William Blake: Song of Innocence and of Experience

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‘Every page is a window open in Heaven … interwoven designs companion the poems, and gold and yellow tints diffuse themselves over the page like summer clouds. The poems [of Song of Innocence] are the morning song of Blake's genius.’ – W.B. Yeats

‘Blake sang of the ideal world, of the truth of the intellect, and of the divinity of imagination … The only writer to have written songs for children with the soul of a child … he holds, in my view, a unique position because he unites intellectual sharpness with mystic sentiment.’ – James Joyce

Song of Innocence and of Experience is a rare and wonderful book, its seeming simplicity belying its visionary wisdom. Internationally recognised as a masterpiece of English literature, it also occupies a key position in the history of western art.

This unique edition of the work allows Blake to communicate with his readers as he intended, reproducing Blake’s own illumination and lettering from the finest existing example of the original work. In this way readers can experience the mystery and beauty of Blake’s poems as he first created them, discovering for themselves the intricate webs of symbol and meaning that connects word and image.

Each poem is accompanied by a literal transcription, and the volume is introduced by the renowned historian and critic, Richard Holmes. The poems are narrated by novelist and critic, Adam Mars-Jones.

This beautiful edition of Song of Innocence and of Experience will be essential for those familiar with Blake’s work, but also offers an ideal way into his visionary world for those encountering Blake for the first time.