what is poetry?
william blake, 1803 | lines 1-4 from auguries of innocence, a poem found in blake's notebook known as the pickering manuscript | it is assumed to have been written in 1803 but was not published until 1863 in the companion volume to alexander gilchrist's biography of blake | the poem contains a series of paradoxes which speak of innocence juxtaposed with evil and corruption | it consists of 132 lines and has been published with and without breaks dividing it into stanzas