best biography william blake

William Blake

(1757-1827)

Who Was William Blake?

William Blake began writing at an early age and claimed to have had his first vision, of a tree full of angels, at age 10. He studied engraving and grew to love Gothic art, which he incorporated into his own unique works. A misunderstood poet, artist and visionary throughout much of his life, Blake found admirers late in life and has been vastly influential since his death in 1827.

Early Years

William Blake was born on November 28, 1757, in the Soho district of London, England. He only briefly attended school, being chiefly educated at home by his mother. The Bible had an early, profound influence on Blake, and it would remain a lifetime source of inspiration, coloring his life and works with intense spirituality.

At an early age, Blake began experiencing visions, and his friend and journalist Henry Crabb Robinson wrote that Blake saw God's head appear in a window when Blake was 4 years old. He also allegedly saw the prophet Ezekiel under a tree and had a vision of "a tree filled with angels." Blake's visions would have a lasting effect on the art and writings that he produced.

The Young Artist

Blake's artistic ability became evident in his youth, and by age 10, he was enrolled at Henry Pars' drawing school, where he sketched the human figure by copying from plaster casts of ancient statues. At age 14, he apprenticed with an engraver. Blake's master was the engraver to the London Society of Antiquaries, and Blake was sent to Westminster Abbey to make drawings of tombs and monuments, where his lifelong love of gothic art was seeded.

The Maturing Artist

In 1779, at age 21, Blake completed his seven-year apprenticeship and became a journeyman copy engraver, working on projects for book and print publishers. Also preparing himself for a career as a painter, that same year, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Art's Schools of Design, where he began exhibiting his own works in 1780. Blake's artistic energies branched out at this point, and he privately published his Poetical Sketches (1783), a collection of poems that he had written over the previous 14 years.

In August 1782, Blake married Catherine Sophia Boucher, who was illiterate. Blake taught her how to read, write, draw and color (his designs and prints). He also helped her to experience visions, as he did. Catherine believed explicitly in her husband's visions and his genius, and supported him in everything he did, right up to his death 45 years later.

One of the most traumatic events of Blake's life occurred in 1787, when his beloved brother, Robert, died from tuberculosis at age 24. At the moment of Robert's death, Blake allegedly saw his spirit ascend through the ceiling, joyously; the moment, which entered into Blake's psyche, greatly influenced his later poetry. The following year, Robert appeared to Blake in a vision and presented him with a new method of printing his works, which Blake called "illuminated printing." Once incorporated, this method allowed Blake to control every aspect of the production of his art.

While Blake was an established engraver, soon he began receiving commissions to paint watercolors, and he painted scenes from the works of Milton, Dante , Shakespeare and the Bible.

The Move to Felpham and Charges of Sedition

In 1800, Blake accepted an invitation from poet William Hayley to move to the little seaside village of Felpham and work as his protégé. While the relationship between Hayley and Blake began to sour, Blake ran into trouble of a different stripe: In August 1803, Blake found a soldier, John Schofield, on the property and demanded that he leave. After Schofield refused and an argument ensued, Blake removed him by force. Schofield accused Blake of assault and, worse, of sedition, claiming that he had damned the king.

The punishments for sedition in England at the time (during the Napoleonic Wars) were severe. Blake anguished, uncertain of his fate. Hayley hired a lawyer on Blake's behalf, and he was acquitted in January 1804, by which time Blake and Catherine had moved back to London.

Later Years

In 1804, Blake began to write and illustrate Jerusalem (1804-20), his most ambitious work to date. He also began showing more work at exhibitions (including Chaucer's Canterbury Pilgrims and Satan Calling Up His Legions ), but these works were met with silence, and the one published review was absurdly negative; the reviewer called the exhibit a display of "nonsense, unintelligibleness and egregious vanity," and referred to Blake as "an unfortunate lunatic."

Blake was devastated by the review and lack of attention to his works, and, subsequently, he withdrew more and more from any attempt at success. From 1809 to 1818, he engraved few plates (there is no record of Blake producing any commercial engravings from 1806 to 1813). He also sank deeper into poverty, obscurity and paranoia.

In 1819, however, Blake began sketching a series of "visionary heads," claiming that the historical and imaginary figures that he depicted actually appeared and sat for him. By 1825, Blake had sketched more than 100 of them, including those of Solomon and Merlin the magician and those included in "The Man Who Built the Pyramids" and "Harold Killed at the Battle of Hastings"; along with the most famous visionary head, that included in Blake's "The Ghost of a Flea."

Remaining artistically busy, between 1823 and 1825, Blake engraved 21 designs for an illustrated Book of Job (from the Bible) and Dante's Inferno . In 1824, he began a series of 102 watercolor illustrations of Dante — a project that would be cut short by Blake's death in 1827.

Death and Legacy

In the final years of his life, Blake suffered from recurring bouts of an undiagnosed disease that he called "that sickness to which there is no name." He died on August 12, 1827, leaving unfinished watercolor illustrations to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress and an illuminated manuscript of the Bible's Book of Genesis. In death, as in life, Blake received short shrift from observers, and obituaries tended to underscore his personal idiosyncrasies at the expense of his artistic accomplishments. The Literary Chronicle , for example, described him as "one of those ingenious persons ... whose eccentricities were still more remarkable than their professional abilities."

Unappreciated in life, Blake has since become a giant in literary and artistic circles, and his visionary approach to art and writing has not only spawned countless, spellbound speculations about Blake, they have inspired a vast array of artists and writers.

QUICK FACTS

• Name: William Blake
• Birth Year: 1757
• Birth date: November 28, 1757
• Birth City: London, England
• Birth Country: United Kingdom
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: William Blake was a 19th-century writer and artist who is regarded as a seminal figure of the Romantic Age. His writings have influenced countless writers and artists through the ages.
• Fiction and Poetry
• Christianity
• Astrological Sign: Sagittarius
• Royal Academy of Art's Schools of Design
• Death Year: 1827
• Death date: August 12, 1827
• Death City: London, England
• Death Country: United Kingdom

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: William Blake Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/william-blake
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
• Last Updated: May 27, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 2, 2014
• I am under the direction of messengers from Heaven daily and nightly.
• The vision of Christ that thou dost see is my vision's greatest enemy. Both read the Bible day and night, but thou readst black where I read white.

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William Blake

British Poet, Painter, and Printmaker

Summary of William Blake

Though he is perhaps still better-known as a poet than an artist, in many ways William Blake's life and work provide the template for our contemporary understanding of what a modern artist is and does. Overlooked by his peers, and sidelined by the academic institutions of his day, his work was championed by a small, zealous group of supporters. His lack of commercial success meant that Blake lived his life in relative poverty, a life in thrall to a highly individual, sometimes iconoclastic, imaginative vision. Through his prints, paintings, and poems, Blake constructed a mythical universe of an intricacy and depth to match Dante's Divine Comedy , but which, liked Dante's, bore the imprint of contemporary culture and politics. When Blake died, in a small house in London in 1827, he was poor and somewhat anonymous; today, we can recognize him as a prototype for the avant-garde artists of the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries, whose creative spirit stands at odds with the prevailing mood of their culture.

