Songs of Experience: London 1794 - 1825

William Blake’s “Songs of Experience: London” was created without a printing press. Instead, Blake developed an innovative technique called illuminated printing, which allowed him to combine text and image on a single copper plate. Blake would write his poems in reverse on the plate, using an acid-resistant substance, then etch away the unprotected areas. The plate was then printed, and each print was individually hand-colored with watercolors, making every impression unique. The material qualities of this print, its delicate colors and fine lines, belie the dark themes explored in the poem itself. Blake's London is a city marked by exploitation and despair. The poem points to the suffering of chimney sweeps and the cries of infants. By using this handcrafted method of production, Blake implicitly critiques the industrialized world he saw emerging around him, emphasizing the human cost of progress. The artist created an alternative system of production, which allowed him to control every aspect of the process, resisting the division of labor inherent in industrial capitalism.