Page:William Blake in his relation to Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911).djvu/26

— 26 — "Bring me an axe and a spade, Bring me a winding-sheet, When I my grave have made, Let winds and tempests beat;" (My Silks and fine Array) have been inspired by the Grave Digger's Song in Hamlet. Also the influence of Beaumont and Fletcher, a new edition of whom had appeardappeared [sic] in 1770, is apparent in many of these songs. But if imitated, these poems are perfect imitations of their prototypes. There is the song beginning "Love and harmony combine", or the one dedicated to Memory; the above mentioned "My Silks and fine Array"; all of these can rank with the best lyrics the Elizabethan age has produced. The most beautiful is the passionate "Mad Song", which already touches a more personal note than is conceivable with the Elizabethan ideal of lyric poetry. In Blake's early productions another influence than the above named is still visible. His "Contemplation" and "The Couch of Death", two pieces of lyrical prose are evidently written under the influence of Ossian. Also in the Prophetic Books Blake uses Ossian's rythmical prose. And he writes in a MS. note on Wordsworth's Supplementary Essay: "I believe both Macpherson and Chatterton: that what they say is ancient, is so."

These influences, however, show themselves only in the poems of his youth and slightly in the Prophetic Books. The Songs of Innocence and the Songs of Experience, Blake's splendid sequels of lyrics, are entirely original; here the poet is altogether himself, free from any influence. It is difficult to delineate the charms, which these poems possess. They form a unity and have a mutual relation to each other and should, in order to be fully appreciated, be read as a whole. The Songs of Innocence give us glimpses of a primitive, naive world, where men and beasts alike are filled with innocent, youthful happiness and joy. In some of these poems the events of every-day life are transfigured as seen by Blake's keen and exalted mind, e.g. in "Holy Thursday", in which he describes his meeting with the Charity Children