Accomplishments

• Blake was perhaps the quintessential Romantic artist. Like his peers in the world of Romantic literature - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelly - Blake stressed the primacy of individual imagination and inspiration to the creative process, rejecting the Neoclassical emphasis on formal precision which had defined much 18th-century painting and poetry. Above all else, Blake scorned the contemporary culture of Enlightenment and industrialization, which stood for a mechanization and intellectual reductivism which he deplored. Blake felt that imaginative insight was the only way to cast off the veil thrown over reality by rational thought, claiming that "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."
• Blake is unique amongst the artists of his day, and rare amongst artists of any era, in his integration of writing and painting into a single creative process, and in his use of innovative production techniques to combine image and text in single compositions. Celebrated for his visual output, Blake is also recognized as one of the most radical poets of the early Romantic period, combining a highly wrought, Miltonic style with grand, Gothic themes. Moreover, through original techniques such as his "illuminated printing" Blake was able to adapt his craft to meet the demands of his creativity.
• Blake's spiritual vision was central to his creativity, and was crucially and uniquely informed by a complex, imaginative pantheon of his own making, populated by deities such as Urizen, Los, Enitharmion, and Orc. Grand allegorical narratives illustrated with Blake's own designs, were played out in this universe, which might seem to have existed in a space apart from reality. However, in his epic poem sequences, Blake imagined the fate of the human world, in the era of the French and American Revolutions, as hinging on these sequences, determined by the battles between reason and imagination, lust and piety, order and revolution, which his protagonists represented.

Important Art by William Blake

Songs of Innocence and Experience

Songs of Innocence and Experience , a collection of poems written and illustrated by Blake, demonstrates his equal mastery of poetry and art. Blake printed the collection himself, using an innovative technique which he called 'illuminated printing: first, printing plates were produced by adding text and image - back-to-front, and simultaneously - to copper sheets, using an ink impervious to the nitric acid which was then used to erode the spaces between the lines. After an initial printing, detail was added to individual editions of the book using watercolors. Prone as he was to visions, Blake claimed that this method had been suggested to him by the spirit of his dead brother, Robert. Songs of Innocence was initially published on its own in 1789. Its partner-work, Songs of Experience , followed in 1794 in the wake of the French Revolution, the more worldly and troubling themes of this second volume reflecting Blake's increasing engagement with the politically turbulent era. The cover of Songs of Innocence and Experience includes the subtitle "The Two Contrary States of the Human Soul," a reference to the opposing essences which Blake took to animate the universe, depicted throughout the collection through a range of contrasting images and tropes. Beneath this caption are a man and woman, presumably Adam and Eve, whose bodies mirror each other, but are connected by Adam's leg, another indication of the dualities at work in the book. The use of vibrant color, and the intensity and fluidity of Blake's lines, creates a sense of drama complemented by the figures' anguished appearance. At the same time, the dance-like orientation of their bodies creates an almost childlike sense of play, which jars with the lofty nature of the project. Unappreciated during his lifetime, Blake's illuminated books are now ranked amongst the greatest achievements of Romantic art. They indicate his artisanal approach to his craft - influential on the 'cottage industries' of subsequent printer-poets such as William Morris - and his hatred of the printing press and mechanization in general. The question underlying this collection is how a benevolent God could allow space for both good and evil - or rather, innocence and experience - in the universe, these two necessary and opposing forces summed up by the contrasting images of the lamb and "the tyger", the subjects of the two best-known poems in the sequence. The influence of Blake's "tyger", in particular, its eyes "burning bright,/ In the forests of the night", echoes down through literary and artistic history, seeping into popular culture in a myriad of ways.

Pen and watercolor - Various editions

The Ancient of Days

The Ancient of Days , one of Blake's most recognizable works, portrays a bearded, godlike figure kneeling on a flaming disk, measuring out a dark void with a golden compass. This figure is Urizen, a fictional deity invented by Blake who forms parts of the artist's complex mythology, embodying the spirit of reason and law: two concepts with a very vexed position in Blake's moral universe. Urizen features as a character in several of Blake's illuminated long poems, including Europe: A Prophecy , for which this illustration was created. There, and here, Urizen is a repressive force, impeding the positive power of imagination. This piece can thus be read in light of a famous line from another of Blake's long works, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell : "The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction." In many ways, Blake is the exemplar for our modern conception of the Romantic artist. He prized imagination above all else, describing it not as "a state" but as the essence of "human existence itself." Thus, as The Ancient of Days implies, he disdained attempts to rationally curtail or control the power of imagination. This is also clear from the annotated version of Sir Joshua Reynold's Discourses on Art (1769-91) which he produced around this time. Blake was highly critical of Reynolds, an older and more established artist who, as President of the Royal Academy of Arts, embodied what Blake saw as the formulaic and stultifying ideals of the academy; his teeming marginalia to Reynold's treatise serves in some ways as a conscious affront to these ideals. But if The Ancient of Days also encapsulates the rational spirit Blake was wary of, the undeniable majesty of the figure also reflects his belief in human beings' visionary power, just as his famous and beautiful line from Auguries of Innocence compels the reader "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". With his oppositional critiques of the art establishment, Blake set the stage for artists later in the nineteenth century, like the French painters Gustave Courbet and Édouard Manet, who deliberately set about to challenge academic paradigms. The Ancient of Days sums up something of the spirit Blake was opposing, but also of the spirit he was endorsing. It is also known to have been one of his favorite images, an example of his early work, but also one of his last works, as he painted a copy of it in bed shortly before his death.

Watercolor etching - Private Collection

This piece, like Songs of Innocence and Experience , was made using Blake's illuminated printing technique. It seems to portray two cherubim, one of whom holds a baby, on white horses in a darkened sky, jumping over a prostrated female figure. The image is generally understood as an interpretation of a passage from Shakespeare's Macbeth : "And pity, like a naked new-born babe,/ Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin, hors'd/ Upon the sightless couriers of the air,/ Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye". Blake's use of blues and greens, contrasting with the whites of the figures, grants the work a nocturnal, dreamlike quality. Indeed, some scholars have questioned the extent to which the piece draws on Shakespeare's verse, suggesting instead that it might depict figures from Blake's own imaginative pantheon, as its visionary intensity seems to imply. The figure turning away from the viewer might be the god Urizen, for example, the face leaning down from the horse that of Los, an oppositional force to Urizen but also his prophet on earth, who has taken on the female form of Pity - often embodied in the character of his partner, Enitharmion - to enact Urizen's will. The woman below might be Eve, fulfilling the biblical prophecy that "in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children" by generating the miniaturized male figure cradled in Los's arms. By this reading, Pity represents the fall of man, in particular the moment when he becomes aware of his sexuality, and his subjugation to God. Through mythological and literary-inspired works such as Pity , Blake would exert an immense influence on the course of post-Romantic art, including on the Pre-Raphaelites, who often drew on literary and Shakespearean themes, as in John Everett Millais's Ophelia (1851) and John William Waterhouse's Miranda (1916). The hallucinatory quality of works such as Pity , meanwhile, along with their apparent deep allegorical significance, would have a profound effect on movements such as Symbolism and Surrealism.

Relief etching, printed in color and finished with pen and ink and watercolor - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Isaac Newton

In this, perhaps Blake's most famous visual artwork, the mathematician and physicist Isaac Newton is shown drawing on a scroll on the ground with a large compass. He sits on a rock surrounded by darkness, hunched over and entirely consumed by his thoughts. This engraving was developed from the tenth plate of Blake's early illustrated treatise There is No Natural Religion , which shows a man kneeling on the floor with a compass and features the caption "He who sees the Infinite in all things sees God. He who sees the Ratio only, sees himself only". For Blake, Newton was the living embodiment of rationality and scientific enquiry, a mode of intelligence which he saw as reductive, sterile, and ultimately blinding. Isaac Newton is clearly a critical visual allegory, therefore, the sharp angles and straight lines used to mark out Newton's body emphasizing the repressive spirit of reason, while the organic textures of the rock, apparently covered in algae and living organisms, represent the world of nature, where the spirit of human imagination finds its true mirror. The deep, consuming black surrounding Newton, generally taken to represent the bottom of the sea or outer space, indicates his ignorance of this world, his distance from the Platonic light of truth. The compass is a symbol of geometry and rational order, a tool and emblem of the stultifying materialism of the Enlightenment. Blake's scorn for the scientific worldview, which also gave rise to his famous depiction of the god Urizen in The Ancient of Days - another figure who tries to measure out the universe with a compass - is summed up by his assertion that "Art is the Tree of Life. Science is the Tree of Death". Blake's Isaac Newton has been the subject of numerous reproductions, homages, and reinterpretations, and the figure of Newton himself is probably Blake's best-known visual image, perhaps because it sums up his creative credo so perfectly. The image is also famous because it has proved so fascinating to subsequent artists. In 1995, the British pop artist Eduardo Paolozzi created a large number of bronze sculptures inspired by Blake's work, including a huge sculptural homage to Blake's Newton - though both curvier and more machine-like than its predecessor - which now sits outside the British Library in London.

