Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Published in 1789, this collection of poems by William Blake (1757-1827) has the poet's own etchings as illustrations. In the piece, Blake explores "the two contrary states of the human soul," as he puts it in the subtitle. Even while the Songs have straightforward rhythms and rhyme schemes, as well as pictures of kids, animals, and flowers, they frequently include challenging, contentious, or sarcastic themes that represent Blake's firmly held political convictions and spiritual experience. Blake's perspective covers controversial issues such child work, abuse, repression by the state and church, and children's right to be regarded as persons with free will. Songs of Experience has a lot of poetry that answer to equivalents from Songs of Innocence.