The Book of Thel

About this book

A young spirit asks whether she must enter the world of human experience. The answer comes through the voice of a figure who speaks from the valley beneath her feet.

William Blake's Book of Thel is a brief illuminated poem about innocence, desire and the fear of mortality. Its imagery moves through lilies, clouds and clay before turning towards a darker vision of embodied life. Blake's original designs make the poem especially striking: words and pictures unfold together across pages that feel like fragments of a private mythology.