Songs of Innocence and of Experience

By William Blake

The simple and beautiful eloquence of William Blake's poetry is exemplified here in "Songs of Innocence and of Experience." This collection of forty-six poems is actually two volumes in one. After first completing and publishing "Songs of Innocence" in 1789 Blake would, some five years later, add "Songs of Experience" to the volume in an effort to show "the two contrary states of the human soul."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Digireads.com Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2010
• ISBN: 9781596740549

William Blake

William Blake was born in London in 1757. He was apprenticed to a master engraver and then studied at the Royal Academy under the guidance of Joshua Reynolds. In 1789 he engraved and published Songs of Innocence and the contrasting Songs of Experience came later in 1794. A poet, painter and printmaker of great originality and imagination, his work was largely unrecognized during his lifetime and he struggled to make a living. Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. He died in 1827.

Book preview

SONGS OF INNOCENCE

AND OF EXPERIENCE

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

A Digireads.com Book

Digireads.com Publishing

Print ISBN 13: 978-1-4209-2580-7

Ebook ISBN 13: 978-1-59674-054-9

This edition copyright © 2012

Please visit www.digireads.com

CONTENTS

SONGS OF INNOCENCE

INTRODUCTION

THE SHEPHERD

THE ECHOING GREEN

THE LAMB

THE LITTLE BLACK BOY

THE BLOSSOM

THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER

THE LITTLE BOY LOST

THE LITTLE BOY FOUND

LAUGHING SONG

A CRADLE SONG

THE DIVINE IMAGE

HOLY THURSDAY

NIGHT

SPRING

NURSE'S SONG

INFANT JOY

A DREAM

ON ANOTHER'S SORROW

SONGS OF EXPERIENCE

INTRODUCTION

EARTH'S ANSWER

THE CLOD AND THE PEBBLE

HOLY THURSDAY

THE LITTLE GIRL LOST

THE LITTLE GIRL FOUND

THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER

NURSE'S SONG

THE SICK ROSE

THE FLY

THE ANGEL

THE TIGER

MY PRETTY ROSE TREE

AH SUNFLOWER

THE LILY

THE GARDEN OF LOVE

THE LITTLE VAGABOND

LONDON

THE HUMAN ABSTRACT

INFANT SORROW

A POISON TREE

A LITTLE BOY LOST

A LITTLE GIRL LOST

THE SCHOOLBOY

TO TERZAH

THE VOICE OF THE ANCIENT BARD

APPENDIX

A DIVINE IMAGE

SONGS OF INNOCENCE

INTRODUCTION

Piping down the valleys wild,

Piping songs of pleasant glee,

On a cloud I saw a child,

And he laughing said to me:

Pipe a song about a Lamb!

So I piped with merry cheer.

Piper, pipe that song again;

So I piped: he wept to hear.

"Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;

Sing thy songs of happy cheer:!"

So I sang the same again,

While he wept with joy to hear.

"Piper, sit thee down and write

In a book, that all may read."

So he vanish'd from my sight;

And I pluck'd a hollow reed,

And I made a rural pen,

And I stain'd the water clear,

And I wrote

Reviews for Songs of Innocence and of Experience

[leslie398 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I like Blake´s poetry but not his content. The structure, the rhythm and rhyme, the length of the poems I enjoyed; the subject matter, especially in the Songs of Innocence was too much 'little lamb of God' for my tastes.

That said, this book is very short and does contain some treasures - most notably The Tiger - so I would recommend it to anyone who, like myself, is trying to acquire some knowledge of poetry.

[flashflood42 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A gorgeous book

[mmwiseheart · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The contrast between the songs of innocence and the songs of experience is amazing. Blake is at the same time vague and descriptive. The subtleties in his meter are fantastic! I love reading these and analyzing the intention and the meaning behind them. There are so many points of view one could take.

[fledgist · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Blake's collection of ballad-like poems. Deceptively simple and direct, but often more complex and difficult than they seem.

