The Angel (Songs of Experience)

William Blake: The Angel. Copy W

William Blake: Rossetti Manuscript, 1793, No. 52, page p. 103 rev. - The Angel

"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.

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 beguiled!

And I wept both night and day,
And he wiped my tears away;
And I wept both day and night,
And hid from him my heart’s delight.

So he took his wings, and fled;
Then the morn blushed rosy red.
I dried my tears, and armed my fears
With ten thousand shields and spears.

Soon my Angel came again;
I was armed, he came in vain;
For the time of youth was fled,
And grey hairs were on my head.

Uses

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

Gallery

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  Blake manuscript - Notebook 52 - The Angel

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  The Angel, Copy W, c. 1825, Kings College, Cambridge, England

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  The Angel, Copy W, c. 1825, detail

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  Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy AA, 1826 (The Fitzwilliam Museum) object 41 The Angel

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  Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy Y, 1825 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) object 41 The Angel