The Angel (Songs of Experience)

"The Angel" is a poem written by the English poet William Blake. It was published as part of his collection Songs of Experience in 1794.

William Blake: The Angel. Copy W[1]
William Blake: Rossetti Manuscript, 1793, No. 52, page p. 103 rev. - The Angel

The Poem

I Dreamt a Dream! what can it mean?
And that I was a maiden Queen:
Guarded by an Angel mild:
Witless woe, was ne'er beguil'd!

And I wept both night and day
And he wip'd my tears away
And I wept both day and night
And hid from him my hearts delight

So he took his wings and fled:
Then the morn blush'd rosy red:
I dried my tears & armed my fears,
With ten thousand shields and spears.

Soon my Angel came again;
I was arm'd, he came in vain:
For the time of youth was fled,
And grey hairs were on my head.[2]

Uses

This is one of Blake's poems quoted by a character in David Almond's Skellig.

Notes
  1. Copy W, c. 1825, King's College, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England.
  2. Blake, William (1988). Erdman, David V. (ed.). The Complete Poetry and Prose (Newly revised ed.). Anchor Books. p. 24. ISBN 0385152132.
  • Blake manuscript - Notebook 52 - The Angel
  • The Angel, Copy W, c. 1825, King's College, Cambridge, England
  • The Angel, Copy W, c. 1825, detail
  • Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy AA, 1826 (The Fitzwilliam Museum) object 41 The Angel
  • Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy Y, 1825 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) object 41 The Angel
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