The Notebook of William Blake - Folio N103 and N102

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N103 & N102

On folio N103 we see fair copies of 'The Chimney Sweeper', 'Holy Thursday' and 'The Angel', with shorter verses and couplets.

'The Question Answerd', at the top left of the folio, answers the three line poem that Blake had started on the bottom left of N105, beginning 'In a wife I would desire'. Blake's answer is:

'What is it men of women do require
The lineaments of Gratified Desire
What is it women do of men require
The lineaments of Gratified Desire.'

These lines were subsequently copied onto folio N99 under the heading 'Several Questions Answerd'.

The first stanza of 'The Chimney Sweeper' was written on N106, and on this folio we can see a fair copy of the last two verses. A vertical pencil line through these two stanzas (and the lines on N106) indicates that the poem was ready for etching.

At the bottom of the page, Blake wrote a fair copy of 'Holy Thursday' - the bleak contrary to 'Holy Thursday' in Songs of Innocence. This fair copy was printed in Songs of Experience with just three further alterations, and was accompanied by an illustration of a woman with a dead child at her feet taken from a drawing on folio N74 (to the left of the portrait of Tom Paine).

The final poem on this folio is a pencil fair copy of 'The Angel', the contrary to 'A Dream' in Songs of Innocence.

N102
This folio shows a fine pencil drawing of Adam and Eve, walking hand in hand among tree trunks. On close inspection of the folio it can be seen that Blake made a number of attempts at this sketch, and faint traces remain showing the couple in different positions. No known painting was made from this sketch.