These are the idiots' chiefest arts. On Art and Artists. William Blake. 1908. The Poetical Works

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

On Art and Artists

These are the idiots’ chiefest arts


VI THESE are the idiots’ chiefest arts:
To blend and not define the parts
The swallow sings, 1 in courts of kings,
That fools have their high finishings.

And this the princes’ golden rule,	5
The laborious stumble of a fool.
To make out the parts is the wise man’s aim,
But to loose them the fool makes his foolish game.

Note 1. VI 3 The swallow sings] Let it be told MS. 1st rdg. del. [back]