Songs of Innocence and of Experience

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Songs of Innocence and of Experience is a collection of illustrated poems by William Blake. Originally, Blake illuminated and bound Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience separately. 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. Even after beginning to print the poems together, Blake continued to produce individual volumes for each of the two sets of poetry. 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 in Songs of Innocence and of Experience. 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...

Read on Wikipedia · Image William Blake, Public domain