William Blake
William Blake
William Blake
by
WILLIAM BLAKE
1789-1794
DjVu Editions E-books
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A LITTLE GIRL LOST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
THE SCHOOLBOY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
TO TERZAH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
THE VOICE OF THE ANCIENT BARD . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience SONGS OF INNOCENCE
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:
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE SHEPHERD
THE SHEPHERD
How sweet is the Shepherd’s sweet lot!
From the morn to the evening he stays;
He shall follow his sheep all the day,
And his tongue shall be filled with praise.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE ECHOING GREEN
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE LAMB
THE LAMB
Little Lamb, who make thee
Dost thou know who made thee,
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o’er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, wolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE LITTLE BLACK BOY
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE BLOSSOM
THE BLOSSOM
Merry, merry sparrow!
Under leaves so green
A happy blossom
Sees you, swift as arrow,
Seek your cradle narrow,
Near my bosom.
Pretty, pretty robin!
Under leaves so green
A happy blossom
Hears you sobbing, sobbing,
Pretty, pretty robin,
Near my bosom.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER
THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER
When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry ‘‘Weep! weep! weep! weep!’’
So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE LITTLE BOY LOST
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE LITTLE BOY FOUND
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience LAUGHING SONG
LAUGHING SONG
When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience A SONG
A SONG
Sweet dreams, form a shade
O’er my lovely infant’s head!
Sweet dreams of pleasant streams
By happy, silent, moony beams!
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience DIVINE IMAGE
DIVINE IMAGE
To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,
All pray in their distress,
And to these virtues of delight
Return their thankfulness.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience HOLY THURSDAY
HOLY THURSDAY
’Twas on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,
Came children walking two and two, in read, and blue, and green:
Grey-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow,
Till into the high dome of Paul’s they like Thames waters flow.
Now like a mighty wild they raise to heaven the voice of song,
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among:
Beneath them sit the aged man, wise guardians of the poor.
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience NIGHT
NIGHT
The sun descending in the west,
The evening star does shine;
The birds are silent in their nest,
And I must seek for mine.
The moon, like a flower
In heaven’s high bower,
With silent delight,
Sits and smiles on the night.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience NIGHT
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience SPRING
SPRING
Sound the flute!
Now it’s mute!
Bird’s delight,
Day and night,
Nightingale,
In the dale,
Lark in sky,—
Merrily,
Merrily merrily, to welcome in the year.
Little boy,
Full of joy;
Little girl,
Sweet and small;
Cock does crow,
So do you;
Merry voice,
Infant noise;
Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the year.
Little lamb,
Here I am;
Come and lick
My white neck;
Let me pull
Your soft wool;
Let me kiss
Your soft face;
Merrily, merrily, to welcome in the year.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience NURSE’S SONG
NURSE’S SONG
When the voices of children are heard on the green,
And laughing is heard on the hill,
My heart is at rest within my breast,
And everything else is still.
‘‘Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down,
And the dews of night arise;
Come, come, leave off play, and let us away,
Till the morning appears in the skies.’’
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience INFANT JOY
INFANT JOY
‘‘I have no name;
I am but two days old.’’
What shall I call thee?
‘‘I happy am,
Joy is my name.’’
Sweet joy befall thee!
Pretty joy!
Sweet joy, but two days old.
Sweet Joy I call thee:
Thou dost smile,
I sing the while;
Sweet joy befall thee!
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience A DREAM
A DREAM
Once a dream did weave a shade
O’er my angel-guarded bed,
That an emmet lost its way
Where on grass methought I lay.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience ON ANOTHER’S SORROW
ON ANOTHER’S SORROW
Can I see another’s woe,
And not be in sorrow too?
Can I see another’s grief,
And not seek for kind relief?
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience SONGS OF EXPERIENCE
SONGS OF EXPERIENCE
INTRODUCTION
Hear the voice of the Bard,
Who present, past, and future, sees;
Whose ears have heard
The Holy Word
That walked among the ancient tree;
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience EARTH’S ANSWER
EARTH’S ANSWER
Earth raised up her head
From the darkness dread and drear,
Her light fled,
Stony, dread,
And her locks covered with grey despair.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE CLOD AND THE PEBBLE
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience HOLY THURSDAY
HOLY THURSDAY
Is this a holy thing to see
In a rich and fruitful land, —
Babes reduced to misery,
Fed with cold and usurous hand?
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE LITTLE GIRL LOST
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE LITTLE GIRL LOST
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE LITTLE GIRL FOUND
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE LITTLE GIRL FOUND
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience NURSE’S SONG
NURSE’S SONG
When voices of children are heard on the green,
And whisperings are in the dale,
The days of my youth rise fresh in my mind,
My face turns green and pale.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE SICK ROSE
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE FLY
THE FLY
Little Fly,
Thy summer’s play
My thoughtless hand
Has brushed away.
Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?
For I dance
And drink, and sing,
Till some blind hand
Shall brush my wing.
If thought is life
And strength and breath
And the want
Of thought is death;
Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE ANGEL
THE ANGEL
I dreamt a dream! What can it mean?
And that I was a maiden Queen
Guarded by an Angel mild:
Witless woe was ne’er beguiled!
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE TIGER
THE TIGER
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forest of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could Frame thy fearful symmetry?
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience MY PRETTY ROSE TREE
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience AH SUNFLOWER
AH SUNFLOWER
Ah Sunflower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the sun;
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller’s journey is done;
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE LILY
THE LILY
The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheep a threat’ning horn:
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE GARDEN OF LOVE
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE LITTLE VAGABOND
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience LONDON
LONDON
I wandered through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE HUMAN ABSTRACT
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience INFANT SORROW
INFANT SORROW
My mother groaned, my father wept:
Into the dangerous world I leapt,
Helpless, naked, piping loud,
Like a fiend hid in a cloud.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience A POISON TREE
A POISON TREE
I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience A LITTLE BOY LOST
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience A LITTLE GIRL LOST
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE SCHOOLBOY
THE SCHOOLBOY
I love to rise on a summer morn,
When birds are singing on every tree;
The distant huntsman winds his horn,
And the skylark sings with me:
Oh what sweet company!
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience TO TERZAH
TO TERZAH
Whate’er is born of mortal birth
Must be consumed with the earth,
To rise from generation free:
Then what have I to do with thee?
The sexes sprang from shame and pride,
Blown in the morn, in evening died;
But mercy changed death into sleep;
The sexes rose to work and weep.
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Blake: Songs of Innocence & Experience THE VOICE OF THE ANCIENT BARD
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