Original publication date
1789 (Songs of Innocence)
1794 (Songs of Innocence and of Experience)
Status
Available
Call number
Publication
San Marino, CA: Huntington Library, 2008
ISBN
9780873282369
Language
Description
Fiction. Poetry. HTML: Songs of Innocence and of Experience compiles two contrasting but directly related books of poetry by William Blake. Songs of Innocence honors and praises the natural world, the natural innocence of children and their close relationship to God. Songs of Experience contains much darker, disillusioned poems, which deal with serious, often political themes. It is believed that the disastrous end to the French Revolution produced this disillusionment in Blake. He does, however, maintain that true innocence is achieved only through experience..