The Fairy. Poems from the Rossetti MS.: Earlier Poems. Blake, William. The Poetical Works of William Blake. 1908.

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Blake, William (1757–1827). The Poetical Works of William Blake. 1908.

Poems from the Rossetti MS.: Earlier Poems

The Fairy


‘COME 1 hither, my Sparrows,
My little arrows.
If a tear or a smile
Will a man beguile,
If an amorous delay	5
Clouds a sunshiny day,
If the step of a foot
Smites the heart to its root,
’Tis the marriage-ring…
Makes each fairy a king.’	10

So a Fairy sung.
From the leaves I sprung;
He leap’d from the spray
To flee away;
But in my hat caught,	15
He soon shall be taught.
Let him laugh, let him cry,
He’s my Butterfly;
For I’ve pull’d out the sting
Of the marriage-ring.	20

Note 1. The Fairy] Blake’s first title (afterwards erased) was ‘The Marriage Ring.’ With these lines compare the proem to Europe, and Blake’s sketch of the same subject in the MS. Book, afterwards engraved as one of the plates of The Gates of Paradise. 7 step] tread MS. 1st rdg. del. 19, 20 Originally written:

And the marriage ring
[ a line erased. ]

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