The Angel (Songs of Experience)

"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.

William Blake: The Angel. Copy W^[1]

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

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 beguil'd!

And I wept both night and day
And he wip'd my tears away
And I wept both day and night
And hid from him my hearts delight

So he took his wings and fled:
Then the morn blush'd rosy red:
I dried my tears & armed my fears,
With ten thousand shields and spears.

Soon my Angel came again;
I was arm'd, he came in vain:
For the time of youth was fled,
And grey hairs were on my head.^[2]

Uses

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

Gallery

• 
  Blake manuscript - Notebook 52 - The Angel
• 
  The Angel, Copy W, c. 1825, King's College, Cambridge, England
• 
  The Angel, Copy W, c. 1825, detail
• 
  Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy AA, 1826 (The Fitzwilliam Museum) object 41 The Angel
• 
  Songs of Innocence and of Experience, copy Y, 1825 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) object 41 The Angel