Songs of Innocence and Experience
William Blakely
(Author)
Taylor Anderson
(Editor)
Description
Songs of Innocence and of Experience is a collection of poems by William Blake. It appeared in two phases. A few first copies were printed and illuminated by William Blake himself in 1789; five years later he bound these poems with a set of new poems in a volume titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul."Innocence" and "Experience" are definitions of consciousness that rethink Milton's existential-mythic states of "Paradise" and "Fall". Blake's categorizes our modes of perception that tend to coordinate with a chronology that would become standard in Romanticism: childhood is a state of protected innocence rather than original sin, but not immune to the fallen world and its institutions. This world sometimes impinges on childhood itself, and in any event becomes known through "experience", a state of being marked by the loss of childhood vitality, by fear and inhibition, by social and political corruption, and by the manifold oppression of Church, State, and the ruling classes. The volume's "Contrary States" are sometimes signalled by patently repeated or contrasted titles: in Innocence, Infant Joy, in Experience, Infant Sorrow; in Innocence, The Lamb, in Experience, The Fly and The Tyger. The stark simplicity of poems such as The Chimney Sweeper and The Little Black Boy display Blake's acute sensibility to the realities of poverty and exploitation that accompanied the "Dark Satanic Mills" of the Industrial Revolution.
Odin's Library Classics is dedicated to bringing the world the best of humankind's literature from throughout the ages. Carefully selected, each work is unabridged from classic works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama.
Product Details
Price
$5.99
Publisher
Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Publish Date
September 12, 2017
Pages
60
Dimensions
6.0 X 0.12 X 9.0 inches | 0.21 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781976332258
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Taylor Anderson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Destroyermen series. A gun maker and forensic ballistic archaeologist, Taylor has been a technical and dialogue consultant for movies and documentaries. He holds a master's degree in history and has taught at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas.