Songs of Experience: The Little Girl Found (second plate) 1789 - 1825

William Blake created this color etching, "The Little Girl Found," as part of his "Songs of Experience," a series completed in England sometime around 1794. Blake’s project was deeply concerned with the cultural institutions that shaped experience. Here, poetry and image work together. The text tells the story of a child lost and then found. The lower portion of the image shows a naked girl being approached by, or perhaps sleeping alongside, a group of figures and a lion. A tree with a twisting vine and a border encloses the text and image. The work has been associated with a sentimental and idealized view of childhood common in English society at the time. But Blake was critical of this ideal, believing that institutions such as the church, schools, and even the family could repress the imagination and individuality of children. Blake was deeply suspicious of authority and the damage it could inflict. Historians can use sources from the period, such as conduct manuals, religious tracts, and educational materials, to understand the social context of the artwork. Blake's work shows how art can be used to challenge those norms.