1042. William Blake – Songs of Innocence and Experience – Part 1 of 8

Many attempts have been made to set Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience" to music, including classical composers William Bolcom (1984), Benjamin Britten and Ralph Vaughan Williams, and folk singers Greg Brown (1987) and Finn Coren. / "The attempt I'm most familiar with is that of the hip poet Allen Ginsberg, who accompanied himself on harmonium during his 1970 recording.

As a lover of Blake's poetry, I decided to try recording the complete collection of poems, partly to original music and partly to adaptations of folk tunes. It is presented here in eight videos, with the help of my sister, Annette, also Blake's lover, and my nephew, Lachlan.

William Blake (1757-1827), now famous for his unique poetic and artistic vision, was not recognized during his lifetime. His incredibly rich and imaginative poetry expresses a romantic and mystical view of the world and, although he loved the Bible, extreme hostility towards established religion and the conventional view of marriage, which earned him a reputation for madness or at least of eccentricity.

Blake believed that innocence and experience were the two contrary states of the human soul and both essential to life. The poems in /"Songs of Innocence/" express a child's point of view or are about children. Many have a corresponding poem in /"Songs of Experience/

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