# So I want to post a poem . . .

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-post-a-poem/74402>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [July 31, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-post-a-poem/74402 "2001-07-31T22:22:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-post-a-poem/74402/1 "2001-07-31T22:22:51Z")

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It’s “Jerusalem” by William Blake. The lyrics can be read here:

[http://www.newearth.demon.co.uk/poems/lyric201.htm](http://www.newearth.demon.co.uk/poems/lyric201.htm)

The William Blake archive said that the archives there are protected by the US copyright laws, but I don’t want to post the archives there, I just want to post a poem. The submission form for asking to reproduce something is [here](http://www.blakearchive.org/public/permission_form/request_permission.html). I couldn’t figure it out.

The poem is from the 19th century. And while it would not be absolutely essential to the OP I have already mostly written (on disk), I really really really want to use the whole thing, which is 16 lines (without the spaces between four-line stanzas).

If I can’t I’ll just link to it, but the whole thing looks so much prettier if I have the poem in the OP:)

Anyway, ruling?

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**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2001, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-post-a-poem/74402/2 "2001-07-31T23:05:57Z")

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I do believe Blake is in the public domain, as he’s been taking that celestial dirt nap for quite a while now, so it should be okay from that standpoint.

For material that IS copyrighted, of course, only relevant excerpts and hyperlinks are allowed here.

Is there some compelling reason why ALL of it must be quoted? I do not want to open up a Pandora’s box of old literature – even if it’s GREAT old literature – reproduced in toto on this site.

your humble TubaDiva  
Administrator  
who is like a tyger on this issue

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**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\
**Post date:** [August 1, 2001, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-post-a-poem/74402/3 "2001-08-01T19:50:01Z")

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Tuba:  
The post (which, upon suggestion from another doper, I have decided to submit to _Teemings_ once I get it cleaned up) is about a song (Blake’s poem set to music) that was important to me in school, and how I’ve just in the past week or so remembered it. So while posting the poem itself isn’t essential to the post, I had wanted to include all of it to give the post a sense of . . . completeness?

Now that I’ve decided to give it to Euty for _Teemings_, of course, this becomes an academic question:)

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**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2001, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-post-a-poem/74402/4 "2001-08-02T14:12:05Z")

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[BullDurham]What do you mean “William Blake”?[/BullDurham]

😃