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The Clod and the Pebble by William Blake (text and explanation)

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  The Clod and the Pebble By William Blake   'Love seeketh not itself to please, Nor for itself hath any care, But for another gives its ease, And builds a heaven in hell's despair.' So sung a little clod of clay, Trodden with the cattle's feet; But a pebble of the brook Warbled out these meters meet: 'Love seeketh only Self to please, To bind another to its delight, Joys in another's loss of ease, And builds a hell in heaven's despite.' The poem was first published in William Blake’s collection of poems “Songs of Experience” in 1794. The poem contrasts two opposing views on love, represented by a soft clod of clay and a hard pebble. The clod represents the more optimistic and perhaps a naive perspective, which views love as a kind of radical selflessness and the willingness to sacrifice. On the other hand, the pebble declares love as pure selfishness. However, the poet does not validate any of the two view points and leaves it to th
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The School Boy by William Blake

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  The School Boy By William Blake   I love to rise in a summer morn When the birds sing on every tree; The distant huntsman winds his horn, And the skylark sings with me. O! what sweet company! But to go to school on a summer morn, O! it drives all joy away; Under a cruel eye outworn, The little ones spend the day In sighing and dismay. Ah! then at times I drooping sit, And spend many an anxious hour, Nor in my book can I take delight, Nor sit in learning's bower, Worn thro' with the dreary shower. How can the bird that is born for joy Sit in a cage and sing? How can a child, when fears annoy, But droop his tender wing, And forget his youthful spring? O! father and mother, if buds are nipped And blossoms blown away, And if the tender plants are stripped Of their joy in the springing day, By sorrow and care's dismay, How shall the summer arise in joy, Or the summer's fruits appear? Or how shall we gather what griefs destroy, Or bles
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A Little Boy Lost by William Blake (text and explanation)

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  A Little Boy Lost By William Blake   Nought loves another as itself, Nor venerates another so, Nor is it possible to thought A greater than itself to know. 'And, father, how can I love you Or any of my brothers more? I love you like the little bird That picks up crumbs around the door.' The Priest sat by and heard the child; In trembling zeal he seized his hair, He led him by his little coat, And all admired the priestly care. And standing on the altar high, 'Lo, what a fiend is here! said he: 'One who sets reason up for judge Of our most holy mystery.' The weeping child could not be heard, The weeping parents wept in vain: They stripped him to his little shirt, And bound him in an iron chain, And burned him in a holy place Where many had been burned before; The weeping parents wept in vain. Are such thing done on Albion's shore?   The poem is a part of William Blake’s collection of poems “Songs of Experience” first publis
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The Human Abstract by William Blake (text and explanation)

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  The Human Abstract By William Blake   Pity would be no more If we did not make somebody Poor; And Mercy no more could be If all were as happy as we. And mutual fear brings peace, Till the selfish loves increase: Then Cruelty knits a snare, And spreads his baits with care. He sits down with holy fears, And waters the grounds with tears; Then Humility takes its root Underneath his foot. Soon spreads the dismal shade Of Mystery over his head; And the Catterpiller and Fly Feed on the Mystery. And it bears the fruit of Deceit, Ruddy and sweet to eat; And the Raven his nest has made In its thickest shade. The Gods of the earth and sea Sought thro' Nature to find this Tree; But their search was all in vain: There grows one in the Human Brain.   The poem is a part of William Blake’s collection of poems “Songs of Experience” published in 1794. It is an example of Blake’s metaphysical poetry. It explores the suffering created by rigid moral rules. The
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