Beautiful, significant poetry for those who know poetry.

books:


	• Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience (Dover Thrift Editions) William Blake Dover Publications, 1992 - 64 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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Beautiful, significant poetry for those who know poetry.

In order to understand Blake's vision, it's helpful to know as much as possible about the social and historical context in which he was writing, and about the kinds of attitudes and social conditions he was addressing. Without that context, readers are unlikely to appreciate Blake as fully as he deserves to be appreciated. Such readers may write uninformed and ignorant reviews in this column. Those who understand the context in which Blake was writing are likely to have a much deeper appreciation of Blake's poetic beauty and sharp social conscience.

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Artful simplicity as poetic greatness

Blake is the master of the simple childlike deep and meaningful line. "Little Lamb , who made thee dost thou know who made thee" The lines of the first book are of innocence, before knowledge and experience have complicated the soul. The lines of the 'Songs of Experience" are of a more problematic reality. "Tiger Tiger burning bright in the forest of the night/ What immortal hand or eye/ Dare frame thy fearful symmetry/?
Blake is a thinker with an ideology, a revolutionary but I think his greatest value is not in the political or even metaphysical ideas but rather in the psychological apprehension in lines of beauty. Blake understands that wrath held within it will grow, but spoken wrath may go- he understands that the road to hell may be paved with good intentions. His proverbial quality is in this simple , or seemingly simple poetry too , and he is telling us about life and soul while uplifting us with lines which ring and remain in the mind.
These poems are Blake at his most accessible and memorable, whatever literary critics may say about the longer epic poems. These are the poems which have meant and will mean much to mankind. And they can be read with pleasure and puzzlement, over and over again.

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The Human Abstract in Mystical Form

William Blake is one of the giants of poetry. He is often overlooked because of the obliqueness of many of his poems. But this affordable (read: cheap) collection of poems is well worth the price of admission. Most of Blakes most famous and well loved poems are included in this volume. Most of us had to read at least a couple of these poems in school. The Tyger still stands as one of the great poems of the English language. The Fly, The Lamb, Children of a Future Age, London and Ah, Sunflower are all included here. These are some of the most beautiful poems ever written. Even if you struggle to understand the meaning, the sheer beauty and music of the verses can still carry you away. Anyone interested in poetry needs to read these poems. It is among the best ever written.

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Pretty Good

This is an excellent compilation of Blake's monumentous work in the English language. I am dissapointed, however, that this does not include some of my favorite poems by him, but it is still, in its entirety, very good. His language and masterful skill is beautiful and I suggest this volume because it is both content rich and economical. As for those who say Blake is a "dork," they might be too if they spend their free time insulting writers who died three hundred years ago. Anyway, happy reading!

Two classics of English poetry, alternately describing childhood states of innocence and their inevitable corruption by a harsh and unjust world. Contains the full texts of all the poems in the original 1794 edition of both collections. Alphabetical lists of titles and first lines. Publisher's Note.

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