William Blake (1757 - 1827) is one of the great figures in literature, by turns poet, artist and visonary. Profoundly libertarian in outlook, Blake's engagement with the issues of his day is well known and this - along with his own idiosynratic concerns - flows through his poetry and art. Like Milton before him, the prodigality of his allusions and references is little short of astonishing. Consquently, his longer viosnary poems can challege the modern reader, who will find in this avowedly open edition all they might need to interpret the poetry.
W. H. Stevenson's Blake is a masterpiece of scrupulous scholarship. It is, as the editor makes clear in his introduction, 'designed to be widely, and fluently, read' and this Third Edition incorporates many changes to further that aim. Many of the headnotes have been rewritten and the footnotes updated. The full texts of the early prose tracts, All Religions are One and There is no Natural Religion, are included for the first time. In many instances, Blake's capitalisation has been restored, better to convey the expressive individuality of his writing. In addition, a full colour plate section contains a representation of Blake's most significant paintings and designs. As the 250th anniversary of his birth approaches, Blake has perhaps more readers than ever before; Blake: The Complete Poems will stand those readers, new and old, in good stead for many years to come.
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgements viii
Note by the General Editor ix
Preface xi
Chronological Table of the Life and Work of William Blake xv
Abbreviations xxiii
POEMS
1 Poetical Sketches3
2 Poems written in a copy of Poetical Sketches 40
3 Songs from An Islandin the Moon 41
4 All Religions are One and There is No Natural Religion
5 Songs of Innocence 53
6 Tiriel 74
7 Thel 93
8 The Marriage of Heaven and Hell 101
9 The French Revolution 124
10 A Divine Image 143
11 Poems from the Notebook, c. 1791-2 143
12 Visions of the Daughters of Albion 172
13 America187
14 Songs of Experience 208
15 Europe 223
16 The Song of Los 241
17 The First Book of Urizen 248
18 The Book of Ahania 269
19 The Book of Los 278
20 Versus written with illustrations to Gray's Poems 285
21 Verses written c. 1798-1802 286
22 Vala, or The Four Zoas 287
23 'When Klopstock Englanddefied' 469
24 Poems in letters (1800) 470
25 On the Virginity of the Virgin Mary and Joanna Southcott 474
26 Poems to Mr. & Mrs. Butts 475
27 Notebook drafts, c. 1804 478
28 Milton 487
29 The 'PickeringManuscript' 580
30 To Tirzah 594
31 'A fairy skip'd' 595
32 'Grown old in love' 596
33 To the Queen 596
34 Miscellaneous Notebook Verses, c. 1807-9 597
35 Miscellaneous Verses, 1809-12 608
36 Jerusalem, the Emanation of the Giant Albion 623
37 For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise 849
38 The Everlasting Gospel 853
39 The Ghost of Abel 869
Appendix: Doubtful and Spurious Attributions 873
Index of Titles and First Lines 876
Index to Notes 886
Index to Prose Quotations
