William Blake

Songs of Innocence and of Experience is an collection of poems by William Blake. Note: For a complete Table of Contents of the included poems, see the 'Questions' section below. This book appeared in two phases. A few first copies were printed and illuminated by William Blake himself in 1789; five years later he bound these poems with a set of new poems in a volume titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul. The work compiles two contrasting but directly related books of poetry by William Blake. Songs of Innocence honors and praises the natural world, the natural innocence of children and their close relationship to God. Songs of Experience contains much darker, disillusioned poems, which deal with serious, often political themes. It is believed that the disastrous end to the French Revolution produced this disillusionment in Blake. He does, however, maintain that true innocence is achieved only through experience.

Once regarded as a brilliant eccentric whose works skirted the outer fringes of English art and literature, William Blake (1757–1827) is today recognized as a major poet, a profound thinker, and one of the most original and exciting English artists. Nowhere is his glorious poetic and pictorial legacy more evident than in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, which many consider his most inspired and original work. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is both a humorous satire on religion and morality and a work that concisely expresses Blake's essential wisdom and philosophy, much of it revealed in the 70 aphorisms of his "Proverbs of Hell." This beautiful edition, reproduced from a rare facsimile, invites readers to enjoy the rich character of Blake's own hand-printed text along with his deeply stirring illustrations, reproduced on 27 full-color plates. A typeset transcription of the text is included.

This edition features a linked Table of ContentsCONTENTSSONGS OF INNOCENCEIntroductionThe ShepherdThe Echoing GreenThe LambThe Little Black BoyThe BlossomThe Chimney-SweeperThe Little Boy LostThe Little Boy FoundLaughing SongA Cradle SongThe Divine ImageHoly ThursdayNightSpringNurse's SongInfant JoyA DreamOn Another's SorrowSONGS OF EXPERIENCEIntroductionEarth's AnswerThe Clod and the PebbleHoly ThursdayThe Little Girl LostThe Little Girl FoundThe Chimney-SweeperNurse's SongThe Sick RoseThe FlyThe AngelThe TigerMy Pretty Rose TreeAh, SunflowerThe LilyThe Garden of LoveThe Little VagabondLondonThe Human AbstractInfant SorrowA Poison TreeA Little Boy LostA Little Girl LostA Divine ImageA Cradle SongThe SchoolboyTo TirzahThe Voice of the Ancient Bard

William Blake is one of England's most fascinating writers; he was not only a groundbreaking poet, but also a painter, engraver, radical, and mystic. Although Blake was dismissed as an eccentric by his contemporaries, his powerful and richly symbolic poetry has been a fertile source of inspiration to the many writers and artists who have followed in his footsteps. In this collection Patti Smith brings together her personal favorites of Blake's poems, including the complete Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, to give a singular picture of this unique genius, whom she calls in her moving introduction "the spiritual ancestor" of generations of poets.