Songs of Experience: To Tirzah

Songs of Experience: To Tirzah by William Blake is a profound example of the artist’s illuminated printing technique, executed between 1794 and 1825. Classified as a print, the work was created using a relief etching process and printed in a distinctive orange-brown ink. Blake then meticulously finished the impression by hand, applying delicate washes of watercolor and shell gold to enhance the visual impact and create unique variations across the surviving copies. This labor-intensive method allowed Blake to unify his roles as poet, visionary, and printmaker.

The image illustrates the final, climactic poem in the Songs of Experience sequence, a complex theological address concerning the limitations imposed by the physical world and the doctrine of human mortality. Visually, the work often depicts symbolic figures of men and women entwined in postures that suggest either rebirth or confinement, reflecting the poem's critique of the material body as a spiritual constraint. Blake employed such deeply personal iconography to challenge prevailing Enlightenment rationalism, emphasizing the necessity of spiritual imagination over corporeal existence.

As a significant example of Romantic-era British prints, this piece showcases Blake's commitment to producing his own illuminated books, giving him total control over the integration of text and image. The work resides in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Due to the artwork’s age and cultural importance, high-resolution images and fine art prints derived from the original are frequently available through public domain collections, furthering scholarly access to Blake’s unparalleled contributions to both poetry and visual art.