William blake flashcards
The Child
“When my mother died I was very young, / And my father sold me while yet my tongue / Could scarcely cry ‘Weep! weep! weep! weep!’ / So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.”
“Little Lamb, who made thee? / Dost thou know who made thee?”
The Nurse
“Nurse, the child is in the midst of the laughter and the sorrow, / Of innocence and experience, yet to feel the rage of fear.”
The Shepherd
“Little Lamb, who made thee? / Dost thou know who made thee?”
“I will turn your tender hearts from the fleeting lies of men.”
“Little Lamb, who made thee? / Dost thou know who made thee?”
The Lamb
“Little Lamb, who made thee? / Dost thou know who made thee? / Gave thee life & bid thee feed, / By the stream & o’er the mead; / Gave thee clothing of delight, / Softest clothing, woolly, bright; / Gave thee such a tender voice, / Making all the vales rejoice! / Little Lamb, who made thee? / Dost thou know who made thee?”
The Tiger
“Tiger Tiger, burning bright, / In the forests of the night: / What immortal hand or eye, / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”
“Did he who made the Lamb make thee?”
The Chimney Sweeper
“When my mother died I was very young, / And my father sold me while yet my tongue / Could scarcely cry ‘Weep! weep! weep! weep!’ / So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.”
“Because I was happy upon the mountain’s side, / I thought to take the joy of life in stride.”
A little black thing among the snow, / Crying ‘weep! weep!’ in the morning glow.”
“So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.”
The piper
“Piper, pipe that song again; / So I piped: he wept to hear.”
“Come hither, come hither, my friend / And the piper is playing the end.”
“I played my pipe for them, / For the soft wind blew, they too sang / Until they fell in sweet slumber.”
The Bard
“Rings of power may fall, and glory may depart, / But the Bard will be singing, a life in the heart.”
“The voice of the Bard will still call / To those who listen with heart.”
“He who has a voice in all, / Can change the world with every call.”
“The Bard’s tongue was like a flaming sword.”
Parents
“So your children are before you / They are a reflection of the world you create.”
“Parents taught the children that love is the way, / And through that, the world would have peace each day.”
“Their children are as blessed as they.
Angels
“And the Angel told him: ‘I see you are wise, / But you cannot escape your plight in these skies.’”
“And there came a spirit, whose wings were bright / Whose voice was gentle like the morning light.”
“And the angel smiled as they went on their way, / For in the night, all is calm.”
The Holy Child
“In the morning, when the light was bright, / There stood the Holy Child, clothed in white.”
“The Lamb of God, the child divine, / Was born of heaven’s purest line.”
“The Holy Child, the Christ divine, / In His hand is peace and light.”
“He wept not for Himself, but for the world of men.”
Introduction
“Piping down the valleys wild, / Piping songs of pleasant glee, / On a cloud, I saw a child, / And he laughing said to me:
“Pipe a song about a Lamb! / So I piped with merry cheer. / ‘Piper, pipe that song again;’ / So I piped: he wept to hear.”
“Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe, / Sing thy songs of happy cheer!”
Thus I sang the same again, / While the weeping child did cry, / Weep! weep! weep! weep! / So I sang the song again.”
“The Shepherd”
“Little Lamb, who made thee? / Dost thou know who made thee?”
“He calls himself a Lamb: / He is meek & he is mild, / He became a little child.”
“I will turn your tender hearts / From the fleeting lies of men.”
“The lamb is in the fold, and the shepherd’s voice is heard.”
The lamb
“Little Lamb, who made thee? / Dost thou know who made thee?”
“Gave thee life, and bid thee feed / By the stream and o’er the mead; / Gave thee clothing of delight, / Softest clothing, woolly, bright.”
He is called by thy name, / For he calls himself a Lamb: / He is meek, and he is mild, / He became a little child.”
“Little Lamb, who made thee? / Dost thou know who made thee?”
The Little Black Boy
“My mother bore me in the southern wild, / And I am black, but O! my soul is white.”
“I’ll shade him from the heat till he can bear / To sport and play, and see his father’s face.”
“And then I’ll stand and stroke his silver hair, / And be like him, and he will love me.”
“And we are put on earth a little space, / That we may learn to bear the beams of love.”
The Chimney Sweeper
“When my mother died I was very young, / And my father sold me while yet my tongue / Could scarcely cry ‘Weep! weep! weep! weep!’ / So your chimneys I sweep & in soot I sleep.”
“’Hush, my dear, lie still and sleep, / It cannot be that thou art here; / For when I sleep, and in my bed, / The chimney sweeper’s dreams appear.”
“And by came an Angel who had a bright key, / And he opened the coffins and set them all free; / Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run, / And wash in a river and shine in the sun.”
“So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.”
The Little Boy Lost
“Father, father, where are you going? / O do not walk so fast!”
“My father, father, where are you going? / O do not walk so fast!”
“For I am very weak and poor, / And I am faint with hunger sore.”
“The night was dark, no father was there, / The child was lost in the desert.”
The Little Boy Found
“The little boy lost in the lonely fen, / Led by the wandering light, / Began to cry, but God ever nigh, / Appeared like his father in white.”
“He kissed the child and by him leant, / And o’er his shoulder did he rest.”
“My father, father, where are you going? / O do not walk so fast!”
“So he was found by his father’s side, / And gave him rest in the night.”
A Cradle Song
“Sweet dreams, form a shade / O’er my lovely infant’s head! / Sweet dreams of pleasant streams / By happy, silent moones.”
“O’er his innocent eyes / Smiles of angel-children rise.”
“Soft desires I am whispering in the ear / Of my babe’s cradle, singing clear.”
“Sleep, sleep, happy child! / All the pretty birds are asleep.”
The Divine Image
“To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love, / All pray in their distress, / And to these virtues of delight / Return their thankfulness.”
“For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love, / Is God, our Father dear, / And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love, / Is man, his child and care.”
“For Mercy has a human heart, / Pity, a human face, / And Love, the human form divine, / And Peace, the human dress.”
“And all must love the human form, / In heathen, Turk, or Jew; / Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell, / There God is dwelling too.”
Holy Thursday
“‘Twas on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean, / Came children walking two and two, in red and blue and green.”
“Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song, / Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among.”
“And their sun does never shine, / And their fields are bleak and bare, / And their ways are filled with thorns: / It is eternal winter there.”
“For where’er the sun does shine, / And where’er the rain does fall, / Babe can never hunger there, / Nor poverty the mind appall.”
Spring
“Sound the flute! / Now it’s mute. / Bird’s delight, / Day and night; / Nightingale, / In the dale, / Lark in sky, / Merrily, merrily, / Mornings nigh.”
“The skylark sings with the evening moon, / And the bird’s melodious tune.”
“Little lamb, who made thee? / Dost thou know who made thee?”
“Piping songs of pleasant glee / On a cloud, I saw a child, / And he laughing said to me: / ‘Pipe a song about a Lamb!’”
Nurse’s Song
“When the voices of children are heard on the green, / And laughing is heard on the hill, / My heart is at rest within my breast, / And everything else is still.”
“Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down, / And the dews of night arise; / Your spring-time is over, and the flowers are dying.”
“The little ones leaped, and shouted, and laughed, / And all the hills echo’d.”
“Come, let us play at see-saw, and / Play at see-saw all night long.”
A Dream
“I dreamt a dream! What can it mean? / And that I was a maiden queen.”
“I dreamt I had a golden cage, / And I was the bird in it.”
“And I laid my head on my pillow and wept, / And I knew that I had the key.”
“And I went out and saw the sky / And I could not help but weep.”
