Songs of Experience [Hardcover]

William Blake (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1972

The first and most popular of Blake's famous "Illuminated Books," in a facsimile edition reproducing all 31 brightly colored plates. Additional printed text of each poem. "The colors are lovely, the book is a joy." — Kliatt Paperback Book Guide.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications Inc.; Dover Edition. edition (April 1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486213951
• ISBN-13: 978-0486213958
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,884,590 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From humility, genius., September 15, 1999

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Songs of Innocence (Dover Fine Art, History of Art) (Paperback)

Dover has done the reading world an enormous favor by keeping books like this available in low-cost editions. Poems like "The Little Black Boy," The Chimney Sweeper," and "The Lamb" are among the sweetest, saddest lyrics ever penned by a poet in English. Reading these poems in an edition that provides facsimile color reproductions of the original watercolor plates (painted individually by hand) helps in our perception of them. These poems were meant to be absorbed visually. Branches, vines and leaves weave through the lines as we read. Of course children can appreciate the sentiment and charm of the poems, but older readers will see their sharp social criticism as well, especially when balanced against matching poems in Blake's "Songs of Experience." This book has my favorite pastoral lyics in the language. It is a permanent contribution to the spirit of humankind.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Poems as Blake Would Have Wanted Them, March 10, 2010

By 

Bill R. Moore (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Songs of Innocence (Dover Fine Art, History of Art) (Paperback)

William Blake is one of the most original and influential English poets - so eccentric and ground-breaking that even his biggest fans considered him insane long after his death. The poems in Songs of Innocence are one of his most popular and lasting achievements, essential for anyone even remotely interested in poetry and a good place for those new to Blake and poetry generally to start. This edition is particularly valuable in that, unlike nearly all others, it presents the poems as Blake intended. It is important to realize that he was as much a visual as a literary artist and in fact issued the poems in "Illuminated Books" where they were written on color plates with various pictorial representations. He did not consider the poems standalone works, and the visual element is indeed important. Pictures often underline or reinforce the words but sometimes seem to give a contrary impression; only a few are apparently incidental. Whether or not one likes visual art and regardless of how one thinks the poems work in themselves, they do play off visual elements in complicated and interesting ways. Needless to say, because the plates are expensive and difficult to reproduce, nearly all collections have only the poems - a concept that would have appalled Blake if he could have even conceived it. The poems are of course more than good enough to stand alone, but we must remember that Blake never meant them to do so. This volume reproduces the plates in a manner as close as realistically possible to his intent; this is not one of Dover's Thrift Editions but a very high quality production with vivid colors and strong binding. In short, it is absolutely essential for the dedicated and a pleasant surprise for casuals. It also usefully reprints the poems alone for reading ease. Anyone wanting only the poems can easily find such a volume, but this edition's bonuses and incredible value make it well worth buying even for general readers. Also, for reasons I will make clear, the companion volume Songs of Experience is a necessary counterpart.

1789's Songs of Innocence celebrated innocence as variously reflected in childhood, showing infants' and children's relatively pure mental and physical states before adult corruption. Many of its poems are first person from a child's perspective, and most of the rest describe a child's point of view; others speak to or about them. Blake used appropriately simple vocabulary and form; lines are short, rhymes obvious, and imagery very pared down. Indeed, at first glance, the poems seem puerile. However, a closer look shows they are anything but; despite - or perhaps even to a certain degree because of - this, they have a wealth of significance. They are in fact at least as complex as most far longer works; extremely thought-provoking and often morally ambiguous, they raise a host of important questions. These apparently simple poems address a wide range of theological and ontological queries. They also deal with more practical themes like class, race, and family relations, taking on economic, social, and other concerns. Most of these are answered with conventional platitudes heavily soaked in Christianity; the poems seem a paean to optimism and can be very uplifting, but cynics may even laugh aloud.

However, this is only half the story. In 1794 Blake added Songs of Experience, which essentially carried the concept into adulthood. Simple poetic trappings remained, but the tone was now far darker; cynicism and pessimism crept in, showing an opposite plane of thought and seemingly even a different world. Several poems were direct responses to those in Innocence, sometimes with the same name. This greatly multiplied the works' already very complex nature. It is important to remember Blake's subtitle: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul. Experience essentially deals with the same questions as Innocence but has contrary conclusions. Having them in the same book is disarming and perhaps somewhat unsettling. Blake does not say which, if either, he believes or show any favoritism; one might say putting the Experience poems last does the latter, but this is merely chronological. He creates a true moral and intellectual murk, leaving us to find our way out - if we can.

As this suggests, the poems were not only at the very advent of Romanticism but also very modern in a way literature almost never was until the late nineteenth century. Blake was so far ahead of his time that it is small surprise he was little understood or appreciated. Succeeding generations have seen him and his work in various ways, but the notable thing is that both have endured; his work has such greatness and depth that each age sees itself in it. This is partly because of its ambiguity but at least as due to its universality; Blake's themes are fundamental human thoughts and emotions that let his work speak as profoundly now as ever. Here we begin to see just how important his simple forms are; they are as appropriate for the themes as the subjects. Since his concerns are elemental, so are his forms; the former are relevant to all and the latter accessible to all, letting him speak to all. This aspect also makes the songs a great way to introduce the uninitiated to poetry and are indeed often used in introductory classes; his eminently accessible verse is perfectly suited for showing the rudiments of meter, tropes, and rhyme. Conversely, of course, his treatments are anything but simple, which makes him ideal for the most abstruse close readings - an apparent paradox he would doubtless have appreciated.

There are many ways to buy Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, but it is essential to get both and read consecutively, whether in individual or combined editions. Blake meant them to be experienced as one, and they play off each other as few works do. Getting one is not just missing half the experience but nearly the whole; they are able to stand on their own, but the impression is extremely misleading and, perhaps more importantly, unintended. They are so excellent in any case that anyone who reads one will immediately want the other, making both doubly necessary.