Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Oxford Student Texts provide a new, accessible approach to the works of great poets and playwrights. William Blake subtitled his Songs of Innocence and of Experience 'Shewing Two Contrary States of the Human Soul'. Many of the poems in Experience contrast in complex ways with the earlier ones in Innocence, and the two combine to give a fascinating and moving insight into Blake's overall vision of the human condition.
This edition reproduces several of Blake's engraved designs for the poems, and includes the following supporting materials: Introductory'In Context' section to set the scene ; General notes to explain literary and historical allusions, and themes within the text; line-by-line notes to support close textual analysis ; 'Interpretations' section to stimulate discussion of themes, language, issues and critical history ; Tasks designed to encourage students' engagement with the text, and essay questions to prepare them for examinations ; Chronology and contemporary illustrations to support students' contextual work ; Short extracts from related texts ; Suggestions for further reading to encourage students to broaden their studies.