Romantic Exam - Just Blake

Front 1

Pipe a song about a Lamb;

So I piped with merry chear,

Piper pipe that song again—

So I piped, he wept to hear.

Drop thy pipe thy happy pipe

Sing thy songs of happy chear,

So I sung the same again

While he wept with joy to hear

Back 1

Introduction to Songs of Innocence

Blake

Hint 1

Pipers...

Front 2

Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song

Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of Heaven among

Beneath them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor

Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door

Back 2

Holy Thursday from Songs of Innocence

Blake

Hint 2

Children, pity, religious imagery, priests, angels, poor

Front 3

O what a multitude they seemd these flowers of London town

Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own

The hum of multitudes was there but multitudes of lambs

Thousands of little boys & girls raising their innocent hands

Back 3

Holy Thursday from Songs of Innocence

Blake

Hint 3

children, lambs

Front 4

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head

That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved, so I said,

"Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when your head's bare,

You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair."

Back 4

The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Innocence

Blake

Hint 4

sad children, lambs, Tom, white/black

Front 5

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,

They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.

And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,

He'd have God for his father & never want joy.

Back 5

The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Innocence

Blake

Hint 5

death, angels, Tom, children, goodness, joy, clouds

Front 6

And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark

And got with our bags & our brushes to work.

Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm;

So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

Back 6

The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Innocence

Blake

Hint 6

Work, children, warmth, innocence, duty

Front 7

And by came an Angel who had a bright key,

And he opened the coffins & set them all free;

Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing they run,

And wash in a river and shine in the Sun.

Back 7

The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Innocence

Blake

Hint 7

Angel, children, innocence,

Front 8

Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,

They rise upon clouds, and sport in the wind.

Back 8

The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Innocence

Blake

Hint 8

light/dark imagery, clouds, death, innocence

Front 9

Hear the voice of the Bard!
Who Present, Past, & Future sees
Whose ears have heard,
The Holy Word,
That walk'd among the ancient trees.

Calling the lapsed Soul
And weeping in the evening dew:
That might controll.
The starry pole;
And fallen fallen light renew!

Back 9

Introduction to Songs of Experience

Blake

Hint 9

Holy, 'Voice of the Bard' - a call to listen to a story (purpose of an introduction), weeping, fallenness

Front 10

O Earth O Earth return!
Arise from out the dewy grass;
Night is worn.
And the morn
Rises from the slumberous mass.

Back 10

Introduction to Songs of Experience

Blake

Front 11

Turn away no more:
Why wilt thou turn away
The starry floor
The watry shore
Is giv'n thee till the break of day.

Back 11

Introduction to Songs of Experience

Blake

Hint 11

Call to action - not turning away

Front 12

A little black thing among the snow,

Crying "weep! 'weep!" in notes of woe!

"Where are thy father and mother? say?"

"They are both gone up to the church to pray.

Back 12

The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Experience

Blake

Hint 12

black/white imagery, sad children, church (institution), woe

Front 13

Because I was happy upon the heath,

And smil'd among the winter's snow,

They clothed me in the clothes of death,

And taught me to sing the notes of woe.

Back 13

The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Experience

Blake

Hint 13

happiness, innocence, death, woe

Front 14

And because I am happy and dance and sing,

They think they have done me no injury,

And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King,

Who make up a heaven of our misery."

Back 14

The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Experience

Blake

Hint 14

Innocence, God, religious institutional imagery, children

Front 15

Is this a holy thing to see,

In a rich and fruitful land,

Babes reducd to misery,

Fed with cold and usurous hand?

Back 15

Holy Thursday from Songs of Experience

Blake

Hint 15

Children, holy,

Front 16

Is that trembling cry a song?

Can it be a song of joy?

And so many children poor?

It is a land of poverty!

Back 16

Holy Thursday from Songs of Experience

Blake

Hint 16

poor children, poverty, innocence, joy, singing

Front 17

And their sun does never shine.

And their fields are bleak & bare.

And their ways are fill'd with thorns.

It is eternal winter there.

Back 17

Holy Thursday from Songs of Experience

Blake

Hint 17

reality of the EXPERIENCE stage

Front 18

I wander thro’ each charter’d street,

Near where the charter’d Thames does flow,

And mark in every face I meet

Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

Back 18

London from Songs of Experience

Blake

Hint 18

Thames (London), weakness and woe. (no one uses 'woe' as frequently as Blake)

Front 19

In every cry of every Man,

In every Infant’s cry of fear,

In every voice, in every ban,

The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.

Back 19

London from Songs of Experience

Blake

Hint 19

Infants, crying, fear

Front 20

How the chimney-sweeper’s cry

Every black’ning church appals;

And the hapless soldier’s sigh

Runs in blood down palace walls.

Back 20

London from Songs of Experience

Hint 20

Much more vague in reference to chimney sweepers than the Chimney Sweeper poems, church imagery, blackness, death

Front 21

But most thro’ midnight streets I hear

How the youthful harlot’s curse

Blasts the new-born infant’s tear,

And blights with plagues the marriage hearse.

Back 21

London from Songs of Experience

Blake

Hint 21

Infant, crying, death

Front 22

You throw the sand against the wind,

And the wind blows it back again.

Back 22

Mock On, Mock On
Blake

Front 23

And every sand becomes a gem

Reflected in the beams divine;

Blown back they blind the mocking eye,

But still in Israel’s paths they shine.

Back 23

Mock On, Mock On

Blake

Hint 23

Israel -- Jerusalem, mocking, religious imagery (beams divine)

Front 24

The atoms of Democritus

And Newton’s particles of light

Are sands upon the Red Sea shore,

Where Israel’s tents do shine so bright.

Back 24

Mock On, Mock On

Blake

Hint 24

Israel - Jerusalem, light/dark, light/dark, Red Sea, discrediting science

Front 25

And was the holy Lamb of God,

On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

Back 25

And Did Those Feet

Blake

Hint 25

holy, lamb, God, pastures

Front 26

And did the Countenance Divine,

Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

And was Jerusalem builded here,

Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Back 26

And Did Those Feet

Blake

Hint 26

Divinity, light/dark, cloud, Jerusalem

Front 27

Bring me my Bow of burning gold:

Bring me my arrows of desire:

Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!

Bring me my Chariot of fire!

Back 27

And Did Those Feet

Blake

Hint 27

Religious imagery, clouds, light/dark, tools to build Jerusalem

Front 28

I will not cease from Mental Fight,

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand:

Till we have built Jerusalem,

In Englands green & pleasant Land.

Back 28

And Did Those Feet

Blake

Hint 28

Religious imagery, Jerusalem