Engraving - Collection of the Tate, United Kingdom

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

The painting, finished in pen and ink, illustrates a passage from the Bible, a prophecy described in the Gospel of Matthew as having been used by Jesus to advise the faithful on spiritual vigilance, describing how "A trumpeting angel flying overhead signifies that the moment of judgment has arrived". Blake contrasts the elegant and wise virgins on the left, prepared for the trumpet's call from the angel above, with the foolish virgins on the right, who fall over their feet in agitation and fear. The Parable was commissioned by Blake's patron and friend Thomas Butts, one of a huge number of tempera and watercolor paintings completed by Blake at Butt's behest between 1800 and 1806, all depicting Biblical scenes. Though his own faith was anything but conformist, Blake had a profound respect for the Bible, considering it to be the greatest work of poetry in human history, and the basis of all true art. He often used it as a source of inspiration, and believed that its allegories and parables could serve as a wellspring for creative spirit opposing the rational, Neoclassical principles of the 18th century. The message of Matthew's passage is enhanced here by strong tonal contrasts, the graceful luminosity of the wise women contrasted with the ignominious darkness surrounding them. Works such as The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins were influenced by various Renaissance artists who had explored similar, Biblical themes, and whose work Blake had devoured as a child. Leonardo da Vinci's The Adoration of the Magi (1481-82), The Annunciation (c. 1474), and The Last Supper (c. 1495-98) are good examples of such works, as are Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescoes (c. 1508-12), and Fra Angelico's The Madonna of Humility (1430). By not only entering into dialogue with these pieces, but by putting his own gloss on the moral and emotional dynamics of the scene, Blake expressed the ambition of his religious vision.

Watercolor, pen and black ink over graphite - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Great Red Dragon and The Woman Clothed in Sun

This ink and watercolor work depicts a hybrid creature, half human half dragon, spreading its wings over a woman enveloped in sunlight. It belongs to a body of works known as "The Great Red Dragon Paintings", created during 1805-10, a period when Thomas Butts commissioned Blake to create over a hundred Biblical illustrations. The Dragon paintings represent scenes from the Book of Revelation, inspired mainly by the book's apocalyptic description of "a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads". The Great Red Dragon is an example of Blake's mature artistic style, expressing the vividness of his mythological imagination in its dramatic use of color, and its sinuously expressive lines. The poet Kathleen Raine explains that Blake's linear style is characteristic of religious art: "Blake insists that the 'spirits', whether of men or gods, should be 'organized', within a 'determinate and bounding form'." This work also bears out Blake's claim that "Art can never exist without Naked Beauty display'd". Even in the portrayal of a destructive and aggressive subject, beauty, in particular the beauty of the human body, always plays a fundamental and central role in Blake's art: indeed, there is something of the human vigor and strength of Milton's Satan in the central, winged form. Like Blake's Newton, his Great Red Dragon is an image which has permeated artistic and popular culture, particularly during the 20th century. Famously, the main character of Thomas Harris's 1981 novel Red Dragon obsesses over Blake's beast, believing that he can become the dragon himself by emulating its brutal power. The sequels to Harris's novel, Silence of the Lambs (1988) and Hannibal (1999) - adapted, like Red Dragon , into successful films - ensured the cultural resonance of Blake's monstrous but enticingly human creation.

Ink, watercolor and graphite on paper - The Brooklyn Museum, New York

The Angels Hovering Over the Body of Christ in the Sepulchre

This watercolor and ink work, commissioned like The Great Red Dragon and The Wise and Foolish Virgin by Blake's great patron Thomas Butts, depicts a scene from the Biblical story of Jesus's death and rebirth. Following his crucifixion, Jesus's body was buried in a cave or tomb. As described in the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene visited the tomb to find two angels sitting "where the body of Jesus had lain". Upset at the body's absence, she began to weep, only to find Jesus standing beside her. Adapting the details of this scene, Blake places the two angels hovering above Jesus's body, probably portraying the moment just before his resurrection. Though Blake's alteration of the details of the Gospel story are minor, they express his unorthodox, irreverently creative approach to faith and scripture. His depiction of the angels, for example, is said to be inspired by a passage from the Old Testament's Book of Exodus: "the cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high... and their faces shall look one to another". The angelic forms also seem to allude to the wings which Blake claimed to have seen appearing on trees and stars as a child. As such, the image is testament to his belief in the central role of individual imagination in the interpretation of faith. In compositional terms, the darkness of the sepulchre, and the delicate whites and yellows of the aureoles around the angels' heads, give the painting an almost monochromatic quality, while the symmetry of the composition grants it a visual harmony in keeping with its spiritual significance. In his imaginative adaptations of Biblical and religious scenes, Blake not only responded to a tradition of religious paintings extending back to the Renaissance, but also predicted the post-Romantic, imaginative adaptation of religious iconography in the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites, Symbolists, and other proto-modernist movements. As such, the vision expressed in works such as The Angels is both historically aware and subtly radical.

Pen, ink and watercolor on paper - Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Ghost of a Flea

This delicate tempera painting, finished in gold leaf, depicts the ghost of a flea, represented as a combination of man and animal, staring into an empty bowl or cup. The figure appears to be pacing the boards of a stage, set against a backdrop adorned with painted stars, flanked by the heavy patterned curtains of a theater. His pose is suitably melodramatic, while the awkward weight of his body dwarfs his small, half-human head. This work was composed on a miniature scale, on a wooden board measuring roughly 21 by 16 cm. Whereas much of Blake's earlier work draws on Biblical or literary themes, this painting is the expression of a macabre, darkly comic inner vision, and is considered amongst the most 'Gothic' of his works. According to John Varley, an astrologer, artist, and close friend of Blake's, who made notes on his practice, the painting was created after one of Blake's séances, during which he claimed to have been visited by the ghost of a flea who explained to him that fleas were the resurrected souls of men prone to excess. In this sense, the cup is a symbol for "blood-drinking", for overindulgence and intemperance. That interpretation is complemented by the half-human form of the spirit, suggesting a man in thrall to his animal instincts, while the stage might be a metaphor for society - the horror or scorn of the crowd - or for the vanity bound up with compulsive behavior. The Ghost of A Flea is a singular manifestation of Blake's unique spiritual and imaginative temperament. Its late composition suggests that his visions became more idiosyncratic, more untethered from the collective, social view of reality, as he aged.

