Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

From "The Four Zoas," by William Blake

  • What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song?
  • Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price
  • Of all a man hath, his house, his wife, his children.
  • Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy,
  • And in the wither’d field where the farmer plows for bread in vain.
  • It is an easy thing to triumph in the summer’s sun
  • And in the vintage and to sing on the waggon loaded with corn.
  • It is an easy thing to talk of prudence to the afflicted,
  • To speak the laws of prudence to the houseless wanderer,
  • To listen to the hungry raven’s cry in wintry season
  • When the red blood is fill’d with wine and with the marrow of lambs.
  • It is an easy thing to laugh at wrathful elements,
  • To hear the dog howl at the wintry door, the ox in the slaughterhouse moan;
  • To see a god on every wind and a blessing on every blast;
  • To hear sounds of love in the thunder-storm that destroys our enemies’ house;
  • To rejoice in the blight that covers his field, and the sickness that cuts off his children,
  • While our olive and vine sing and laugh round our door, and our children bring fruits and flowers.
  • Then the groan and the dolour are quite forgotten, and the slave grinding at the mill,
  • And the captive in chains, and the poor in the prison, and the soldier in the field
  • When the shatter’d bone hath laid him groaning among the happier dead.
  • It is an easy thing to rejoice in the tents of prosperity:
  • Thus could I sing and thus rejoice: but it is not so with me.


William Blake (1757–1827) is one of the greatest visionary poets in the English language as well as one of England’s greatest visual artists. In 1782 he married Catherine Sophia Boucher, whom he taught to read and write and to whom he remained devoted throughout his life. Upon the occasion of an exhibition of his illuminated manuscripts in 1809, he was dismissed by one critic as “an unfortunate lunatic whose personal inoffensiveness secures him from confinement.” A profoundly religious visionary who claimed often to converse with God, he railed against the sins of the church, all forms of bigotry and oppression, and, as this poem suggests, the far too frequent absence of human compassion. Blake died in poverty in 1827 and was buried in an unmarked grave. Not till long after his death was his eccentric genius recognized. This excerpt is from
The Four Zoas, composed in 1795. It remained unpublished until 1893.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

3 Tips for Creating a Cozy and Inviting Living Room in San Diego

Next Article

Bringing Order to the Christmas Chaos

There is a sense of grandeur in Messiah that period performance mavens miss.
  • What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song?
  • Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price
  • Of all a man hath, his house, his wife, his children.
  • Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy,
  • And in the wither’d field where the farmer plows for bread in vain.
  • It is an easy thing to triumph in the summer’s sun
  • And in the vintage and to sing on the waggon loaded with corn.
  • It is an easy thing to talk of prudence to the afflicted,
  • To speak the laws of prudence to the houseless wanderer,
  • To listen to the hungry raven’s cry in wintry season
  • When the red blood is fill’d with wine and with the marrow of lambs.
  • It is an easy thing to laugh at wrathful elements,
  • To hear the dog howl at the wintry door, the ox in the slaughterhouse moan;
  • To see a god on every wind and a blessing on every blast;
  • To hear sounds of love in the thunder-storm that destroys our enemies’ house;
  • To rejoice in the blight that covers his field, and the sickness that cuts off his children,
  • While our olive and vine sing and laugh round our door, and our children bring fruits and flowers.
  • Then the groan and the dolour are quite forgotten, and the slave grinding at the mill,
  • And the captive in chains, and the poor in the prison, and the soldier in the field
  • When the shatter’d bone hath laid him groaning among the happier dead.
  • It is an easy thing to rejoice in the tents of prosperity:
  • Thus could I sing and thus rejoice: but it is not so with me.


William Blake (1757–1827) is one of the greatest visionary poets in the English language as well as one of England’s greatest visual artists. In 1782 he married Catherine Sophia Boucher, whom he taught to read and write and to whom he remained devoted throughout his life. Upon the occasion of an exhibition of his illuminated manuscripts in 1809, he was dismissed by one critic as “an unfortunate lunatic whose personal inoffensiveness secures him from confinement.” A profoundly religious visionary who claimed often to converse with God, he railed against the sins of the church, all forms of bigotry and oppression, and, as this poem suggests, the far too frequent absence of human compassion. Blake died in poverty in 1827 and was buried in an unmarked grave. Not till long after his death was his eccentric genius recognized. This excerpt is from
The Four Zoas, composed in 1795. It remained unpublished until 1893.

Sponsored
Sponsored
Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Bringing Order to the Christmas Chaos

There is a sense of grandeur in Messiah that period performance mavens miss.
Next Article

3 Tips for Creating a Cozy and Inviting Living Room in San Diego

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader