Grain of Sand — Blake Heretics T-Shirt

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand / And a Heaven in a Wild Flower / Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand / And Eternity in an hour”

— William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence,” c. 1803. From the Pickering Manuscript; first published 1863.

William Blake wrote “Auguries of Innocence” around 1803. It opens with the four lines everyone quotes, then runs on for 128 more — couplets of moral paradox that almost never travel with the opening.

The poem is 132 lines; this quatrain is the part that survived on its own. It compresses a single argument — that scale is a matter of attention, that the very small and the very large can be the same thing seen from different distances. There’s no punctuation in the manuscript, so the four images run straight into one another. It survives in a single manuscript and didn’t reach print until 1863, decades after his death.

The Design

The quote runs on the back — all four lines, no punctuation, the capitalized nouns (World, Grain, Sand, Heaven, Wild Flower, Infinity, Eternity) carrying the weight Blake gave them, with the attribution beneath. The front is clean; the statement rides behind you.

Also on the Grain of Sand Mug, Grain of Sand Journal, and Grain of Sand Tumbler. More Blake: Soar High Tee, Soar High Mug, Soar High Journal.

About This Tee

• 100% combed and ring-spun cotton
• Fabric weight: 4.2 oz/yd² (142 g/m²)
• Retail fit, true to size
• Side-seamed construction
• Machine washable, cold water
• Quoteiac logo on the left sleeve

Who It’s For

The person who finds the infinite in the specific — who stops on a walk for something most people step over, who knows the size of a thing has nothing to do with its significance. The reader who already knew this and has been waiting for someone to say it on a shirt.

Everything you need is in the grain. Wear that.

William Blake, in Plain English

• Lived 1757–1827, in and around London — and never left England
• Trained as an engraver; printed and illustrated his own illuminated books by hand, crediting the technique to a vision of his late brother, Robert
• Wrote “Auguries of Innocence” around 1803; it survives in a single manuscript and didn’t reach print until 1863
• One of the foundational figures of Romantic poetry; later read closely by writers from T. S. Eliot to Allen Ginsberg

Size Chart (Bella + Canvas)