The original draft has a line drawn beneath the first stanza, which could denote that Blake originally intended the poem as concluding at the 4th line. The first person perspective changes with the use of the word 'And' after the first stanza, while the emphasis on 'I' is replaced It consists of four stanzas and begins with an emphasis on the first person. The body was shown in a similar manner to the crucified corpse of Blake's 'A Negro on the Rack' in John Gabriel Stedman's Narrative.

The original title of the poem is 'Christian Forbearance', and was placed as number 10 in the Rossetti manuscript, printed on a plate illustrated by a corpse under a barren tree. Only 5 of the poems from Songs of Experience appeared individually before 1839 with 'A Poison Tree' first published in the 1830 London University Magazine. Of the copies of the original collection, only 28 published during his life are known to exist, with an additional 16 published posthumously. Blake continued to print the work throughout his life. The illustrations are arranged differently in some copies, while a number of poems were moved from Songs of Innocence to Songs of Experience. The two books were published together under the merged title Songs of Innocence and Experience, showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul: the author and printer, W.

The Songs of Experience was published in 1795 as a follow up to Blake's 1789 Songs of Innocence. The poem explores themes of indignation, revenge, and more generally the fallen state of mankind. It describes the narrator's repressed feelings of anger towards an individual, emotions which eventually lead to murder. ' A Poison Tree' is a poem written by William Blake, published in 1794 as part of his Songs of Experience collection. Listen to the poem read aloud (complete with a creepy animation of Blake's face).Hand-painted copy B of William Blake's 'A Poison Tree', 1794 currently held at the British Museum. Visit the Blake Archive to learn more about Blake's life and work, and to see images of his visionary art. Listen to this poem set to music by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Learn more about the Songs of Innocence and Experience, the famous collection this poem comes from-and see this poem in its original form as a hand-engraved, beautifully illustrated print. Read novelist Philip Pullman's appreciation of Blake. Read noted scholar Kathleen Raine on Blake's ideas about how humanity relates to the divine.

Blake songs of innocence