Songs of Experience by William Blake

Songs of Experience by William Blake

One of Blake's most inspired creations, The Tyger mingles the lyric and mystical in an exquisite union. Now you can experience the beauty of this and other poems the way Blake intended them -- with his own hand-colored illustrations giving them visual form.
This facsimile edition of one of Blake's celebrated Illuminated Books reproduces a collection of calligraphed poems, each enclosed in a masterful full-color illustration. Twenty-six plates reprinted from a rare 1826 etched edition include London, A Little Boy Lost, Holy Thursday, The Voice of the Ancient Bard, and other immortal verse. To enhance reading, the texts of all the poems are transcribed separately, following the plates.
Dynamic designs and simplicity of language convey Blake's vision of mankind and his condemnation of a wealthy society insensitive to poverty and unhappiness. Moreover, its universal themes make Songs of Experience just as poignant and profound today. Lovers of literature and fine art will want to add this faithful, inexpensive facsimile of an immortal classic to their libraries.

WILLIAM BLAKE was born in London in 1757. He was educated at home and then worked as an apprentice to the engraver James Basire before joining the Royal Academy in 1779. In 1782 he married Catherine Boucher, and a year later began his career as a poet when he published Poetical Sketches. This was followed by Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), which he also designed and engraved. His other major literary works include The Book of Thel (1789), The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (c. 1793), Milton (1804-8), and Jerusalem (1804-20). He produced many paintings and engravings during his lifetime. Blake died in 1827.

ALFRED KAZIN was born in Brooklyn in 1915. His first book of criticism, On Native Grounds (1942), was a groundbreaking study of American literature that changed radically our way of looking at it, and established him overnight as a major figure. In a series of books of his own since then, and in many critically edited texts of classic American literary works, he established himself as our preeminent man of letters. He taught widely at Harvard, Smith, Amherst, Hunter College, the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and elsewhere. In 1996 he received from the Truman Capote Literary Trust its first Lifetime Achievement Award in Literary Criticism (in memory of Newton Arvin). He died in 1998.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780486246369
ISBN 10	0486246361
Title	Songs of Experience
Author	William Blake
Series	Dover Fine Art History Of Art
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Dover Publications Inc.
Year published	2000-02-01
Number of pages	48
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.