William Blake, who made thee?

A tribute to William Blake

William Blake (1757-1827), English artist, mystic and poet wrote Songs of Innocence (1789): a poetry collection written from the child’s point of view, of innocent wonderment and spontaneity in natural settings which includes “Little Boy Lost”, “Little Boy Found” and “The Lamb”.
He is the first ever poet of my life. The first ever poem in English that I read was “The Echoing Green”.
Though at that time I had no taste of poetry, I was a school boy but after passing my examination I did remember the beautiful lines of that lyrical poem,
“They laugh at our play,
And soon they all say,
"Such, such were the joys
When we all -- girls and boys --
In our youth-time were seen
On the echoing Green."
I could only recall these lines but did not know Blake was the poet nor did I remember the title of the poem. For about an year I used to just recite these lines without knowing who was the poet until one day a friend of my elder brother gave him a Beautiful calendar as a present which included on each of the twelve pages a very artistic snapshot of an animal. On one of the pages there was a picture of Tiger and a verse written about that beautiful picture

“ Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright
In the Forest of the Night…”

I still don’t know what was the magic hidden in those words but the powerful rhythm always mesmerised me. I believe, the magic was of those beautiful words that I started loving tigers well as Blake. Though I had a great interest in Urdu poetry and literature but the poem which I could only remember in parts, the Echoing Green and the power of “Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright, In the forest of the night”, made me search and read English poetry and one day I found the poem ‘The Echoing Green” again, in my school book. The poem follows the structure of a day— 'the sun does arise' in the beginning of the first verse, and 'the sun does descend' in the middle of the third verse. The poem is the contrast of innocence and experience, but also the contrast between perception of joys and sorrows. What is happening on the Green will happen again, shown by the 'old folk' who watch the children and reminisce about their own childhood on the Green. The whole poem is written in 6 sentences with much repetition. The poem could also be attributed to the life of a person— birth, life, death.
Having learnt that the poet was William Blake, I went to a bookshop and bought one of his poetry collections.
I still remember the majestic moment when I opened the book and found, Tiger, Tiger, burning bright, there in that book. That was, I believe one of the greatest moments of my life. I also read other poems like, The Sick Rose, Love's Secret, the Lamb, little girl lost and many more. I couldn’t believe that some one can compose such beautiful thoughts. I started reading English poetry regularly and with great interest after that. Now I have read numerous poets and English poetry has become my addiction but still when I read William Blake, I feel as I am in the heaven of beautiful rhymes and thoughts. He was my starting point in English poetry and he is still close to my heart because he always portrays the innocence, which is the soul of beauty as can be seen here in this beautiful poem,

The Lamb
Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and He is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little lamb, God bless thee!
Little lamb, God bless thee!

Blake's Poetry is a real treasure!

Ahkam