ABSTRACT
In William Blake’s time there were philosophers who argued that the state of experience was to be avoided by rational education. Blake’s original happiness was the happiness of every lyrical poet and indeed the happiness common in measure to all that is young. In the Songs of Innocence Blake made a discovery. He discovered childhood. Blake enjoyed to the full the happiness of the child, which is the joy of self-assertion, the joy which the seed has when it germinates and thrusts shoots above the mould; but he also knew, what is rare, the happiness of age, which is the joy of humility. The happiness of a child is by nature selfish and instinctive. The happiness of childhood differs from the happiness of maturity in that childish happiness is the happiness of possession, while the happiness of maturity is the joy of sharing.
