I own a paperback copy of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Oxford University Press). Lately, I’ve turned to it for creative inspiration–flipping through pages at random and seeing which poems and artwork capture my fancy. Many of the poems are of the same title but completely different and each version is placed under the theme of innocence or experience.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience contains fifty-four plates which Blake personally hand-etched and colored. A blurb in About.com states that William Blake “created his own mythology, wrote epics and children’s rhymes, and made illustrated books that are admired icons centuries after his death.” I’m simply drawn to his work. I love reading his old english poetry although I struggle to comprehend its meaning and syntax. Fortunately, my paperback copy provides a brief explanation in the back of the book and much can be found on the web, such as here and there .

Here is a poem from Songs of Innocence:

Spring
By William Blake

Sound the Flute!
Now it’s mute.
Birds delight
Day and Night.
Nightingale
In the dale
Lark in Sky
Merrily
Merrily Merrily to welcome in the Year
Little Boy
Full of joy.

A poem from Songs of Experience section:

The Voice of the Ancient Bard
By William Blake

Youth of delight come hither,
And see the opening morn,
Image of truth new born,
Doubt is fled & clouds of reason,
Dark disputes & artful teazing.
Folly is an endless maze.
Tangled roots perplex her ways,
How many have fallen there!
They stumble all night over bones of the dead:
And feel they know not what but care:
And wish to lead others when they should be led

(Note: The artwork above is a frontispiece from Songs of Experience.)