Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794) is William Blake's best-known work, containing such familiar poems as 'London', 'Sick Rose' and 'The Tyger'. Evolving over the author's lifetime, the collection was printed by Blake himself on his own press.
This Reader's Guide:
• explains the unique development of Songs as an illuminated book
• considers the earliest reactions to the text during Blake's lifetime, and his gathering posthumous reputation in the nineteenth century
• explores modern critical approaches and recent debates
• discusses key topics that have been of abiding interest to critics, including the relationship between text and image in Blake's 'composite art'.
Insightful and stimulating, this introductory guide is an invaluable resource for anyone who is seeking to navigate their way through the mass of criticism surrounding Blake's most widely-studied work.
This indispensable Guide maps out the daunting critical terrain surrounding Blake's most widely-studied text. It introduces students to the earliest reactions to 'Songs' during Blake's lifetime, explores his gathering reputation in the nineteenth century, and examines critical approaches to the work in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
An essential overview of the major critical responses and debates surrounding Blake's most popular work
Ideal for students studying Blake for the first time
Explains the unique evolution of 'Songs' as an illuminated book
Sarah Haggarty
bibliography biography edition experience freedom future gender history history of literature ideology knowledge liberty present symbolism William Blake