William Blake

LitCharts guides for works by William Blake

Explore LitCharts poetry guides for works by William Blake. Each guide offers line-by-line analysis, exploration of poetic devices, and helpful resources for studying William Blake's poetry.

A Dream

English Romantic poet William Blake first published "A Dream" in his important 1789 collection Songs of Innocence. In the poem, the speaker describes dreaming of a lost ant crying out for her famil... view guide

A Poison Tree

"A Poison Tree" is a poem by English poet William Blake, first published in his Songs of Experience in 1794. In deceptively simple language with an almost nursery-rhyme quality, the speaker of the ... view guide

Ah! Sun-flower

The visionary English poet William Blake included "Ah! Sun-flower" in his famous 1794 collection Songs of Innocence and Experience. The poem is part of the Experience section of the collection, and... view guide

Earth's Answer

The visionary English poet William Blake published "Earth's Answer" in the Experience section of his most popular work, Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794). The poem personifies the Earth a... view guide

Holy Thursday (Songs of Experience)

The English Romantic poet William Blake wrote two poems entitled "Holy Thursday": the first appeared in Songs of Innocence, and the second—the poem we're treating in this guide—in his Songs of Expe... view guide

Holy Thursday (Songs of Innocence)

"Holy Thursday" is one of two poems William Blake wrote by that title; this is the version from his major 1789 collection Songs of Innocence, and it takes an appropriately innocent look at poverty ... view guide

Infant Joy

"Infant Joy" appears in Songs of Innocence, the first half of English poet William Blake's groundbreaking collection Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794). Giving voice to a two-day-old baby ... view guide

Infant Sorrow

English Romantic poet William Blake's "Infant Sorrow" appears in the Experience section of his major collection Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794). In this poem, an infant speaker describe... view guide

Introduction (Songs of Innocence)

This "Introduction" opens William Blake's hugely influential collection Songs of Innocence (1789), a book of poems embodying one of what Blake called "the two contrary states of the human soul" (as... view guide

London

"London" is among the best known writings by visionary English poet William Blake. The poem describes a walk through London, which is presented as a pained, oppressive, and impoverished city in whi... view guide

Nurse's Song (Songs of Experience)

British visionary poet William Blake included two versions of "Nurse's Song" in his self-published collection Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794). In the Innocence version of the poem, a nurse... view guide

Nurse's Song (Songs of Innocence)

"Nurse's Song" appears in visionary poet William Blake's 1789 collection Songs of Innocence. The poem depicts a joyful scene, in which a nurse (something like a modern-day nanny) watches the childr... view guide

The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Experience)

"The Chimney Sweeper" is a poem by English visionary William Blake, published in Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794). It is the companion to a poem of the same name that appears in the earlier... view guide

The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)

"The Chimney Sweeper" is a poem by William Blake, published in his 1789 collection Songs of Innocence. The poem is told from the perspective of a young chimney sweep, a boy who has been sold into l... view guide

The Clod and the Pebble

"The Clod and the Pebble" is a poem by William Blake, first published in Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794). In the poem, a personified clod (a small clump of earth or clay) and pebble put fo... view guide

The Divine Image

"The Divine Image" is one of the most famous of William Blake's poems in his Songs of Innocence collection, first published in 1789. In this poem, a speaker proclaims that God's "Mercy, Pity, Peace... view guide

The Ecchoing Green

William Blake first printed "The Ecchoing Green" in Songs of Innocence, his important 1789 collection. The poem follows one day on the "Ecchoing Green," a village common space where children and th... view guide

The Fly

"The Fly" is one of English Romantic poet William Blake's visionary poems from Songs of Experience (the second volume of his groundbreaking 1794 collection Songs of Innocence and of Experience). Th... view guide

The Garden of Love

"The Garden of Love" is a poem by English Romantic visionary William Blake. Blake was devoutly religious, but he had some major disagreements with the organized religion of his day. The poem expres... view guide

The Human Abstract

William Blake's "The Human Abstract" explores the suffering created by rigid moral rules. The poem's speaker argues that under organized religion, otherwise universal virtues such as "Pity," "Mercy... view guide

The Lamb

"The Lamb" is a poem by English visionary William Blake, published in his 1789 collection Songs of Innocence. The poem sees in the figure of the lamb an expression of God's will and the beauty of G... view guide

The Little Black Boy

"The Little Black Boy" is a poem by British poet William Blake, included in his 1789 publication Songs of Innocence. The poem argues for racial equality, insisting that earthly identity is temporar... view guide

The Little Vagabond

"The Little Vagabond," a poem from William Blake's major 1794 collection Songs of Innocence and of Experience, envisions a world in which religious feeling and bodily pleasure are not treated as op... view guide

The School Boy

"The School Boy" appears in William Blake's 1794 collection Songs of Experience, which he later gathered into the volume Songs of Innocence and of Experience. The poem is a dramatic monologue in th... view guide

The Sick Rose

"The Sick Rose" was written by the British poet William Blake. First published in Songs of Innocence and Experience in 1794, it is one Blake's best-known poems, while also remaining one of his most... view guide

The Tyger

"The Tyger" is a poem by visionary English poet William Blake, and is often said to be the most widely anthologized poem in the English language. It consists entirely of questions about the nature ... view guide

To Autumn

"To Autumn" is part of a series of seasonal poems by the visionary English writer William Blake. In this poem, the speaker beckons a personified Autumn to "sit" for a while and sing a "lusty song o... view guide

To the Evening Star

"To the Evening Star," an early poem by William Blake, first appeared in his 1783 collection Poetical Sketches. In this short and deceptively simple poem, a speaker prays to the personified "evenin... view guide