William Blake

2nd version (cleaned)	London William Blake I wandered through each chartered street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow, A mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every man, In every infant's cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forged manacles I hear: How the chimney-sweeper's cry Every blackening church appals, And the hapless soldier's sigh Runs in blood down palace-walls. But most, through midnight streets I hear How the youthful harlot's curse Blasts the new-born infant's tear, And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.	London is one of his gratest. This poem conveys Blake's view of the city, of disease and suffering brought about by industialisation. "I" is referreto to the poet, the setting is in London and we are on the end oh 18th Centusy Blake perceives the scene by his sight and hearing Differences between Blake's "London" and Wordsworth's one.
	The Tyger William Blake Little Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare sieze the fire? And what shoulder, & what art. Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?	The Tyger is written in Blake's original spelling, is one of the most famous of all Blake's poems due to its powerful imageryand original rhythm. The contrast with "The Lamb" is obvious. ("Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee?" The answer is God, who became incarnate as Jesus the Lamb.) "The Tyger" asks, "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?" And the answer is, "Yes, God made the Tyger too." Blake identified God's creative process with the work of an artist, by giving form to ideas. The speaker is the Poet (Blake), and the adressee is the Tiger (Tyger in the poetry). The speaker is wondering about: "Who created the Tiger". As in "The Lamb" we can se the pronoun "he" referring to Christ (the Creator).
	The Lamb William Blake Little Lamb, who made thee Does thou know who made thee Gave thee life & bid thee feed. By the stream & o'er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing woolly bright; Gave thee such a tender voice. Making all the vales rejoice: Little Lamb who made thee Does thou know who made thee Little Lamb I'll tell thee, Little Lamb I'll tell thee; He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb: He is meek & he is mild, He became a little child I a child & thou a lamb, We are called by His name, Little Lamb God bless thee, Little Lamb God bless thee.	The Lamb provides an interesting insight into the issue of the Creation and the figure of the poet. The speaker is the Poet (Blake), and the adressee is the lamb. The speaker in this poetry is wondering about creation, in the second stanza we can se that with the pronoun"he" Blake speaks about Christ. In the line 18 we can see that he speaks to humanity, he said that we are all created by him.
	Infant Joy by William Blake "I have no name; I am but two days old." What shall I call thee? "I happy am, Joy is my name". Sweet joy befall thee! Pretty joy! Sweet joy, but two days old. Sweet Joy I call thee: Thou dost smile, I sing the while; Sweet joy befall thee!	This Short Poem presents a simple but intense introduction to the world of innocence and joy. The first speaker is Joy and he's only two days old ("newborn"). The other speaker in the story is probably the Poet (Blake). The rhyme scheme is not regular and different between the two stanzas. The length of the lines is quite short and variable.
	The Little Black Boy by William Blake My mother bore me in the southern wild, And I am black, but oh my soul is white! White as an angel is the English child, But I am black, as if bereaved of light. My mother taught me underneath a tree, And, sitting down before the heat of day, She took me on her lap and kissed me, And, pointed to the east, began to say: "Look on the rising sun: there God does live, And gives His light, and gives His heat away, And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday. "And we are put on earth a little space, That we may learn to bear the beams of love And these black bodies and this sunburnt face Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove. --------- "For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear, The cloud will vanish, we shall hear His voice, Saying, 'Come out from the grove, my love and care And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice'," Thus did my mother say, and kissed me; And thus I say to little English boy. When I from black and he from white cloud free, And round the tent of God like lambs we joy. I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear To lean in joy upon our Father's knee; And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair, And be like him, and he will then love me.	Blake believed in equality for all men, and this is reflected in this poem. It may not be immediately obvious that this is the case, as the narrative in the first stanza plays upon the traditional stereotypes of "black" and "white", black being the colour that denotes evil and sin, - "black, as if beareav'd of light" - and white being the colour that denotes innocence and purity. It becomes clear over the course of the poem, however, that Blake had a deeper message to convey to his reader. "The Little Black Boy" was published in 1789, a time when slavery was still legal and the campaign for the abolition of slavery was still young. In accordance with this metaphor of the sun: "Look on the rising sun: there God does live", the fact that Blake speaks of "black bodies" and a "sunburnt face" seems to imply that black people are closer to God as a result of their suffering – for one can only become dark and sunburned as a result of being exposed to the sun's rays. Some critics assert that the paleness of the English boy in this poem is symbolic of the fact that the English were distanced from God as a result of their treatment of the black peoples.

Alberto Canducci