Poetry Catalog

O rose, thou art sick!The invisible worm,That flies in the night,In the howling storm, Has found out thy bedOf crimson joy,And his dark secret loveDoes thy life destroy. … [Read more...] about The Sick Rose, By: William Blake

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. ‘Because I was happy upon the heath,And smiled among the winter’s snow,They clothed me in the clothes of death,And taught me to sing the notes of woe. ‘And because I am happy and dance and sing,They think they have … [Read more...] about The Chimney Sweeper (Experience), By: William Blake

When my mother died I was very young,And my father sold me while yet my tongueCould scarcely cry ‘Weep! weep! weep! weep!’So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep. 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 … [Read more...] about The Chimney Sweeper (Innocence), By: William Blake

I was angry with my friend:I told my wrath, my wrath did end.I was angry with my foe:I told it not, my wrath did grow. And I watered it in fearsNight and morning with my tears,And I sunnèd it with smilesAnd with soft deceitful wiles. And it grew both day and night,Till it bore an apple bright,And my foe beheld it shine,And he knew that it was mine,— And into my garden … [Read more...] about A Poison Tree, By: William Blake

I wander through each chartered street,Near where the chartered Thames does flow,A mark in every face I meet,Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every man,In every infant’s cry of fear,In every voice, in every ban,The mind-forged manacles I hear: How the chimney-sweeper’s cryEvery blackening church appals,And the hapless soldier’s sighRuns in blood down … [Read more...] about London, By: William Blake