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William Blake (1757-1827)

The Clod and the Pebble


              1"Love seeketh not itself to please,
              2Nor for itself hath any care,
              3But for another gives its ease,
              4And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair."

              5So sung a little Clod of Clay
              6Trodden with the cattle's feet,
              7But a Pebble of the brook
              8Warbled out these metres meet:

              9"Love seeketh only self to please,
            10To bind another to its delight,
            11Joys in another's loss of ease,
            12And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite."

Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: William Blake. Songs of Experience. 1794. Blake's Illuminated Books, ed. David Bindman. Princeton, NJ: William Blake Trust; London: Tate Gallery, 1991-. See Vol. 2. PR 4142 B46 1991 ROBA.
First publication date: 1794
RPO poem editor: Northrop Frye
RP edition: 3RP 2.282.
Recent editing: 4:2002/3/14

Rhyme: abab

Other poems by William Blake

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