Tempera and gold leaf on mahogany - Collection of the Tate, United Kingdom

The Lovers Whirlwind

The Lovers Whirlwind illustrates a scene from the fifth canto of The Inferno , the first book of The Divine Comedy (c. 1308-20), by the medieval Florentine poet Dante. As the poem's protagonist, Dante himself, descends into the outer circles of hell, he comes across a number of people caught up in a whirlwind, shrieking with pain. Dante's guide, the Roman poet Virgil, explains that these are lovers "whom love bereav'd of life", punished for the illicit nature of their desire. They include Francesca, the daughter of a lord of Ravenna, who fell in love with her husband's brother Paolo, and was sentenced to die alongside him. Profoundly moved by their story, Dante faints, as portrayed in the painting to the right of the bearded Virgil. Above Virgil's head, Blake seems to depict Paolo and Francesca in a sphere of light, while the surrounding whirlwind of lovers ascends to heaven. This painting belongs to a series of works commissioned by John Linnell, Blake's friend and second great patron, after the success of the illustrations for The Book of Job which Blake was already composing for Linnell. There was an established tradition of creating illustrations for the Divine Comedy , stretching back to the early Renaissance period, and to artists such as Premio della Quercia, Vechietta, and Sandro Botticelli. Blake was probably inspired by their work, but with typical immodesty he spoke of his superiority to many Renaissance masters in his handling of color, seen to be at its most accomplished in the Divine Comedy sequence. Blake believed that the effective use of color depended on control of form and outline, claiming that "it is always wrong in Titian and Correggio, Rubens and Rembrandt." As for his response to Dante, it is typical of Blake's critical stance on religious orthodoxy, and his belief in the sanctity of love, that he chooses to deliver the condemned lovers from their torment. The Divine Comedy commission was left incomplete as Blake died in 1827, having produced only a few of the paintings. However, those that survive are noted for their exquisite use of color, and for their complex, proto-Symbolist, visionary motifs. Linnell's commission is also said to have filled Blake with energy despite his age and ill health; he reputedly spent the last of his money on a pencil to continue his drawings.

Pen and watercolor - City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham

Satan Before the Throne of God: When the Almighty was yet with me

This engraving depicts the Old Testament character of Job surrounded by his children, while Satan sits above him in heaven, in front of a large sun, encircled by angels. The scene is an illustration of Job 29.5, which is written below the plate: "When the Almighty was yet with me, When my Children were about me". Satan Before the Throne of God is one of 22 engraved prints created towards the end of Blake's life, known as the Illustrations of the Book of Job . In the passage above, God has allowed Satan to kill Job's family and take away his wealth in order to test his faith. Though his relationship with God ultimately endures, at this point Job is lamenting his lost happiness, and questioning the creator's wisdom. The Book of Job had preoccupied Blake since 1785, and was the subject of two previous watercolor paintings, created for Thomas Butts in 1805 and John Linnell in 1821. When he began the engravings Blake was therefore able to adapt various existing images, but the engravings became his most virtuosic response to the theme. The whole series expresses his fascination with the figure of Job who, like Blake, had lived a life of penury coupled with intense religious devotion. In compositional terms, the Job illustrations are Blake's most technically complex engravings, rendered with an extraordinary degree of tonal and figurative detail. A marvelous final expression of Blake's imaginative and religious vision, Kathleen Raine describes the Illustrations of the Book of Job as "more than an illustration of the Bible; they are in themselves a prophetic vision, a spiritual revelation, at once a personal testimony and replete with Blake's knowledge of Christian Cabbala, Neoplatonism, and the mystical theology of the Western Esoteric tradition as a whole". She calls them as "a complete statement of Blake's vision of man's spiritual drama."

Engraving - Hunterian Museum & Art Gallery, Glasgow

Biography of William Blake

William Blake was born in Soho, London, into a respectable working-class family. His father James sold stockings and gloves for a living, while his mother, Catherine Hermitage, looked after the couple's seven children, two of whom died in infancy. William, a strong-willed boy and an evident prodigy from a young age, often absconded from school to wander through the streets of London, or spent his time copying drawings of Greek antiquities; moreover, inspired by the work of Raphael and Michelangelo, he also developed an early fascination with poetry. Though his childhood was peaceful and pleasant, William began experiencing visions at the age of eight, claiming to see angels on trees, or wings that looked like stars. Though troubled by his stories, Blake's parents supported his artistic ambitions, enrolling him when he was ten at the Henry Par drawing academy, then a well-regarded preparatory school for young artists.

Early Training

The drawing academy turned out to be too expensive, and Blake was forced to quit after four years. It was intended that he would become apprentice to a master engraver but - so the story goes - when his father took him to meet his prospective employer William Ryland, the young Blake refused, declaring that "it looks as if he will live to be hanged!", a prophecy which, strangely enough, came true years later. In the end, William was apprenticed for five years to James Basire, an engraver to the Society of Antiquaries. Blake came to value his training with Basire, which had a great impact on his work: especially his various on-site drawings of Gothic monuments. In his spare time, the young engraver studied medieval and Renaissance art, especially Raphael , Michelangelo , and Dürer , who in Blake's view - as paraphrased by art historian Elizabeth E. Barker - had produced a "timeless, 'Gothic' art, infused with Christian spirituality and created with poetic genius".

When he was 21, Blake left his apprenticeship and enrolled at the Royal Academy. His time there was brief, however, reputedly because he questioned the aesthetic doctrines of the president Sir Joshua Reynolds , describing the Academy as a 'cramped imaginative environment'. Blake began earning a living as an commercial engraver for various publications, including popular books such as Don Quixote . At this time, in 1799, according to the poet and Blake scholar Kathleen Raine, Blake wrote to his friend George Cumberland - one of the founders of the National Gallery - "that his 'Genius or Angel' was guiding his inspiration to the fulfillment of the 'purpose for which alone I live, which is [...] to renew the lost Art of the Greeks'". Such a statement already makes clear not only Blake's admiration for Ancient Greek art, but also his sense of the interconnectedness of art and spirituality. Importantly, however, the spiritual guides who he claimed governed his artistic vision never steered him into the confines of organized religion: he never attended church.

In August 1782, at the age of 25, Blake met, courted and married Catherine Boucher, the daughter of a local grocer. Partly because the couple had no children, Blake devoted much time to teaching Catherine how to read, write, and draw, while Catherine helped her husband with his designs. In 1783, Blake published his first volume of poetry, Poetical Sketches ; though sales were poor, the Blakes' finances were stable due to William's increasing popularity as an engraver. With his father's inheritance, Blake opened a shop with his friend James Parker.

In 1788, he used his method of "illuminated printing" for the first time in There is No Natural Religion , a small pamphlet containing his illustrated poetic and religious credo. Around this time, Blake's brother Robert died, probably of tuberculosis, after a long and grueling illness. His death had a profound impact on Blake, who began believing that Robert's spirit lived within him, inspiring him through visions and apparitions.

Mature Period

In 1795, Blake began a series known as the Large Colour Prints , depicting subjects from the Bible, Milton, and Shakespeare. Though Blake was never an isolated figure - he socialized widely, and attached himself to various cultural circles in London, through friends such as Henry Fuseli and James Barry - Raine notes that he was not an "easy man socially", being "proud, argumentative and violently opposed to current fashion, in his art and his philosophic and religious ideas alike". Certainly, Blake was radical in his political and religious views, and had no interest in conforming to social type. A kind of Platonist, he believed that the scientific view of the universe propagated by the Enlightenment was the "enemy of life", though, as the journalist Peter Blake adds, he was also an "artist with public ambitions", not yet the solitary hermit of his later years.

The same year he began work on the Large Colour Prints , Blake was introduced to Thomas Butts, who would become his main patron for several years, commissioning a large number of works. Loyal and supportive, Butts left Blake to pursue his private visions and impulses, "promising", as Raine puts it, "only to buy from him whatever he should paint." During this time Blake wrote: "I think I foresee better things than I have ever seen. My work pleases my employer, and I have an order for fifty small pictures at one guinea each, which is something better than mere copying after another artist."

