William Blake

Songs of Innocence and of Experience compiles two contrasting but directly related books of poetry by William Blake. Songs of Innocence honors and praises the natural world, the natural innocence of children and their close relationship to God. Songs of Experience contains much darker, disillusioned poems, which deal with serious, often political themes. It is believed that the disastrous end to the French Revolution produced

...

Written in the form of biblical prophecy, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell presents philosophical ideas about God, humanity and the complex nature of ethics. It's a bold yet humorous examination of binary belief systems and their conflicting principles. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is a remarkable narrative that explores common religious themes such as good versus evil. The author uses vibrant storytelling to expand on the importance of these contradictory...

This collection of poems by famous English Romantic poet William Blake comprises two volumes in one. Self-published by Blake, the first collection entitled "Songs of Innocence", first appeared in 1789. This volume focuses on the pastoral and innocent perfection of childhood. The tone is beautiful and often delicately romantic. However, there is also a dark side to the naivety of childhood. Blake explores the vulnerability of the poor and the young...

Since its first publication in 1678, The Pilgrim's Progress has never been out of print -- and that fact reflects the timeless relevance and wisdom of this long-form Christian allegory. The text follows the journey of the title character, Christian, as he makes his way from the earthly sphere represented by the "City of Destruction" to the "Celestial Sphere," which represents Heaven, battling sin, temptation, and every other conceivable

...

"Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." Blind, broken by the death of his wife and bitterly disappointed by the Restoration, Milton dictated his sweeping biblical epic Paradise Lost to a series of helpers. While the struggle between God and Satan rages across the cosmos, the human tragedy of Adam and Eve the temptation and fall is movingly depicted in language unsurpassed in its musicality and beauty. A staggering and audacious undertaking...

Features 104 of Blake's poems: "A Song of Liberty," "The Argument," "Proverbs of Hell," "The Mental Traveller," "The Land of Dreams," "To the Evening Star" and many more.

"'The Divine Comedy' begins in a shadowed forest on Good Friday in the year 1300. It proceeds on a journey that, in its intense recreation of the depths and the heights of human experience, has become the key with which Western civilization has sought to unlock the mystery of its own identity. Allen Mandelbaum's astonishingly Dantean translation, which captures so much of the life of the original, renders whole for us the masterpiece that genius whom...