Lyric Poem · Nature
The Book of Thel. Part I
1The daughters of Mne Seraphim led round their sunny flocks,
2All but the youngest: she in paleness sought the secret air.
3To fade away like morning beauty from her mortal day:
4Down by the river of Adona her soft voice is heard;
5And thus her gentle lamentation falls like morning dew.
6O life of this our spring! why fades the lotus of the water?
7Why fade these children of the spring? born but to smile & fall.
8Ah! Thel is like a watry bow, and like a parting cloud,
9Like a reflection in a glass: like shadows in the water
10Like dreams of infants, like a smile upon an infants face.
11Like the doves voice, like transient day, like music in the air:
12Ah! gentle may I lay me down and gentle rest my head.
13And gentle sleep the sleep of death, and gently hear the voice
14Of him that walketh in the garden in the evening time.
15The Lilly of the valley breathing in the humble grass
16Answerd the lovely maid and said: I am a watry weed,
17And I am very small and love to dwell in lowly vales:
18So weak the gilded butterfly scarce perches on my head
19Yet I am visited from heaven and he that smiles on all
20Walks in the valley, and each morn over me spreads his hand
21Saying, rejoice thou humble grass, thou new-born lily flower.
22Thou gentle maid of silent valleys and of modest brooks:
23For thou shall be clothed in light, and fed with morning manna:
24Till summers heat melts thee beside the fountains and the springs
25To flourish in eternal vales: they why should Thel complain.
26Why should the mistress of the vales of Har, utter a sigh.
27She ceasd & smild in tears, then sat down in her silver shrine.
28Thel answerd, O thou little virgin of the peaceful valley.
29Giving to those that cannot crave, the voiceless, the o'er tired
30The breath doth nourish the innocent lamb, he smells the milky garments
31He crops thy flowers while thou sittest smiling in his face,
32Wiping his mild and meekin mouth from all contagious taints.
33Thy wine doth purify the golden honey; thy perfume.
34Which thou dost scatter on every little blade of grass that springs
35Revives the milked cow, & tames the fire-breathing steed.
36But Thel is like a faint cloud kindled at the rising sun:
37I vanish from my pearly throne, and who shall find my place.
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“The Book of Thel. Part I” by William Blake — quilloak.com/poems/the-book-of-thel-part-i
Quick facts
- Poem
- The Book of Thel. Part I
- Poet
- William Blake
- Length
- 43 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Dreams & Sleep, Spring
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
- 43 lines · 7 stanzas of 1–12 lines
- End rhyme
- No regular perfect end rhyme. The poem may still be using slant rhyme, assonance, or internal echo, which this check does not score.
- Line length
- Mostly 14-syllable lines (heptameter length).
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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
- PoetryDBThe Book of Thel. Part I 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 985be1619020855b…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.