The poet William Haley also became Blake's patron for a while, hiring him to undertake a commission in 1800, but Blake quickly became disillusioned with his assigned task, and, based at Haley's country estate at Felpham, sank into a depression, finding it impossible to "sacrifice his integrity as an artist for profit". The relationship between the two poets ended in acrimony, Haley describing Blake as his "spiritual enemy", and from around this time on, Blake found it increasingly hard to make a living, with engraving work drying up despite his connections with the London art world, and his ongoing commissions from Butts. Unlike his friends Fuseli and Barry, who held positions at the Royal Academy, Blake was not a member of the art 'establishment', and was never given the opportunity to undertake large-scale public works. In 1809, he lamented his lack of public commissions in England, writing in "The Invention of a Portable Fresco", a catalogue for his only public exhibition, that creating portable frescoes might be a good way to convince "visionless" patrons of the quality of his work.

Compounding his troubles, Blake's hallucinations and reveries increasingly led to him being perceived as insane: perhaps with some justification, as he is known to have publicly claimed that he revised Michelangelo's and Dürer's work on the artists' advice after communicating with them in visions. Coupled with his proud conduct and strongly-held beliefs - never humble about his craft, he once wrote to Butts that "The works I have done for you are equal to Carrache or Rafael" - Blake's mysticism drew him into ever more solitary patterns of existence. Nonetheless, he continued to generate a prodigious body of work, inspired by a deep faith in the power of imagination, and by his attentiveness to what he called "miracles". Blake once stated: "I know that this world is a world of imagination & vision. I see everything I paint in this world, but everybody does not see alike". Throughout his mature period, he often claimed to be encouraged in his work by Archangels, or to be in communication with historical and mythical figures such as the Virgin Mary.

For Kathleen Raine, "the bitterest irony in the story of Blake's failures and humiliations is that he was never unknown; on the contrary, he was in the heart of London's art world, and knew all the most famous artists and engravers of his day. And yet he failed where they succeeded, ousted by men of inferior talents and passed over by lifelong friends."

Blake lived in Soho, the neighborhood of his birth, for almost his entire life, very rarely travelling. But despite this lack of worldliness, he made himself a highly cultured man, acquiring a large collection of classical art prints, for example. After years of poverty, he was forced to sell his print collection, but in 1818 Blake's financial fortunes turned once again when he met John Linnell, the man who would become his second great patron. Linnell provided Blake with financial stability in the later years of his life through his commissions and purchases, and also introduced Blake to a group of artists known as The Ancients, or The Shoreham Ancients, who had been brought together by their collective admiration for Blake's work. Like Blake, this group spurned 'modern' approaches to art and aesthetics, and held a broadly Platonic view of the universe. Towards the end of his life, then, Blake suddenly found himself a revered 'teacher' and leader. Indeed, the most talented of the Ancients, Samuel Palmer, is generally considered an inheritor of Blake's vision and technique.

Around 1820, Blake moved into a house near the Strand, spending his days engraving in a small bedroom. In 1821, at the age of 65, he embarked on a commission from Linnell to illustrate The Book of Job. Writing of Blake around this time, Samuel Palmer described Blake as "moving apart, in a sphere above the attraction of worldly honors". "He did not accept genius", Palmer added, "but confer it. He ennobled poverty, and by his conversation and the influence of his genius, made two small rooms in Fountain Court more attractive than the threshold of princes." The diarist Henry Crabb Robinson, another friend from this period, wrote in a letter of 1826 that anyone who met Blake saw in him as "at once the Maker, the Inventor; one of the few in any age: a fitting companion of Dante". Robinson described Blake as embodying "energy" itself, shedding an atmosphere "full of the ideal" all around him, despite his age and relative penury.

William Blake died in August 1827, at the age of 70. At the time of his death he was working on a set of illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy which are now considered amongst his best work. It is said that on the day of his death, as he worked frantically on these images, he proclaimed to his wife: "Stay! Keep as you are! You have ever been an angel to me: I will draw you!". A few hours later he passed away: the drawings are now lost.

Art critic Richard Holmes claims that when Blake died, "he was already a forgotten man", with sales for his engravings and painted poems scarcely reaching 20 copies over 30 years. Yet, for George Richmond, an artist associated with The Ancients, Blake "died like a saint...singing of the things he saw in heaven".

The Legacy of William Blake

William Blake is generally considered one of the great artistic polymaths, not just one of the finest poets in the English language, but also one of Britain's most revolutionary visual artists: the critic Jonathan Jones describes him as "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". Blake is also remembered for the intricate and unique philosophical and religious schemas which sustained his work: whereas Romantic contemporaries such as J.M.W. Turner and John Constable drew inspiration from the landscape, Blake turned inwards, to an imaginative world based on the Bible and other religious and literary texts, taking his viewers on what Elizabeth E. Barker calls "journeys of the mind." Kathleen Raine explains that to the artist himself, Blake's works represented "'portions of eternity' seen in imaginative vision". She compares him to Renaissance masters such as Michelangelo, Dürer, Dante, and Fra Angelico (Blake's favorite artist) in his ability to create all-enveloping imaginative realms seemingly ex nihilo , offering us "fragments of worlds whose bounds extend beyond any of those portions their work embodied".

It is all the more ironic, then, that Blake was disregarded by artistic and literary society during his lifetime. Since it was common knowledge that he claimed to work from visions, he was generally categorized as eccentric or insane; only when the art critic Alexander Gilchrist, born a year after Blake's death, took to the concerted study of his art and legacy - resulting in the publication of The Life of William Blake in 1863 - was the full scope and significance of Blake's visions realised. Gilchrist described Blake's hallucinations as encoding a "special faculty" of the imagination, his avowed connection to the spiritual world evidence not of madness but of a form of "mysticism". Gilchrist's writing created a new context for the study of Blake's practice, just as Pre-Raphaelite artists such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti were responding afresh to the clarion call of Blake's spiritual intensity.

More generally, Blake's visionary and mystical works exerted an enormous influence on the later development of Romanticism in art, and, subsequently, on Pre-Raphaelitism , Symbolism , and even modernism. Blake's influence on literature has also been profound: Walt Whitman , W. B. Yeats , and Allen Ginsberg are amongst the poets profoundly inspired by him, while Blakean visions also had an afterlife in the abstract and psychedelic pop lyrics of the sixties, especially in Bob Dylan's post-beat dream sequences. In the present day, Blake's legacy extends all over high and popular culture, including art, literature, music, and film. It is believed, for example, that the illustrations for Lord of Rings and other movies on mythological themes were inspired by his imagery.

Art critic Alexander Gilchrist claims that Blake made his work for "children and angels; himself 'a divine child,' whose playthings were sun, moon, and stars, the heavens and the earth". In proclaiming the values of creative freedom, imaginative play, religious tolerance, and all forms of love, Blake created work of an enduring and profoundly positive value.

Influences and Connections

Useful Resources on William Blake

• Eternity's Sunrise: The Imaginative World of William Blake Our Pick By Leo Damrosch
• William Blake: The Complete Illuminated Books Our Pick By William Blake
• The Prophetic Books of William Blake: Jerusalem By Eric Robert Dalrymple Maclagan
• William Blake Our Pick By Kathleen Raine
• William Blake: The Critical Heritage By G.E. Bentley Jnr.
• Life of William Blake By Alexander Gilchrist
• William Blake Archive Our Pick
• List of William Blake's artworks WikiArt
• How William Blake keeps our eye on The Tyger By Jonathan Jones / The Guardian / November 18, 2014
• Saving Blake Our Pick By Richard Holmes / The Guardian / November 29, 2004
• William Blake Our Pick By Elizabeth E. Barker / MET Museum
• A (Self?) Portrait of William Blake By Robert N. Essick / Winter 2005
• William Blake: The Art of a Lunatic? Our Pick By Peter Blake / April 26, 2009 / The Independent
• Various articles on Blake Our Pick Full list of articles written by Blake experts for the Blake: An Illustrated Quarterly
• William Blake Documentary (2005) Our Pick By Academy Media (UK)
• Lecture: William Blake On Religion Our Pick By Neville Goddard who talks about the mystical William Blake and his spiritual revelation about the Imagination, States, Vision, Manifesting.
• Red Dragon By Thomas Harris
• Taming the Tyger (album and song) By Joni Mitchell

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Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

William blake (1757–1827).

