Title-page for Blake's "Songs of Innocence" by Celia Levetus

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Title-page for Blake's Songs of Innocence

Celia Levetus

Wood-engraving

7¼ x 6 inches

Source: Bromhead 239

The joyfully piping child surrounded by hearts and roses makes a huge contrast to the equivalent page for Songs of Experience.[Commentary continues below.]

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Scanned image and text by Jacqueline Banerjee.

[You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]

Here, all is freshness, delight and harmony. There is no sadness, no weariness, no slumped and worn protector, no poisonous snake with darting tongue close to the innocent bird, no wintery leafless branches proclaiming the closing in of winter. If only life could always be like this!

Bibliography

[Ultimate source] Blake, William. Songs of Innocence. London: Wells, Gardner, Darton and Co, 1899.

Bromhead, H. W. "An Illustrator of Blake." Art Journal. Vol. 62 (1900). Internet Archive. 237-39. Contributed by the Getty Research Institute. Web. 7 August 2020.

Created 7 August 2020