Customer Reviews
William Blake? Yeah, he's pretty great - By: Stev White, 14 May 2006 
William Blake is one of the most influencial poetsin history, & would make my list of top five poets ever any day of the week. 'Songs of Innocence & Experience' is his most famous & highly regarded set of poems, & rightly so too. 'Innocence & Experience' is uniquein so far as there are a lot of poems with duplicate titles, but both poems will be from a completely different viewpoint, a different timein life; the poems from 'Innocence' will often reflect happiness & 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 &in particular on the concept of organised religion, as whilst Blake himself was, & 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'sin the collection.
But unlike someone like Milton, Blake's poetry is accessible to everyone, his style is by no means complex, & 'Songs of Innocence & Experience' is something that just about anyone can enjoy & at least get a feel for what the writer is trying to do. I urge you to buy this now.
Tyger, Tyger, burning bright... - By: samlkelly, 27 Sep 2004 Do forgive me if this review doesn't make much sense. I go all inexpressive when I try & put into words how brilliant I find Blake to be, you see. I shall keep it short & 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 & 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 itin the galleriesin London.
I originally tried to find a nice, hardback, lavishly printed edition of this book with the prints all reproducedin 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 marketin 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, & if your interestin 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 poemin depth a million times & you still won't come close to getting every possible interpretation. Absolutely extraordinary.
Interesting Poems to Compare and Contrast - By: Shakila Iqbal, 17 May 2003 Interesting poems to compare & contrast - definitely a must for any literature student. Moreover, if you're interestedin the different movements, as Blake was a key figurein bringing Romanticism into poetry.
A must for all Blake fans - By: , 02 Sep 2001 I was first introduced to Blake's art as an A'level art student & found his work to be beautiful & 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 & 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 worksin their original forms. The illustrations lift the written word to greater heights & intensify the words of Blake. This is a must for any lover of Blake's work, & is also a fantastic introduction to both the poet & artist for those who know little if anything about William Blake.
Absolutely delightful! - By: kevin.au@talk21.com, 29 Jun 2001 Blake the poet or Blake the artist? The two are inseparable, & this book combines the two sides to his genius by having the Songs & their colour plates side by side. Blake's longing for reform stands out a mile within the pages, particularlyin his most powerful poem 'London'. Poetry has never been the most popular with lovers of literature, but this is a worthy exception.
