Reeds of Innocence

William Blake 1757 (Soho) – 1827 (London)



Piping down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he laughing said to me:

'Pipe a song about a Lamb!'
So I piped with merry cheer.
'Piper, pipe that song again;'
So I piped: he wept to hear.

'Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
Sing thy songs of happy cheer!'
So I sung the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.

'Piper, sit thee down and write
In a book that all may read.'
So he vanish'd from my sight;
And I pluck'd a hollow reed,

And I made a rural pen,
And I stain'd the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 23, 2023

37 sec read
195

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB XCDE XCDE FXFX DCXE
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 574
Words 127
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. more…

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