196. The Book of Thel 4

Although the imprint is dated 1789, scholars believe Thel was unlikely to have been finished before late 1790 or 1791. This is one of seventeen traced copies. The tale of Thel, the virgin shepherdess interviewing a cloud, a lily, a worm, and a clod of clay about the transience of life, is the first of Blake's poems written in lines of fourteen syllables, which became his primary meter thereafter.