Throughout history, scholars have demonstrated the power of representation to awaken the mind to Truth, particularly in the formative years. William Blake’s poems in his parallel collections Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience stand out for their lyrical and artistic depictions of childhood bliss steeped in nostalgia, in stark contrast with adulthood, which he paints as comparatively bleak and dim. Similarly, contemporary children’s poet Shel Silverstein is known for his compilation works Where The Sidewalk Ends, Falling Up, and A Light In The Attic, wherein he also develops the themes of childlike hope, curiosity, wonder and imagination. Comparing and contrasting these two different representations of childhood, both poets reflect and employ the expressive and communicative power of images. Both Blake and Silverstein demonstrate the power of images and apply them in pedagogical contexts alongside their writings on childhood, but the manner in which they do so differs. While Blake’s visual images in his work to add meaning, familiarity, and depth. This variation in the application of the communicative power of images is related to the poets’ different audiences, as they use their images to accomplish different purposes. While Blake writes for adult readers about the shared experience of childhood, Silverstein writes for an audience of children as well as for adults who may be reading the poems aloud. As these groups differ significantly in their perspectives, the effects, and thus the poets’ applications, of visual elements also differ. Both Blake’s Songs and Silverstein’s various poems consistently demonstrate the capacity of images to influence and contextualize a reader’s perception, and use this power in different ways to nurture more ideal development in children and reflection in their readers.