William Blake was never an ideological follower, but as a young man in the 1780s he had associated with political radicals in London, who were critical of the British government. Rumblings of discontent had, in fact, been heard throughout the 1780s in England. At least initially, it inspired the liberal-minded because of its roots in Enlightenment thought, while frightening conservatives, who worried about the stability of English society and the rule of law.

The French Revolution, which began with the storming of the Bastille in 1789, sent shock waves across the English Channel. Revolutions-political, economic, and social-marked the second half of the eighteenth century. He laments the alienation of the large city in “London,” condemns child labor in two poems called “The Chimney Sweeper,” and looks with sorrow on the subjection of Africans in “The Little Black Boy.” Events in History at the Time of the Poems A revolutionary era In Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Blake describes society both as he sees it and as he believes it should be. That only a few copies could be painstakingly produced was compensated for by the complete control that Blake exercised. Blake’s distinctive style, the product of his visionary imagination and his varied artistic influences, was set with Songs of Innocence, the first of his books to interweave poetry and etchings. In 1782 Blake married Catherine Boucher, forming an artistic partnership with her that would last a lifetime two years later he opened his own printing business. His study here, however, was short-lived because his iconoclasm conflicted with the academy’s orthodoxy. After a seven-year apprenticeship as an engraver, Blake supported himself by engraving while he attended the Royal Academy. Disdainful of the restrictions of school, Blake was self-educated, until he began drawing lessons at the age of 10. His father, a tradesman who sold hosiery, handed down to Blake a heritage of religious and political dissent.

William Blake was born in 1757 in London, a place that would leave its mark on all his work. Two complementary collections of lyric poems, Songs of Innocence and of Experience depict a state of joyous engagement with the world and a bitter detachment from the world.Įvents in History at the Time of the Poems A collection of engraved poems set mainly in England during the late eighteenth century, but also in timeless mythical places Songs of Innocence was printed in 1789 and combined with Songs of Experience in 1794.

Songs of innocence