Lyric Poem · Nature
Songs of Experience: Introduction
Hear the voice of the Bard,
Who present, past, and future, sees;
Whose ears have heard
The Holy Word
That walked among the ancient tree;
Calling the lapsed soul,
And weeping in the evening dew;
That might control
The starry pole,
And fallen, fallen light renew!
"O Earth, O Earth, return!
Arise from out the dewy grass!
Night is worn,
And the morn
Rises from the slumbrous mass.
"Turn away no more;
Why wilt thou turn away?
The starry floor,
The watery shore,
Are given thee till the break of day."
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Songs of Experience: Introduction” by William Blake — quilloak.com/poems/songs-of-experience-introduction
Quick facts
- Poem
- Songs of Experience: Introduction
- Poet
- William Blake
- Length
- 20 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Peace, Sad
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 20 lines · 4 quintains
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Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- William Blake1757–1827
- Source record
- PoetryDBSongs of Experience: Introduction by william-blake, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- Not recorded in the imported source
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 6eb4a6b4f7da5f6a…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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