William Blake wrote this poem in 1794 and it first appeared in his book Songs of Experience. Society at that time was encouraged to bottle up emotions and to present a polite and unruffled person to the world. Blake thought this approach unhealthy and advocated a more expressive mode of being, especially with regards to potentially festering emotion. His ideas were against the prevailing attitudes of the church and state. The original title Blake had for this poem, Christian Forbearance, reflects this.
