English poet & painter (1757-1827)
How sweet is the Shepherd's sweet lot!
From the morn to the evening he stays;
He shall follow his sheep all the day,
And his tongue shall be filled with praise.
For he hears the lambs' innocent call,
And he hears the ewes' tender reply;
He is watching while they are in peace,
For they know when their Shepherd is nigh.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"The Shepherd", Songs of Innocence
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green & pleasant land.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"Prefatory Poem", Milton
The hours of folly are measured by the clock, but of wisdom no clock can measure.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Proverbs of Hell
My mother bore me in the southern wild,
And I am black, but O! my soul is white;
White as an angel is the English child,
But I am black as if bereaved of light.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"The Little Black Boy", Songs of Innocence
There is a smile of love,
And there is a smile of deceit,
And there is a smile of smiles
In which these two smiles meet.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"The Smile", Poems from the Pickering Manuscript
The strongest poison ever known
Came from Caesar's laurel crown.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Auguries of Innocence
My silks and fine array,
My smiles and languished air,
By love are driv'n away;
And mournful lean Despair
Brings me yew to deck my grave:
Such end true lovers have.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"My Silks and Fine Arrays", Poetical Sketches
England! awake! awake! awake!
Jerusalem thy sister calls!
Why wilt thou sleep the sleep of death
And close her from thy ancient walls?
WILLIAM BLAKE
Jerusalem
Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Songs of Experience
My mother groan'd! my father wept.
Into the dangerous world I leapt:
Helpless, naked, piping loud:
Like a fiend hid in a cloud.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"Infant Sorrow", Songs of Experience
And we are put on earth a little space,
That we may learn to bear the beams of love,
And these black bodies and this sunburnt face
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"The Little Black Boy", Songs of Innocence
Great things are done when men and mountains meet;
This is not done by jostling in the street.
WILLIAM BLAKE
fragment
True superstition is ignorant honesty & this is beloved of god and man.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Annotations to Lavater
I must create a system, or be enslav'd by another man's.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Jerusalem
I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Jerusalem
When a Man has Married a Wife
He finds out whether
Her Knees & elbows are only
glued together.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Poems from Blake's Notebook
I am not ashamed, afraid, or averse to tell you what Ought to be Told: That I am under the direction of Messengers from Heaven, Daily & Nightly; but the nature of such things is not, as some suppose, without trouble or care.
WILLIAM BLAKE
The Letters of William Blake
The Foundation of Empire is Art & Science Remove them or Degrade them & the Empire is No More.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Annotations to Sir Joshua Reynolds's Discourses
It is easier to forgive an Enemy than to forgive a Friend.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Jerusalem
O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm:
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"The Sick Rose", Songs of Experience