The Wisdom of William Blake
Being Romantic may not mean what you think it means! Reading the Songs of Innocence and of Experience…
Some people would look to The Bible, The Koran, or similar religious texts at those times when they need to contemplate serious matters… for me William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794) is that book. It’s also a book you can turn to for light reading and entertainment — a five-year-old can appreciate the beauty and majesty of the words as well as the illustrations. It is accessible and contains The Tyger, one of the Nation’s best known and well-loved poems. It has no pretensions, yet works on many levels so that repeated readings yield increasing rewards.
Songs Of Innocence was originally published in 1789, with Songs Of Experience following in 1793. These two books were then brought together in a single edition as intended in 1794, and expressed many of Blake’s important themes and concepts. It is also difficult to categorise because it is is a visual piece, a series, narrative imagery, as well as being a collection of fine poetry…
William Blake was one of Britain’s most innovative and important creatives, he was a pre-Romantic visionary whose ideas were a primary influence upon the emergent movement that grew out of the Industrial Revolution. He put forward…