Songs of Experience: The Tyger

William Blake

The Angel Appearing to Zacharias

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

Angel of the Revelation (Book of Revelation, chapter 10)

Elizabeth E. Barker Department of Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2004

William Blake (1757–1827), one of the greatest poets in the English language, also ranks among the most original visual artists of the Romantic era . Born in London in 1757 into a working-class family with strong nonconformist religious beliefs, Blake first studied art as a boy, at the drawing academy of Henry Pars. He served a five-year apprenticeship with the commercial engraver James Basire before entering the Royal Academy Schools as an engraver at the age of twenty-two. This conventional training was tempered by private study of medieval and Renaissance art; as revealed by his early designs for Edward Young’s Night Thoughts ( Nature revolves, but Man advances ), Blake sought to emulate the example of artists such as Raphael, Michelangelo, and Dürer in producing timeless, “Gothic” art, infused with Christian spirituality and created with poetic genius.

In 1782, Blake married Catherine Boucher (1762–1831), an impoverished grocer’s daughter who would become his studio assistant. Blake now threw his energies into developing his career as an engraver, opening a short-lived print shop with a fellow Basire apprentice (James Parker) in 1784, before striking out on his own ( Job, a Historical Engraving ). The great advance in Blake’s printmaking occurred in 1787, following the untimely death, probably from tuberculosis, of the artist’s beloved younger brother Robert, who had been living with William and Catherine since 1784. Blake reported discovering his wholly original method of “relief etching”—which creates a single, raised printing surface for both text and image—in a vision of Robert soon after his death. Relief etching allowed Blake to control all aspects of a book’s production: he composed the verses, designed the illustrations (preparing word and image almost simultaneously on the same copper printing plate), printed the plates, colored each sheet by hand (where necessary), and bound the pages together in covers. The resulting “illuminated books” were written in a range of forms—prophecies, emblems, pastoral verses, biblical satire, and children’s books—and addressed various timely subjects—poverty, child exploitation, racial inequality, tyranny, religious hypocrisy. Not surprisingly, these works rank among Blake’s most celebrated achievements ( 17.10.42 ; The Ancient of Days ; Los, his Spectre; and Enitharmon before a Druid Temple ).

Blake’s technical experiments of the 1790s culminated in a series of large color prints notable for their massive size and iconic designs. Unaccompanied by any text, they comprise his most ambitious work as a visual artist. No commission or public exhibition is recorded, and the intended program of the group remains uncertain: of the twelve known designs, many of the subjects—drawn from the Bible, Shakespeare ( 58.603 ), Milton, and other sources ( Newton )—function as pairs.

Blake described his technique as “fresco.” It appears to be a form of monotype: using oil and tempera paints mixed with chalks, Blake painted the design onto a flat surface (a copperplate or piece of millboard), from which he pulled the prints simply by pressing a sheet of paper against the damp paint. He finished the designs in ink and watercolor , making each—rare—impression unique.

For Blake, the Bible was the greatest work of poetry ever written, and comprised the basis of true art, as opposed to the false, pagan ideal of classicism. He found a sympathetic patron in Thomas Butts (1757–1845), a prosperous Swedenborgian (a member of the Protestant sect founded by the eighteenth-century Swedish scientist, philosopher, theologian, and visionary Emanuel Swedenborg). Butts amassed a small fortune as a clerk in the office of the Muster Master General, and became Blake’s most loyal patron and closest friend. During the decade 1799–1809, Butts commissioned from Blake a series of illustrations to the Bible that included about fifty tempera paintings ( 51.30.1 ) and more than eighty watercolors ( 14.81.2 ). These focus on Old Testament prefigurations of Christ, the life of Christ , and apocalyptic subjects from the Book of Revelation, although the series’ exact program and its intended display remain unclear.

For the rest of his life, Blake continued to develop his art on an inward-looking, imaginative trajectory. Whereas notable contemporaries such as J. M. W. Turner and John Constable found the subjects of their art in the landscape, Blake sought his (primarily figural) subjects in journeys of the mind. (Indeed, he never traveled outside of Britain and, aside from a brief period on the southern coast of England—where he worked for the poet William Hayley in Felpham from 1800 to 1803—spent his entire life in London.) In addition to the Bible and his own writings, Blake drew on other texts—most notably, Dante ( Beatrice addressing Dante from the Car )—and found a seemingly inexhaustible source of inspiration in his own fertile mind ( The Ghost of a Flea ).

Barker, Elizabeth E. . “William Blake (1757–1827).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/blke/hd_blke.htm (October 2004)

Further Reading

Bindman, David. William Blake: His Art and Times . Exhibition catalogue. New Haven: Yale Center for British Art, 1982.

Butlin, Martin. William Blake . Exhibition catalogue. London: Tate Gallery, 1978.

Hamlyn, Robin, and Michael Phillips. William Blake . Exhibition catalogue. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001.

Additional Essays by Elizabeth E. Barker

• Barker, Elizabeth E.. “ The Printed Image in the West: Mezzotint .” (October 2003)
• Barker, Elizabeth E.. “ Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) .” (October 2004)
• Barker, Elizabeth E.. “ John Constable (1776–1837) .” (October 2004)
• Barker, Elizabeth E.. “ Watercolor Painting in Britain, 1750–1850 .” (October 2004)

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Biography Online

Biography William Blake

“Tyger, Tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”

– William Blake – The Tyger (from Songs of Experience )

Short Bio of William Blake

William Blake was born in London 28 November 1757, where he spent most of his life. His father was a successful London hosier and attracted by the Religious teachings of  Emmanuel Swedenborg. Blake was first educated at home, chiefly by his mother.  Blake remained very close to his mother and wrote a lot of poetry about her.  Poems such as Cradle Song illustrate Blake’s fond memories for his upbringing by his mother:

Sweet dreams, form a shade O’er my lovely infant’s head; Sweet dreams of pleasant streams By happy, silent, moony beams. Sweet sleep, with soft down Weave thy brows an infant crown. Sweep sleep, Angel mild, Hover o’er my happy child.

– William Blake

His parents were broadly sympathetic with his artistic temperament and they encouraged him to collect Italian prints. He found work as an engraver, joining the trade at an early age. He found the early apprenticeship rather boring, but the skills he learnt proved useful throughout his artistic life. He became very skilled as an engraver and after completing his apprenticeship in 1779, he set up as an independent artist. He received many commissions and became well known as a skilled artist. Throughout his life, Blake was innovative and his willingness to depict the spirit world in physical form was criticised by elements of the press.

In 1791, Blake fell in love with Catherine Boucher, an illiterate and poor woman from Battersea across the Thames. The marriage proved a real meeting of mind and spirit. Blake taught his wife to read and write, and freely shared his inner and outer experiences. Catherine became a devoted wife and an uncompromising supporter of Blake’s artistic genius.

“Love seeketh not itself to please, Nor for itself hath any care, But for another gives its ease, And builds a heaven in hell’s despair.”

– Songs of Experience, The Clod and the Pebble, st. 1

Mystical experiences and poetry

‘Pity’ by William Blake

As a young boy, Blake recalls having a most revealing vision of seeing angels in the trees. These mystical visions returned throughout his life, leaving a profound mark on his poetry and outlook.

