Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Songs of Innocence and of Experience has come to epitomize William Blake's philosophy and artistry. Its verses tussle between the eternal dichotomies of naivety and maturity, the divine and the fallen. While Songs of Innocence depicts untainted spirituality and harmony, Songs of Experience is more despairing and cynical. Nonetheless, both interrogate questions of religion and the duality of the human soul and neither is immune to the ethos of its counterpart.