Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Blake was one of the finest craftsmen of his time, an artist for whom art and poetry were inextricably linked. He was an independent and rebellious thinker, who abhorred pretension and falsity in others. His Songs of Innocence are products of this innocent imagination untainted by worldliness, while the Songs of Experience resulted from his feelings of indignation and pity for the sufferings of mankind. The Songs of Innocence and of Experience include some of Blake's finest and best-loved poems. The 54 colour plates reproduced here are the original work of Blake himself, presented with the text of each poem on the verso of each plate. A brief commentary is provided by Sir Geoffrey Keynes, editor of Blake's Complete Writings.