“I am not ashamed, afraid, or averse to tell you what Ought to be Told: That I am under the direction of Messengers from Heaven, Daily & Nightly; but the nature of such things is not, as some suppose, without trouble or care.” – Letters of William Blake

William Blake was also particularly sensitive to cruelty. His heart wept at the sight of man’s inhumanity to other men and children. In many ways he was also of radical temperament, rebelling against the prevailing orthodoxy of the day. His anger and frustration at the world can be seen in his collection of poems “ Songs of Experience ”

“How can the bird that is born for joy Sit in a cage and sing? How can a child, when fears annoy, But droop his tender wing, And forget his youthful spring!”

– William Blake: The Schoolboy

As well as writing poetry that revealed and exposed the harsh realities of life, William Blake never lost touch with his heavenly visions. Like a true seer, he could see beyond the ordinary world and glimpse another possibility.

“To see a world in a grain of sand And heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palm of your hand And eternity in an hour.”

This poem from Auguries of Innocence is one of the most loved poems in the English language. Within four short lines, he gives an impression of the infinite in the finite, and the eternal in the transient.

One of Blake’s greatest poems – popularly referred to as ‘Jerusalem’ – was the preface to his epic work “Milton: A poem in two books”. This hymn was inspired by the story that Jesus travelled to Glastonbury, England – in the years before his documented life in the Gospels. To Blake, Jerusalem was a metaphor for creating Heaven on earth and transforming all that is ugly about modern life ‘dark satanic mills’ into ‘England’s green and pleasant land.” Jerusalem, set to music by Hubert Parry in 1916, is often seen as England’s unofficial national anthem.

On one occasion he got into trouble with the authorities for forcing a soldier to leave his back garden. It was in the period of the Napoleonic Wars where the government were cracking down on any perceived lack of patriotism. In this climate, he was arrested for sedition and faced the possibility of jail. Blake defended himself and despite the prejudices of those who disliked Blake’s anti-military attitude, he was able to gain an acquittal.

Religion of Blake

Outwardly Blake was a member of the Church of England, where he was christened, married and buried. However, his faith and spiritual experience was much deeper and more unconventional than orthodox religion. He considered himself a sincere Christian but was frequently critical of organised religion.

“And now let me finish with assuring you that, Tho I have been very unhappy, I am so no longer. I am again. Emerged into the light of day; I still & shall to Eternity Embrace Christianity and Adore him who is the Express image of God” – Letters of Blake

For the last few decades of his life, he never attended formal worship but saw religion as an inner experience to be held in private. Throughout his life, he experienced mystical experiences and visions of heavenly angels. These experiences informed his poetry, art and outlook on life. It made Blake see beyond conventional piety and value human goodness and kindness. He was a strong opponent of slavery and supported the idea of equality of man.

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite.” – Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793)

Blake read the Bible and admired the New Testament, he was less enamoured of the judgements and restrictions found in the Old Testament. He was also influenced by the teaching of Emanuel Swedenborg, a charismatic preacher who saw the Bible as the literal word of God. Although Blake was, at times, enthusiastic about Swedenborg, he never became a member of his church, preferring to retain his intellectual and spiritual independence.

Blake died on August 12 1827. Eyewitnesses report that his death was a ‘glorious affair’. After falling ill, Blake sang hymns and prepared himself to depart. He was buried in an unmarked grave in a public cemetery and Bunhill Fields. After his death, his influence steadily grew through the Pre-Raphaelites and later noted poets such as T. S. Eliot and W. B. Yeats.

The esteemed poet, William Wordsworth , said on the death of Blake:

 “There was no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott.”

The Art of William Blake

Newton by Blake

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “ Biography of William Blake” , Oxford, UK www.biographyonline.net , 1st June. 2006. Page updated 23rd Jan 2020.

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To See a World in a Grain of Sand

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William Blake (November 28, 1757–August 12, 1827) was an English poet, engraver, printmaker, and painter. He is mostly known for his lyric poems Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, which combine simple language with complex subject matters, and for his epic poems, Milton and Jerusalem, that contrasted the canon of classical epic.

Fast Facts: William Blake

• Known For: Poet and engraver known for his seemingly simple poems containing complex themes and their companion illustrations and prints. As an artist, he is known for devising an innovative technique for colored engravings called illuminated printing.
• Born​: November 28, 1757 in Soho, London, England
• Parents: James Blake, Catherine Wright
• Died​: August 12, 1827 in London, England
• Education​: Largely homeschooled, apprenticed with engraver James Basire
• Selected Works: Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1789), The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790-93), Jerusalem (1804–1820),  Milton (1804-1810)
• Spouse: Catherine Boucher
• Notable Quote​: “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.” And "It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend."

William Blake was born on November 28, 1757. His parents were Henry and Catherine Wright Blake. His family worked in the hosiery business and as small tradesmen, and money was tight but they weren’t poor. Ideologically, his parents were dissenters who challenged the teachings of the church, but they used the Bible and religious passages to interpret events of the world around them. Blake was raised with a sense that the righteous would triumph over the privileged.

Growing up, Blake was considered "different" and he was homeschooled. At age 8 or 10, he reported seeing angels and spangled stars, but it was a world where having visions wasn’t so peculiar. His parents recognized his artistic talent and his father bought him plaster casts and gave him small change to buy prints at auction houses. That’s where he was first exposed to the works of Michelangelo and Raffaello. From age 10 to 14, he went to drawing school, and after that, he started his apprenticeship with an engraver, where he stayed for the next seven years.

The engreaver's name was James Basire and he was the official engraver of the Society of Antiquaries and of the Royal Society. He never had more than two apprentices. Near the end of his apprenticeship, Blake was sent to Westminster Abbey to draw the tombs of the ancient kings and queens of England. This “gothicized” Blake’s imaginary, as he acquired a feeling of the medieval, which proved to be lasting influence throughout his career.

The Engraver (1760-1789)

Blake finished his apprenticeship at age 21 and became a professional engraver. For some time, he was enrolled in the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Four years later, in 1782, he married Catherine Boucher, an illiterate woman who is said to have signed her marriage contract with an X. Blake soon taught her to read, write, and etch.

In 1783, he published Poetical Sketches, and opened his own print shop with fellow apprentice James Parker in 1784. It was a turbulent time in history: the American revolution was coming to a close, and the French revolution was approaching. It was a period marked by instability, which affected him enormously. 

Innocence and Experience (1790-1799)

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain, In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp, Dare its deadly terrors clasp! 

When the stars threw down their spears And water'd heaven with their tears: Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

In 1790, Blake and his wife moved to North Lambeth and he had a decade of success, where he made enough money to produce his best known works. These include Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794) which are the two states of the soul. These were first written separately and then published together in 1795. Songs of Innocence is a collection of lyric poems, and superficially they appear to be written for children. Their form, however, sets them apart: they’re hand printed and hand colored works of art. The poems do have a nursery-rhyme quality about them.

Songs of Experience presents the same themes as Songs of Innocence, but examined from the opposite perspective. “The Tyger” is one of the most notable examples; it’s a poem that's seen in dialogue with “The Lamb of Innocence” where the speaker asks the lamb about the Creator who made it. The second stanza answers the question. “The Tyger” consists of a series of questions that are not answered, and is a source of energy and fire, something uncontrollable. God made both “The Tyger” and “The Lamb” and by stating this, Blake defied the idea of moral opposites.

Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793), a prose work containing paradoxical aphorisms, presents the devil as a heroic figure; while Visions of the Daughters of Albion (1793) combines radicalism with ecstatic religious imagery. For these works, Blake invented the style of "illuminated printing," in which he reduced the need of two different workshops that were till then needed to make an illustrated book. He was in charge of every single stage of production, and he also had freedom and could avoid censorship. In this period he produced Jerusalem and what is known as “Minor Prophecies.”

