"A Little Girl Lost" is a poem written by the English poet

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

. It was first published as part of his collection ''

Songs of Innocence and of Experience ''Songs of Innocence and of Experience'' is a collection of illustrated poems by William Blake. It appeared in two phases: a few first copies were printed and illuminated by Blake himself in 1789; five years later, he bound these poems with a ...

'' in 1794. The poem is written as a clear authorial commentary from Blake, focusing on the tension between human passions and societal expectations.

Critical concerns

In her analysis of the poem for the journal ''

The Explicator ''The Explicator'' is a quarterly journal of literary criticism. Current owner Routledge acquired the journal from Heldref Publications in 2009. It mainly publishes short papers on poetry and prose. It is indexed in the Arts & Humanities Citati ...

'', academic Katelin E. Trowbridge describes the poem's narratorial voice as a projection of "his own passionate voice" about the subject of pleasure and social expectations. Trowbridge focuses on the Girl's fall from innocence as one of the poem's critical moments, where she can experience the pleasures of sexual relations with her lover but in turn feels guilt when confronted by her father. The conflict between father's pressures and maiden's feelings allows Blake to "expose paternal tyranny masquerading as Christian love" while revealing "his own emotional reaction to the maiden's torment."

References

Text from "Songs of Innocence and of Experience", copy B, 1789, 1794 (British Museum): electronic edition
at th
William Blake Archive

External links

at the site of the English Department

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

1794 poems Songs of Innocence and of Experience {{UK-poem-stub