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Cover of Songs of innocence and of experience

Songs of innocence and of experience

Robert N. Essick

270 pages

A visionary descent from sunlit pastoral wonder into the soot-stained shadows of human corruption.

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What it feels like

Reading this collection feels like walking through a sunlit meadow that slowly transforms into a smog-choked industrial city. The experience is deeply atmospheric and leisurely, demanding that you linger over every deceptively simple stanza. At first, the verses wrap you in a tender, pastoral warmth, echoing with the joyful, unblemished trust of childhood. But as the pages turn, a haunting, prophetic indignation takes over, exposing the soot-stained realities of exploitation, religious hypocrisy, and lost purity. The rhythmic, almost nursery-rhyme cadence creates a striking dissonance with the heavy, mystical themes of human duality. It is a profound, awe-struck journey meant for readers who want to feel the raw, visionary friction between the light of the divine and the darkness of the world.

Mood
  • ethereal
  • haunting
  • melancholic
  • awe-struck
Tone
  • visionary
  • earnest
  • prophetic
  • indignant
  • tender
Pace
leisurely
Themes
duality of human nature · loss of childhood innocence · societal corruption · spiritual awakening · the divine in the everyday
The writing
Deceptively simple, rhythmic verses that use nursery-rhyme structures to mask profound mystical and philosophical depths.
The arc
Begins in a state of bright, trusting wonder before plunging into the dark, cynical disillusionment of adulthood and societal decay.
Who it's for
Readers who crave mystical, romantic poetry that wrestles with the dark complexities of the human soul and the corruptions of society.
Content notes
  • child exploitation
  • poverty
  • death
  • religious critique

About the book

"This reproduction in the original size... with an introduction and commentary by Sir Geoffrey Keynes.. "--P. [iii].

Imprint from t.p. verso.

"The title-page overleaf combines elements from Blake's own title-pages, including the dates of the 'Songs of Innocence' and 'Songs of Experience' respectively"--T.p. verso.

"The plates have been printed in 6 and 8-colour offset on paper especially manufactured to match the tint of that used by Blake. The text was set in Monotype Caslon Old Face by Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. Ltd. London & Colchester. The book was designed by Arnold Fawcus and produced by The Trianon Press."--T.p. verso.

Reproduced from a copy [Z] in the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection, Library of Congress (London, ca. 1825). Cf. Bentley.

"Facing each plate is the text of the poem printed in letterpress and following it is Sir Geoffrey Keynes's commentary"--P. v. Some texts are on separate pages interleaved with the plates, some on verso of plates.

Includes bibliographical references and index of first lines.

Keynes, G. Blake, 385 (original ed.);

Bentley, G.E. Blake books, 139Z (original ed.), 190A (facsimile).

Gift to Victoria University Library. Bentley, G.E., Jr. 2005/10/01.

Description from Open Library.

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