Sweet Joy

William Blake, Infant Joy, From the Songs of Innocence, 1789.

'I have no name;

I am but two days old.'

What shall I call thee?

'I happy am,

Joy is my name.'

Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty joy!

Sweet joy, but two days old.

Sweet joy I call thee:

Thou dost smile,

I sing the while;

Sweet joy befall thee!

Artist and Poet

Pity, c. 1795 by William Blake.

From Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act I, Scene VII when Macbeth what would happen after Duncan is murdered "And pity, like a naked new-born babe, Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubim, horsed Upon the sightless couriers of the air."

Blake's unique style developed from his training as an illustrator and his unbounded imagination.