This generous selection from Blake's poems, prose, notebooks, marginalia, and letters is accompanied by many of the poet's illuminations for his own works, some in full color. The editors have modified Blake's original spelling and punctuation for greater accessibility.

Almost all of Blake's published writings are here, as well as most of the best shorter poems that remained in manuscript at his death, and much of his most energetic prose. Of Blake's Major epics, Milton is printed in full, in its longest version; Jerusalem is represented by selections amounting to one-third of the complete poem; and The Four Zoas by briefer excerpts. All the other poetic works are presented complete.

"Criticism" includes contemporary responses by Coleridge, Lamb, John Thomas Smith, Frederick Tatham, Henry Crabb Robinson, and Samuel Palmer. Modern critical essays are by T. S. Eliot, Northrop Frye, Jean Hagstrum, Robert F. Gleckner, Irene Tayler, Martin K. Nurmi, Martin Price, David V. Erdman, Harold Bloom, and E. J. Rose.

Maps, a Chronology of Blake's life and times, and a Bibliography of Blake studies are also included.

About the Series : No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions . Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehensive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.