[wfb-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I started reading this from the age of twelve. Still love it, and find it deeply meaningful.

[stbalbach_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Songs of Innocence and Experience are William Blake's two most famous books. The best way to read them is as the artist intended, with a facsimile of the original artwork/poems. They are admittedly a little strange and opaque at first but its possible to pry out some double meanings to discover the "contrary states of the human soul," and if not that, at least enjoy some mirth and joy in lightness of being.

[greeniezona · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

First of all, I would like to state in my defense that I picked up this slim volume days before I started freaking out about getting to 50 books by any means necessary. Ever since I catalogued my poetry shelf, I've been making an effort to get more of it read. Plus, in the story currently in my head, I'm a teacher, leading a unit on poetry. And apparently now I'm doing research for the stories I tell myself on long walks and as I fall asleep.

Yes? Well, okay. I don't know exactly what I was expecting when I first picked this up, but it certainly wasn't the poems I found in Songs of Innocence. This first volume is so excessively sweet, devoid of any hint of adult cynicism, that I felt a bit unmoored, and it actually took me days to work my way through them. It wasn't until I made it into Songs of Experience and heard the call and response between volumes that everything fell into place. Each side is illuminated and brought into relief by the other.

This volume contains what must surely be one of the most famous poems in the English language -- "The Tyger," which somehow I think I had never previously read in its entirety, though certainly I have seen its opening lines quoted often enough. Myself, I prefer "the Little Vagabond."

Worth its reputation after all, I'd have to say.

[joye_22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a beautiful edition of Blake's poems. I've used this a lot in school.

[ablueidol · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the few poets that have stayed and grown with me. And the artwork!

[kathleen586 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Blake wrote some good poems, but I didn't particularly like most of them.

[antt-4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Despite their age, these poems really sing to me: "Get with child a mandrake root...."

[heidip_38 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Songs of Innocence and of Experience remains a favorite of mine. The concept is brilliant-- illustrated poetry. Blake paints a beautiful picture with the poem woven into it. The words are so small I'm not sure how he actually got them on there. I told my daughter she should try to do a painting "Blake-style" with a poem woven into the picture.Some of my favorite Blake poems are found in this collection: "The Lamb" and "The Tiger." But I read some new ones that I also really enjoyed. The first half of the book contains the Songs of Innocence and the poems reflect that theme with sweet poems of God and children and Shepherds, etc. Many of these poems in the Songs of Innocence seem like lullabies.The second half contains the Songs of Experience, with more emphasis on pain, poverty, and sin. The cover picture for Songs of Experience is a picture of someone dead on their bed. It sets the tone for the whole last part. Is the first part like the Garden of Eden—Innocence, and Experience--post Garden? The title is Songs of Innocence and Of Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul. So is that contrasting good and evil? Here are some examples of his criticism.Holy Thursday was pointed, “Is this a holy thing to see,/In a rich and fruitful land,/Babes reduced to misery,/ Fed with cold and usurious hand?” This was critical of children in poverty.The poem Garden of Love, I found very critical of the church. The garden had a church built there and it was now filled with tombstones instead of flowers; and priests in black robes were binding with briars. Where he used to play was no longer a garden of love! London was very critical of the city. Phrases like “Harlot’s curse” “blood down palace walls” “marriage hearse” “Infants cry” etc. really paints a bleak picture of the city.

[amilofinn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My copy of William Blake's 'Songs of Innocence and of Experience' features Blake's original plates on one page and his poems typed out on the other. The pictures are strange, ornate, exquisite and the poems are poignant and beautiful, about children and nature, the Chimney Sweeper and the Echoing Green. More famous poems appear in the Songs of Experience, The Sick Rose and the Tyger. The work is visionary and shows sensitivity, depth and a great social conscience.

[esquilinho_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting Poems to Compare and Contrast: Interesting poems to compare and contrast - definitely a must for any literature student. Moreover, if you're interested in the different movements, as Blake was a key figure in bringing Romanticism into poetry.