You Don't Believe

William Blake 1757 (Soho) – 1827 (London)



You don't believe -- I won't attempt to make ye:
You are asleep -- I won't attempt to wake ye.
Sleep on! sleep on! while in your pleasant dreams
Of Reason you may drink of Life's clear streams.
Reason and Newton, they are quite two things;
For so the swallow and the sparrow sings.

Reason says `Miracle': Newton says `Doubt.'
Aye! that's the way to make all Nature out.
`Doubt, doubt, and don't believe without experiment':
That is the very thing that Jesus meant,
When He said `Only believe! believe and try!
Try, try, and never mind the reason why!'

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 17, 2023

32 sec read
316

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCC DDDDEE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 548
Words 104
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 6, 6

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. more…

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