Introduction (Songs of Innocence)

Poetry | William Blake
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Introduction (Songs of Innocence) key Facts

Title: Introduction

Poet: William Blake (1757-1827)

Publication: The poem was published in Blake’s Songs of Innocence in 1789.

Form: Five rhymed quatrains (four-line stanzas)

Rhyme Scheme: Stanzas 1 and 4 use an ABAB pattern; the rest of the stanzas use an ABCB pattern.

Symbols:

  • The Child - Innocence, Joy, Trust in Life
  • The Lamb - Jesus (gentleness, sacrifice, hope).
Important Note: This poem is actually the Introduction to Blake’s collection Songs of Innocence (1789). This book includes Blake’s other poems like The Lamb, The Chimney Sweeper, Nurse’s Song, and Holy Thursday. The book is full of poems about a pure and gentle way of seeing the world. Blake called it “innocence.” Later, in Songs of Experience (1794), he wrote about the opposite idea, which he called “experience.”

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