Support New Wellness Living and this 'New Thought Series': br br Google "New Wellness Living" to listen to other videos in this "New Thought Series". br br Songs of Innocence and of Experience is an illustrated collection of poems by William Blake. It appeared in two phases. br br "Innocence" and "Experience" are definitions of consciousness that rethink Milton's existential-mythic states of "Paradise" and the "Fall." Blake's categories are modes of perception that tend to coordinate with a chronology that would become standard in Romanticism: childhood is a state of protected innocence rather than original sin, but not immune to the fallen world and its institutions. This world sometimes impinges on childhood itself, and in any event becomes known through "experience," a state of being marked by the loss of childhood vitality, by fear and inhibition, by social and political corruption, and by the manifold oppression of Church, State, and the ruling classes. The volume's "Contrary States" are sometimes signaled by patently repeated or contrasted titles: in Innocence, Infant Joy, in Experience, Infant Sorrow; in Innocence, The Lamb, in Experience, The Fly and The Tyger. The stark simplicity of poems such as The Chimney Sweeper and The Little Black Boy display Blake's acute sensibility to the realities of poverty and exploitation that accompanied the "dark satanic mills" of the Industrial Revolution. br br William Blake was an English painter, poet and printmaker. Blake is considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". In 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. br br br Works by William Blake include: br br Illuminated books: br br c.1788: All Religions are One br There is No Natural Religion br 1789: Songs of Innocence br The Book of Thel br 1790–1793: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell br 1793–1795: Continental prophecies br 1793: Visions of the Daughters of Albion br America a Prophecy br 1794: Europe a Prophecy br The First Book of Urizen br Songs of Experience br 1795: The Book of Los br The Song of Los br The Book of Ahania br c.1804–c.1811: Milton br 1804–1820: Jerusalem The Emanation of the Giant Albion br br Non-illuminated: br br 1783: Poetical Sketches br 1784-5: An Island in the Moon br 1789: Tiriel br 1791: The French Revolution br 1792: A Song of Liberty br 1797: The Four Zoas br br br Source: Wikipedia.