The Complete Poems

William Blake is the rebel par excellence of English poetry. The personal issues with which he wrestled seemed to him to be also the salient problems of human life. They include questions of the proper place of intellectual control in the personality, the place of impulse, the relations between authority and those it controls (and therefore between elders and children), the relations of the sexes, the folly of moral generalities (one law for the lion and the ox), the poison of jealousy, and the overwhelming importance of forgiveness. Characterized by an extraordinarily imaginative language and a forcefulness and suppleness of rhythms, Blake's poetry possesses a remarkable muscularity and exuberance. Even at its most difficult it excites, while never losing contact with the ordinary realities of life. This volume contains all Blake's poetry with full annotation and a glossary of proper names.