Title Page: Songs of Experience (1983)
- Title
- Title Page: Songs of Experience (1983)
- Student Commentary:
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In the title page for Songs of Experience, included in the combined edition of Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1983 facsimile), an elderly couple appears to have died recently. They lie side by side in a bed with their arms stretched out flat at their sides. At the foot of the bed, on either side, is a woman in a blue or green dress. Both women appear to be distressed and have their hands in front of them in grief or prayer. The words that comprise the title are surrounded by delicate pink flowers, as well as two figures with legs extended in a sort of dance pose. The picture beautifully juxtaposes joy and agony - surely two key components of ‘experience’.
The coloring and impact of this image should be compared to that of other reproductions in the library’s collections, made by different hands or from different original copies. This image has more brown and green hues compared to the 1955 reproduction, for example. It also utilizes more of the white space around the title, lacking some of the color of the 1955 copy. These differences reflect differences in the original copies by Blake that were used as models for each of the two facsimiles. The muted colors of the 1983 reproduction also show off the homemade paper created for this project.
- Item sets
- Blake at Union
- Site pages
- Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1983)