Blake was one of the finest craftsmen of his time, an artist for
whom art and poetry were inextricably linked. He was an indepedent
and rebellious thinker, who abhorred pretention and falsity in
others. His Songs of Innocence are products of this innocent
imagination untainted by worldliness, while the Songs of Experience
resulted from his feelings of indignation and pity for the
sufferings of mankind. The Songs of Innocence and Experience ,
containing
some of Blake's finest and best-loved poems, are presented here
in the form which best satisfied the high expectations of his
poetic and artistic aspirations. The fifty-four plates which Blake
originallly etched and coloured by hand are faithfully reproduced
with the same delicacy and dimensions as the artist created
them.
