Songs of Innocence and of Experience

poetry by Blake

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Britannica Editors

History

Songs of Innocence and of Experience, masterpieces of English lyric poetry, written and illustrated by William Blake. Songs of Innocence, published in 1789, was Blake’s first great demonstration of “illuminated printing,” his unique technique of publishing both text and hand-coloured illustration together. The rhythmic subtlety and delicate beauty of both his lyrics and his designs created rare harmony on his pages. The poems transformed his era’s street ballads and rhymes for children into some of...