Songs of Innocence and of Experience is a collection of illustrated poems by William Blake.[1] Originally, Blake illuminated and bound Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience separately.[2] It was only in 1794 that Blake combined the two sets of poems into a volume titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.[1] Even after beginning to print the poems together, Blake continued to produce individual volumes for each of the two sets of poetry.[2]
Blake was also a painter before the creation of Songs of Innocence and of Experience and he engraved, hand-printed, and colored detailed art to accompany each of the poems in Songs of Innocence and of Experience.[3] 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.[4] 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.[2][5]
Notably, there has been an abiding relationship between Songs of Innocence and of Experience and musical artists. Poems from the collection have been set to music by a variety of musicians, and band U2 titled two of their albums Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience in an homage to this volume.[6][7]
- ^ a b "Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy C, 1789, 1794 (Library of Congress): electronic edition". www.blakearchive.org. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
- ^ a b c Leader, Zachary (11 August 2015). "Reading Blake's Songs". Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315675121.
- ^ Tate. "William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience". Tate. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
- ^ Zhao, Sinan (19 April 2023). "The Comparison and Fusion of William Blake's Poetry and Paintings". Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences. 12: 78–82. doi:10.54097/ehss.v12i.7602. ISSN 2771-2907.
- ^ The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Age of Romanticism. Broadview Press. 2010. ISBN 978-1-55111-404-0.
- ^ Hutchings, Kevin (2007). "William Blake and the Music of the Songs". Romanticism on the Net (45). doi:10.7202/015815ar. ISSN 1467-1255.
- ^ Greene, Andy (20 September 2017). "Bono on How U2's 'Songs of Experience' Evolved, Taking on Donald Trump". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 16 February 2024.