Interestingly, William Blake's poems from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience generally offer common topics but opposing perspectives; each perspective accomplished my means of unique writing techniques. "The Shepherd" by Songs of Innocence and "The Garden of Love" by Songs of Experience have in common the experiences of a shepherd but "The Shepherd" creates a joyful and friendly atmosphere through the choice of Blake's words while " The Garden of Love “creates a sad mood through imagery. In "The Shepherd", the gentle and loving diction creates a joyful mood while in "The Garden of Love", the juxtaposition of bright and dark images creates a depressing and negative mood. In “The Shepherd,” the bright diction creates a positive mood while in “The Garden of Love,” it is the juxtaposed imagery that creates a negative mood. In “The Shepherd,” the pleasant setting is established through the opening line: “How sweet is the shepherd’s lot!” This rhetorical question illustrates the gentleness and charm of the atmosphere. The rhetorical question, obviously rhetorical for lack of a question mark, shows that it is impossible to put into words the true serenity of the environment. On the other hand, the juxtaposition between what the earth was and what it has become imposes a negative and dark mood in "The Garden of Love". The contrasting images between the two descriptions allow the juxtaposition to create a negative mood. The first stanza describes the setting as a place of love and describes the shepherd's memories of where he "played on the green", bringing back the innocence of childhood and thus creating an initial positive mood. The verb “play” helps create that moo... middle of paper... that vibe. This word choice shows that the earth emphasizes that the earth once possessed such beauty, but no longer has it. But above all, the dark and depressing images of "Garden of Love" create a somber mood while the bright and loving diction of "Shepherd" creates a lively and friendly mood. The purpose of the sad images of the "Garden of Love" "Love" was to create a negative mood and the purpose of the love-filled diction was to create a positive mood, but to go further, one must ask what is the goal of establishing these contrasting moods in each poem? "The Garden of Love" contains depressing imagery and has a dark mood to depict hell as the embodiment of depression and negativity while "The Shepherd" contrasts this setting by using friendly diction to create a joyful ambiance to describe paradise as the epitome of joy and peace.