Songs of Innocence: The Ecchoing Green (second plate)

Songs of Innocence: The Ecchoing Green (second plate) by William Blake is a defining example of the artist's unique approach to illuminated printing, executed during the height of his creative period between 1789 and 1825. This early Romantic work utilizes relief etching printed in a characteristic orange-brown ink, which Blake subsequently finished by hand using vibrant watercolor and touches of shell gold accents. This painstaking technique allowed Blake to unify image and text in a cohesive design, bypassing traditional industrial publishing methods to create highly individualized prints that reflect his radical vision.

The second plate focuses on the textual component of the celebrated poem while framing the verse with imagery of pastoral harmony. The composition illustrates the idyllic scene of the Ecchoing Green where young boys and girls play freely. They are observed by older figures, including men and women, who reflect on their own youth, establishing the work’s central thematic exploration: the cyclical nature of innocence and experience. Blake’s masterful integration of image and word offers a spiritual perspective on social customs during the transitional period of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

As one of the celebrated prints from the volume Songs of Innocence, this piece demonstrates Blake's profound commitment to the book arts. The individuality imparted by the hand-coloring classifies this impression as an individualized print rather than a simple edition. This historically significant work is currently held in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Owing to its age and cultural significance, high-resolution images of this work by Blake are frequently available for scholarly research and general use through public domain initiatives.