled;
Sleep, sleep, happy sleep,
While oer thee thy mother weep
The language of these poems is somewhat scriptural simple and profound
at the same time. The Biblical allusions at prodigious significance to his
poems, for example The Shepherd commemorates Christ as the Good
Shepherd. And the whole poem is set in a pastoral background:
How sweet is the shepherds sweet lot
From the morn to the evening he strays;
He shall follow his Sheep all the day
And his tongue shall be filled with praise
Blake in his letter to Thomas butt says: Allegory is addressed to the
intellectual powers, while it is altogether hidden from the corporal.
Understanding is my Definition of the Most Sublime poetry. In Songs of
Experience, he often uses symbols o his own making. And his meaning is
thus more elusive. Indeed, some poems in this section are fully understood
only by Reference to symbols which Blake uses in his prophetic books, and
since the meaning of most symbols tends to inconstant, there is always a
danger that we may make his meaning more emphatic or more exact than it
is.
Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright
In the forest of the night,
What immortal or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In Songs of Innocence, the symbols covet a special kind o f existence of state
of the soul. In this state human beings have the same kind of existence or
state of the soul. In this state human beings have the same kind of security
and assurance as belongs to the lambs under wise shepherd or to children
with loving parents, nor is it untrue to say that both the shepherd and the
father of Blakes poem is God.

In Songs of Experience , traditional symbols are given different

connotations. Thus, by the Sunflower Blake represents the yearning of youth
for freedom in love . The lily connotes the purity of love and also naturalness
and open heartedness in love without the need of secrecy. Unlike the
traditional significance of the rose Blakes Sick Rose is the symbol of
mysterious evil that attacks the human heart. The Tyger is antitype of the
lamb of innocence. It represents the violent and energetic aspect of human
soul. Gods purposes are esoteric, diverse and strange.
In the world of Experience, Urizen dominates at large. He is Blakes symbol
for all that is negative, such as reason, cruelty, jealousy and hypocrisy.
Though he does not mention Urizen anywhere in Songs of experience we can
feel his presence in the poem called Earths Answer where he is mentioned
as Starry Jealousy and Cruel, jealous selfish fear. He keeps the earth
bound in oppressive measures, chains her, imprisons and guards over her. In
The School boy it is the school teacher who symbolizes undue authority,
with the result that
Under a cruel eye outworn
The little one spends the day
In singing and dismay.
In the poem London oppression and tyranny are symbolized by the
king(who is responsible for the soldiers blood being shed), social institutions
like loveless marriage and the mind-forged manacles. In a Little boy Lost,
the priest who is responsible for the burning of the child symbolizes the cruel
thoughtless unimaginative authority of the Church. The Priest acts in the
name of the mystery which here , as also in the Human Abstract,
symbolizes institutional religion.
Likewise, The garden of Love and A Poison Tree are two allegories dealing
with different subjects. The Garden of Love censures the under curbs placed
by conventional religion on tender human emotions such as love. In this
poem, the tombstone and graves stands for death, the priests stands for the
authorities of conventional religion , the garden epitomized love and thou
shall not symbolizes the rigorous codes of orthodox religion that rules out
love and sex.
In Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Blakes symbols are not as obscure
or abstruse as we find them in his other poems. In his later poems (prophetic
Books) they are rather incomprehensible. The principal symbols used by
Blake have been classified by critics as innocence symbols, energy symbols,
sexual symbols, corruption symbols and oppression symbols. Many of these,
of course, overlap , and among themselves weave a richness into Blakes
poetry.