Songs of Innocence

Songs of Innocence (1789)
by William Blake

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Songs of Innocence is a collection of illustrated lyrical poetry. A few first copies were printed and illuminated by William Blake himself in 1789. Its companion volume is Songs of Experience. Blake believed that innocence and experience were "the two contrary states of the human soul", and that true innocence was impossible without experience. Songs of Innocence contains poems either written from the perspective of children or written about them.

Title page of "Songs of Innocence" (Cambridge copy)

This work was published before January 1, 1925, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.