“ They tear the poor man's lamb, and drive
The needy from their door.
Poetical Sketches, pp. 19-23.
'The land is desolate; our wives 9
And children cry for bread;
Arise, and pull the tyrant down! ”

“ The hills tell each other, and the list'ning5
Vallies hear; all our longing eyes are turned
Up to thy bright pavillions: issue forth,
And let thy holy feet visit our clime.
Come o'er the eastern hills, and let our winds9
Kiss thy perfumed garments; let us taste
Thy morn and evening breath; scatter thy pearls
Upon our love-sick land that mourns for thee.
O deck her forth with thy fair fingers; pour13
Thy soft kisses on her bosom; and put
Thy golden crown upon her languish'd head,
Whose modest tresses were bound up for thee!
Poetical Sketches, pp. 1, 2. ”

“ There are no half-titles to the section 'Miscellaneous Poems' or to 'King Edward the Third.' The book is without index or table of literary contents, which are as follows:—
The little book, which is exceedingly rare, is the only one of Blake's poetical writings, except the first book of the French Revolution, which made its appearance in ordinary type. As we learn from Cunningham, it was printed at the expense of Flaxman and Mathew, who handed the unbound sheets to the author to dispose of for his own advantage. The size of the edition is not stated ”

“ Ellis and Yeats follow the Aldine edition, omitting 'Samson.' W. B. Yeats omits 'Fair Elinor,' 'Gwin of Norway,' the two prologues, 'The Couch of Death,' 'Contemplation,' and 'Samson.' There is an excellent facsimile reproduction of the Poetical Sketches (fifty copies printed by W. Griggs in May, 1890) .
POEMS FROM POETICAL SKETCHES
To Spring
O thou with dewy locks, who lookest down⁠1
Thro' the clear windows of the morning, turn
Thine angel eyes upon our western isle,
Which in full choir hails thy approach, O Spring! ”

“ They clearly belong to the same period as the Poetical Sketches, though all Blake's editors arrange them among poems written in a different manner and at a much later date. First printed by R. H. Shepherd in Pickering's editions of 1868 and 1874, where they are placed at the end of the poems from the Pickering MS., they were apparently unknown to D. G. Rossetti, and (as Pickering's copyright) could not be included in W. M. Rossetti's Aldine edition. ”

“ See 'Gwin, King of Norway,' where the lines,
'Arouse thyself! the nations, black
Like clouds, come rolling o'er!'
are printed :
'Arouse thyself! the nations black,
Like clouds, come rolling o'er!'
In the present edition punctuation is amended and the indented lines of the printer abandoned in favour of Blake's own invariable and more artistic alinement. In every other respect the text of the original edition is exactly reproduced.
The lyrics in Poetical Sketches include the whole of the poems on pp. ”

“ He loves to sit and hear me sing, 13
Then, laughing, sports and plays with me;
Then stretches out my golden wing,
And mocks my loss of liberty.
Poetical Sketches, p. 10. According to Malkin (pp. xxxiv, xxxvi) , who quotes this poem, it was written by Blake before the age of fourteen. ”

“ Let rays of truth enlight his sleeping brain.
Poetical Sketches, pp. 24-26. This piece has not the air of being one of Blake's earliest efforts, in spite of its metrical faults. Representing the Spenserian stanza by the formula ababbcbcC, Blake's successive attempts are: ababbcbcc, ababbcbcB, aiabbcbB, ababbabb, ababbcbcb, ababbcbcbB—all different and all wrong. ”

“ In a second Appendix I have placed two short poems, 'Song by a Shepherd' and 'Song by an Old Shepherd.' These songs are not printed among the poems in the Poetical Sketches, but were found in Blake's handwriting on the fly-leaves of a copy which was lent to Mr. ”