''A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers'' is a

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person young ...

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

written by Nancy Willard and illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen, published by Harcourt Brace in 1981. The next year Willard won the annual

Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished cont ...

and the Provensens were one runner-up for the

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Servic ...

from the professional children's librarians. ''William Blake's Inn'' was the first Newbery-winning book to also be named a Caldecott Honor Book. '' Last Stop on Market Street'' later won the 2016 Newbery Medal and a Caldecott Honor. The title alludes to Willard's inspiration by

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. ...

's ''

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 ...

''.

Content

In a prose introduction, Willard tells how she was introduced to the poetry of William Blake when she was ill as a seven-year-old. She asked her babysitter, Miss Pratt, for a story "about lions and tigers" and Miss Pratt responded with Blake's "

The Tyger "The Tyger" is a poem by the English poet William Blake, published in 1794 as part of his '' Songs of Experience'' collection and rising to prominence in the romantic period. The poem is one of the most anthologised in the English literary can ...

". Two days later she received a copy of "

" inscribed "Poetry is the best medicine. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. yrs, William Blake." The sixteen poems that follow, including an epilogue, describe the events of a day and a half of a child's visit to William Blake's Inn. Inhabited by such creatures as the Rabbit, the Rat, the Wise Cow, the King of Cats, the Tiger, the Man in the Marmalade Hat, and of course William Blake himself, it is a place of wonder and magic. Poems * William Blake’s Inn for Innocent and Experienced Travelers * Blake’s Wonderful Car Delivers Us Wonderfully Well * A Rabbit Reveals My Room * The Sun and Moon Circus Soothes the Wakeful Guests * The Man in the Marmalade Hat Arrives * The King of Cats Orders an Early Breakfast * The Wise Cow Enjoys a Cloud * Two Sunflowers Move into the Yellow Room — frequently misattributed to Blake * The Wise Cow Makes Way, Room, and Believe * Blake Leads a Walk on the Milky Way * When We Come Home, Blake Calls for Fire * The Marmalade Man Makes a Dance to Mend Us * The King of Cats Sends a Postcard to His Wife * The Tiger Asks Blake for a Bedtime Story * Blake Tells the Tiger the Tale of the Tailor * Epilogue

Style

Willard's poetry is metrical and rhyming, simple in many ways but never simplistic. Hints of a larger universe or magical forces at work are never far from the surface. In the central "Blake Leads a Walk on the Milky Way", most of the characters express wonder and awe at the eternal beauty around them and are rewarded by Blake with gifts of stars, while the rat, sullen and cynical, receives only "a handful of dirt". The illustrations are whimsical, iconic

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache ...

paintings, making great use of the architecture of Blake's England.

Reception

At the time of the book's publication, '' Kirkus Reviews'' said, "It's just as well that the Provensens' manner is poles apart from the visionary intensity of Blake's, but one wonders how Blake's work would inspire Willard to invoke his image and meter to such whimsical purpose." In a retrospective essay about the Newbery Medal-winning books from 1976 to 1985, literary critic

Zena Sutherland Zena Sutherland (1915 – June 12, 2002) was an American reviewer of children's literature. She is best known for her contributions to the '' Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books'' and as the author of the library science textbook ''Child ...

wrote, "The poems, sometimes playful or even humorous, are just as often thoughtful, and they have fresh, felicitous phrasing to bring vision as a complementary component to writing that shows good control of rhyme, rhythm, and form."

Derivative work

''A Visit to William Blake's Inn'' has been set to music as a song cycle by American composer Dale Lyles.

Misattribution

All fifteen poems were written by Willard for the book. One of them, "Two Sunflowers Move into the Yellow Room", has been attributed to Blake many times, especially since 2001 as the error has proliferated online. It has been analysed as Blake's work and across the English-speaking world "many schools have been teaching the poem as an example of Blake's work." The mistake was discovered by Thomas Pitchford, a secondary school librarian in Hertfordshire, who "thought the style bore little relation to the poet's other work" and traced the poem to A Visit to William Blake's Inn.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Visit to William Blake's Inn, A 1981 poetry books 1981 children's books American children's books American picture books American poetry collections Children's poetry books Newbery Medal–winning works Caldecott Honor-winning works Adaptations of works by William Blake Children's books about bears Children's books about cats Children's books about cattle Children's books about mice and rats Children's books about rabbits and hares Children's books about tigers