1550297Notebook c.1808-1811 62. The Washer Womans SongWilliam Blake

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Blake manuscript - Notebook - page 042

Edited text:[1] edit


The Washerwoman’s Song

I WASH’D[2] them out and wash’d them in,
And they told me it was a great sin.

The original text:[3] edit

 
The Washer Womans Song

I washd them out & washd them in
And they told me it was a great Sin

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Notes edit

  1. The Poetical Works of William Blake, including the unpublished French Revolution together with the Minor Prophetic Books and Selections from The Four Zoas, Milton & Jerusalem; edited with an introduction and textual notes by John Sampson, Hon. D.Litt. Oxon., 1862–1931. London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1908.
  2. Possibly a reference to Blake’s manner of using water-colour; cp. the allusion to ‘water’ in the preceding epigram.
  3. "The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake", ed. by David V. Erdman, Anchor Books, 1988, p. 510.

 

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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