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.

Since its first publication in 1965, this edition has been widely hailed as the best available text of Blake's poetry and prose. Now revised, it includes up-to-date work on variants, chronology of the poems, and critical commentary by Harold Bloom. An "Approved Edition" of the Center for Scholarly Editions of the Modern Language Association.

Blake's visionary poem, "The Tyger," receives a beautiful and powerful rendition in a series of vibrant images, each showing only a portion of the entire animal, which is fully revealed in a final four-page gatefold illustration.

William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience," combined in this little volume, are both filled with amazing poetry. In "Songs of Innocence," Blake reveals the true innocent and peaceful ways of a person's childhood. While most people remember William Blake for "Tyger, tyger, burning bright" and "Little Lamb, who made thee?" his other poems are wonderful as well. The point of the poems doesn't seem to be that aging brings experience, but that experience changes innocence, to some degree. For instance, the "Chimney Sweep" is about children who work as chimney sweeps but dream of heaven. Many of the poems have symbolic and religious meanings. The imagery is beautiful and poignant. One of William Blake's most famous poems, "The Lamb," tells the story of a young boy asking an innocent lamb, "Who made thee?" "The Lamb" is religious and very pleasant to read. "Songs of Experience" is a book filled with deceitful and cruel poems. The book's poems are based on the hardships of the "real" world. "The Tyger," a famous poem from "Songs of Experience," is a contrary poem to "The Lamb." Though "The Tyger" speaks of God the Creator of all things, the poem has a dark theme and setting unlike "The Lamb." William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience" are two enjoyable works to read, highly recommended for anyone who appreciates meaning and depth in poetry.

The Portable Blake contains the hermetic genius's most important Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience in their entirety; selections from his "prophetic books"—including The Marriage of Heaven and Hell , Visions of the Daughters of Abion , America , The Book of Urizen , and The Four Zoas —and from other works of poetry and prose, as well as the complete drawings for The Book of Job .

La actividad y energía creadoras de William Blake están impregnadas de un estado místico, consecuencia del contexto histórico en que vivió. En Canciones de inocencia y de experiencia, reúne toda la formulación simbólica de un universo poético rico y fructífero en el que se identifican un proceso ritual con la esencia de la poesía. La inocencia y la experiencia representan tanto estados contrarios del alma humana, como situaciones sociales incompatibles en las que confluyen circunstancias materiales y relaciones sociales que implican un cambio de vida y sensibilidad.

The nature of William Blake's genius and of his art is most completely expressed in his Illuminated books. In order to give full and free expression to his vision Blake invented a method of printing that enabled him to create works in which words and images combine to form pages uniquely rich in content and beautiful in form. It is only through the pages as originally conceived and published by the poet himself that Blake's meaning can be fully experienced.

One of the great English Romantic poets, William Blake (1757-1827) was an artist, poet, mystic and visionary. His work ranges from the deceptively simple and lyrical Songs of Innocence and their counterpoint Experience - which juxtapose poems such as 'The Lamb' and 'The Tyger', and 'The Blossom' and 'The Sick Rose' - to highly elaborate, apocalyptic works, such as The Four Zoas, Milton and Jerusalem. Throughout his life Blake drew on a rich heritage of philosophy, religion and myth, to create a poetic worlds illuminated by his spiritual and revolutionary beliefs that have fascinated, intrigued and enchanted readers for generations.

Writer and religious rebel, William Blake ((1757-1827) sowed the seeds for Romanticism in his innovative poems concerning faith and the visions that inspired him throughout his life. Whether describing his own spirituality, the innocence of youth or the corruption caused by mankind, his writings depict a world in which spirits dominate and the mind is the gateway to Heaven. This collection of his greatest works spans his entire poetic life from the early, exquisite lyrics of Poetic Sketches to his Songs of Innocence and Experience - a compelling exploration of good and evil. Together, they illuminate a self-made realm that has fascinated artists and poets as diverse as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Yeats and Ginsberg.