"Pity would be no more If we did not make somebody poor, And Mercy no more could be If all were as happy as we." The Human Abstract is a short poem by William Blake that was originally published in 1794 within Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794). Blake previously wrote Songs of Innocence in 1789 as a contrary to the Songs of Experience, and later published them both together in juxtaposition. This poem is one of the few in Songs of Experience that does not have an opposing poem in Songs of Innocence. William Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake's work is today considered seminal and significant in the history of both poetry and the visual arts.