Songs of Innocence and of Experience is a collection of illustrated poems by William Blake.[1] Originally, Blake illuminated and bound Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience separately.[2] It was only in 1794 that Blake combined the two sets of poems into a volume titled Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.[1] Even after beginning to print the poems together, Blake continued to produce individual volumes for each of the two sets of poetry.[2]
Blake was also a painter before the creation of Songs of Innocence and of Experience and he engraved, hand-printed, and colored detailed art to accompany each of the poems in Songs of Innocence and of Experience.[3] This unique art helps tell the story of each poem, and was part of Blake's original vision for how each poem should be understood.[4] Blake was heavily inspired by children's literature and juvenile education in his creation of Songs of Innocence and of Experience, and his analysis of childhood as a state of protected innocence rather than original sin, but not immune to the fallen world and its institutions, would soon become a hallmark of Romanticism.[2][5]
Notably, there has been an abiding relationship between Songs of Innocence and of Experience and musical artists. Poems from the collection have been set to music by a variety of musicians, and band U2 titled two of their albums Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience in an homage to this volume.[6][7]
