Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Lore & Background

Blake was also a painter before the creation of Songs of Innocence and of Experience and he engraved, hand-printed, and coloured detailed art to accompany each of the poems. This unique art helps tell the story of each poem, and was part of Blake's original vision for how each poem should be understood. Blake was heavily inspired by children's literature and juvenile education in his creation of Songs of Innocence and of Experience, and his analysis of childhood as a state of protected innocence rather than original sin, but not immune to the fallen world and its institutions, would soon become a hallmark of Romanticism. The standard combined edition contains 45 poems, though the number of plates varies by copy; Blake produced about 21 to 23 known copies of the combined edition, but this does not represent the total number of copies of the two works individually and combined. This collection mainly shows happy, innocent perception in pastoral harmony, but at times, such as in 'The Chimney Sweeper' and 'The Little Black Boy', subtly shows the dangers of this naïve and vulnerable state. Some poems, such as 'The Little Girl Lost' and 'The Little Girl Found', were moved by Blake to Songs of Innocence in some copies, but their placement varied across copies and was not permanent.

Reader's Guide

Blake combined several strategies to create each unique illustration. He would create a relief-etched copper printing plate by hand, then paint each page after printing using a variety of mediums, including watercolor. This process meant that each printing of Songs of Innocence and of Experience was visually distinct from the one that came before. Blake confessed in a letter that the work was an attempt to combine the 'painter and the Poet.' The illustrations do more than simply depict what is in the poem; they serve to intensify and translate the poems and are central to a full understanding of what each poem attempts to convey. The meaning of several of the poems is changed by the illustrations that accompany them, with notable examples including 'The Blossom' and the first plate of 'The Little Girl Lost'. Some of Blake's illustrations have occasionally been critiqued for errors or lack of realism, such as inconsistent coloring of the rose in 'The Sick Rose' and the appearance of the tiger in 'The Tyger'. Notably, there has been an abiding relationship between the collection and musical artists; poems have been set to music by a variety of musicians, including Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, and Allen Ginsberg, who believed the poems were originally intended to be sung.

Did You Know?

• Each page of Songs of Innocence and of Experience contains the text of the poem surrounded by a unique illustration, hand-colored by Blake.
• Some illustrations, such as the rose in 'The Sick Rose' and the tiger in 'The Tyger', have been critiqued for errors or lack of realism.