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Songs of Innocence and of Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul (Oxford Paperbacks)
 
 
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Songs of Innocence and of Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul (Oxford Paperbacks) (Paperback)

by William Blake (Author), Sir Geoffrey Keynes (Contributor)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 226 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks; New edition edition (15 Oct 1970)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0192810898
  • ISBN-13: 978-0192810892
  • Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.5 x 1.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 11,648 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description
Blake was one of the finest craftsmen of his time, an artist for whom art and poetry were inextricably linked. He was an indepedent and rebellious thinker, who abhorred pretention and falsity in others. His Songs of Innocence are products of this innocent imagination untainted by worldliness, while the Songs of Experience resulted from his feelings of indignation and pity for the sufferings of mankind. The Songs of Innocence and Expereince, containing some of Blake's finest and best-loved poems, are presented here in the form which best satisfied the high expectations of his poetic and artistic aspirations. The fifty-four plates which Blake originallly etched and coloured by hand are faithfully reproduced with the same delicacy and dimensions as the artist created them.
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Songs of Innocence and of Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul (Oxford Paperbacks)
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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A must for all Blake fans, 2 Sep 2001
By A Customer
I was first introduced to Blake's art as an A'level art student and found his work to be beautiful and highly detailed. However at the time I did not fully appreciate the extent of Blake's tallent as I was somewhat unaware of his poetry. I bought this particular text on the advice of one of my tutors when studying degree English and I have to admit that he was correct when he stated that I would get more out of this beautifully illustrated copy than I would a standard copy of Blake's poems. The illustrations aid the readers understanding of the poems as well as show the works in their original forms. The illustrations lift the written word to greater heights and intensify the words of Blake. This is a must for any lover of Blake's work, and is also a fantastic introduction to both the poet and artist for those who know little if anything about William Blake.
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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Tyger, Tyger, burning bright..., 27 Sep 2004
Do forgive me if this review doesn't make much sense. I go all inexpressive when I try and put into words how brilliant I find Blake to be, you see. I shall keep it short and sweet - this book contains some of the greatest poetry ever written ("The Tyger", "The Little Boy Lost", "The Human Abstract", both versions of "Holy Thursday"... in fact I'm looking through the contents page of it at this moment and practically every one is truly memorable). Blake's paintings were, at times, phenomenal - the ones to accompany his poems, however, were sometimes comically childish (the tiger which stands underneath the poem of that name looks more like a child's stuffed toy). To see his best artwork, find it in the galleries in London.

I originally tried to find a nice, hardback, lavishly printed edition of this book with the prints all reproduced in the original size - then I discovered that this edition does, in fact, contain the originaly size prints - a suprise, because they're tiny. But unless you want to pay God knows how much (for they've not come on the market in my lifetime, as far as I'm aware - not that I could afford it) for one of the six surviving hand-printed-by-Blake-himself first editions, this is your next best bet. The introduction by Geoffrey Keynes is good as well, and if your interest in the man himself (Blake, not Keynes) is piqued, I recommend Peter Ackroyd's "Blake" - one of the best biographies or autobiographies I've read.

Just get this book. Read each poem in depth a million times and you still won't come close to getting every possible interpretation. Absolutely extraordinary.

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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars William Blake? Yeah, he's pretty great, 14 May 2006
By Stev White (Cambridge, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Paperback)
William Blake is one of the most influencial poets in history, and would make my list of top five poets ever any day of the week. 'Songs of Innocence and Experience' is his most famous and highly regarded set of poems, and rightly so too. 'Innocence and Experience' is unique in so far as there are a lot of poems with duplicate titles, but both poems will be from a completely different viewpoint, a different time in life; the poems from 'Innocence' will often reflect happiness and optimism etc, whereas the counterpart 'Expreience' poem will refelct completely the opposite, this allows Blake of course to make rather poignant comments on the corruption of innocence, as well as a lot of rather biting observations on 17th century society and in particular on the concept of organised religion, as whilst Blake himself was, and evidently from many of his poems is, a very religious man, but often makes clear statements out against the oppressiveness of the church. I would say the best poem for illustrating this is 'The Garden of Love,' which I consider one of his best poems. I would also draw attention the the 'experience' version of 'Little Boy Lost', which is as far as I'm concerned, the most powerful poem of all the one's in the collection.

But unlike someone like Milton, Blake's poetry is accessible to everyone, his style is by no means complex, and 'Songs of Innocence and Experience' is something that just about anyone can enjoy and at least get a feel for what the writer is trying to do. I urge you to buy this now.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars From Innocence to Experience
Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake is a very nice book. The introduction is very useful for students in English literature in order to understand the poems... Read more
Published 1 month ago by C. Silvana

5.0 out of 5 stars William Blake's Masterpiece
Rating a book like this is like rating the poems themselves, which i am incapable of.

Language-art experts already have recognised William Blake's poems as something... Read more
Published 1 month ago by George Spiros

5.0 out of 5 stars Innocent World
Although this is a great presentation of William Blake's seminal poetry collection, it is primarily aimed at students of Blake. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Binro The Heretic

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Poems to Compare and Contrast
Interesting poems to compare and contrast - definitely a must for any literature student. Moreover, if you're interested in the different movements, as Blake was a key figure in... Read more
Published on 16 May 2003 by Shakila Iqbal

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely delightful!
Blake the poet or Blake the artist? The two are inseparable, and this book combines the two sides to his genius by having the Songs and their colour plates side by side. Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2001 by kevin.au@talk21.com

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful...
As an AS level student studying William Blake's poetry, this book was a must! Each of Blake's poems is juxtaposed with an original colour reproduction of the complementray... Read more
Published on 26 Feb 2001

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