Later Life (1800-1827)

And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon Englands mountains green: And was the holy Lamb of God, On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine, Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here, Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold: Bring me my arrows of desire: Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold! Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand: Till we have built Jerusalem, In Englands green & pleasant Land.

Blake's success did not last forever. By 1800, his lucrative period was over and he took a job in Felpham, Sussex, to illustrate the works of William Hailey. While in Sussex, he had a fight with a drunk soldier who accused him of speaking treasonable words against the king. He went to trial and was acquitted. 

After Sussex, Blake returned to London and started working on Milton (1804–1808) and Jerusalem (1804–20), his two epic poems, the latter of which has its premise in a poem contained in the preface of the former. In Milton, Blake turned away from the classical epics—while typically this format deals with war, Milton was about poetic inspiration, featuring Milton coming back to Earth trying to explain what had gone wrong. He wants to set mankind against the movement towards war, which he identifies in the celebration of the classics, and wants to rectify with a celebration of christianity.

In Jerusalem, Blake portrayed the “sleep of Albion,” a figure for the nation, and it encouraged people to think beyond their limits. Jerusalem is a utopian idea on how mankind can live. Around 1818, he wrote the poem “The Universal Gospel.” In parallel to his poetic activity, his illustration business thrived. His Bible illustrations were popular objects, and in 1826, he was commissioned to illustrate Dante’s  Divine Comedy . While this work was cut short by his death, the existing illustrations show that they’re not just decorative pieces, but are actually a commentary on the source material. 

William Blake died on August 12, 1827, and was buried in a ground for dissenters. On the day of his death, he still worked on his Dante illustrations. 

Themes and Literary Style

Blake's style is easy to recognize, both in poetry and in his visual art. There’s something askew that makes him stand out among late-18th-century poets. His language is straightforward and unaffected, yet powerful in its directness. His work contains Blake’s own private mythology, where he rejects moral absolutes that mark the authoritarianism of organized religion. It draws from the Bible as well as Greek and Norse mythology. In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790–1793) for example, the Devil is actually a hero rebelling against the authoritarianism of an impostor, a worldview that is mitigated in his later works; in Milton and Jerusalem, for instance, self-sacrifice and forgiveness are portrayed as redeeming qualities. 

Not a fan of organized religion, Blake only went to Church three times in his life: when he was christened, when he married, and when he died. He espoused the ideas of enlightenment, but he placed himself in a critical position towards it. He talked about Newton , Bacon, and Locke as the “Satanic Trinity” who had restricted it, leaving no place for art. 

Blake was a fierce critic of colonialism and enslavement, and was critical of the church because he claimed the clergy used their power to keep people down with the promise of the afterlife. The poem in which he expresses his vision of enslavement is “Visions of the Daughters Albion,” which features an enslaved girl who is raped by her enslaver and is jilted by her lover because she is not virtuous anymore. As a consequence, she launches in a crusade for social, political, and religious freedom, but her story ends in chains. This poem equates rape with colonialism, and also sheds light on the fact that rape was actually a common occurrence in plantations. The Daughters of Albion are the English women who wanted to end enslavement. 

There is a complex mythology surrounding Blake, which makes every generation find something in his work that appeals to their specific time. In our time, one of the greatest threats is sovereignty, which manifests itself in Brexit and the presidency of Donald Trump, and Blake notably spoke of similar regimes as “great evil.”

William Blake remained neglected for one generation after his death, until Alexander Gilchrist wrote his Life of William Blake in 1863, which led to a newfound appreciation for Blake among the pre-Raphaelites, such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (who illustrated the Divine Comedy, too) and Algernon Swinburne. Yet, he labelled him a pictor ignotus, which means “unknown painter,” which hinted at the obscurity he had died in.

The modernists deserve credit for fully bringing Blake into the canon. W.B. Yeats resonated with Blake’s philosophical ideas, and also edited an edition of his collected works. Huxley cites Blake in his work The Doors of Perception, while beat poet Allen Ginsberg , as well as songwriters Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, and Van Morrison all found inspiration in Blake’s work.

• Blake, William, and Geoffrey Keynes.  The Complete Writings of William Blake; with Variant Readings . Oxford U.P., 1966.
• Bloom, Harold.  William Blake . Blooms Literary Criticism, 2008.
• Eaves, Morris.  The Cambridge Companion to William Blake . Cambridge University Press, 2007.
• “The Forum, The Life and Works of William Blake.”  BBC World Service , BBC, 26 June 2018, www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswps4.
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Reader Lists > Literary Nonfiction

William blake scholarship, recommended by roger whitson.

Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake by Northrop Frye

Narrative unbound : re-visioning william blake's the four zoas by donald ault.

William Blake and the Art of Engraving (The History of the Book) by Mei-Ying Sung

William Blake and the Impossible History of the 1790s by Saree Makdisi

Beastly Blake by Helen P. Bruder (Editor), Tristanne Connolly (Editor)

William Blake (1757-1827) transformed the tradition of British poetry and art. These books constitute some of the best scholarly accounts of his work, his philosophy, and his time.

An essential introduction to Blake Studies. Frye's work has subsequently been critiqued by many scholars, but his attempt to create a systematic interpretation of Blake is brilliant and elegant, nonetheless.

Ault wrote this book over 20 years, and was the first to treat VALA, or THE FOUR ZOAS as a complete text. He also created a post-structuralist interpretation of Blake without having ever read Derrida, and basing his ideas upon Merleau-Ponty and Whitehead. Full disclosure: Ault was my teacher, but I still think this book is central.

While the work of Joseph Viscomi, Robert Essick, and Morris Eaves collectively helped to define the work of textual studies and anticipated the development of the digital humanities with THE BLAKE ARCHIVE, Mei-Ying Sung's exhaustive study of Blake's engraving techniques stands as perhaps the most sophisticated work on this aspect of Blake studies. Sung shows how Blake employed the technique of repoussage to edit aspects of his plates when he made mistakes, and Sung's work also shows how deeply Blake studies has been influenced by art movements like surrealism.

Makdisi's text is crucial in aligning the post-structuralist/formalist and the historicist schools in Blake studies in the 00's. He also created a fascinating debate about the complicity of William Blake in the rise of British Imperialism. Curiously, he thought Blake was uniquely guiltless of Romantic Imperialism, but this book was central in starting that discussion.

Bruder and Connolly's previous books (QUEER BLAKE, SEXY BLAKE) were groundbreaking collections uncovering the under-appreciated connection between Blake's work and queer theory. This collection promises to make further important interventions in Animal Studies and Medical Humanities. I also included it to mention Bruder's important work on feminist interpretations of Blake and Connolly's magnificent work on Blake's study of the human body.

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Poet Biographies

William Blake: The Visionary Artist

William Blake was an 18th-century English poet, artist, and visionary. He is considered a seminal figure in the Romantic movement, with his works exploring themes such as spirituality, nature, and the human condition.

William Blake was unrecognized during his lifetime, but since his death, he has become known as one of the greatest artistic and literary geniuses of the 18th and 19th centuries. Blake was multi-talented, working as a poet, engraver, painter, and illustrator. He was renowned for his creativity and ability to push the envelope of what was possible with poetry. He combined illustration and the written word to create pieces of visual artistry. His works would often have philosophical and mystical undercurrents.

His emphasis on visual arts separated him from his peers, who focused only on the written verse . Unlike some of his contemporaries, Blake did not find literary success for his entire life. Tragically, he only garnered his reputation as one of the greatest creatives to come out of Britain posthumously. Later critics, such as 21st-century critic Jonathan Jones, cement this notion and have gone as far as to say that Blake is the greatest artist Britain has ever produced.

About William Blake

• 1 Life Facts
• 2 Interesting Facts
• 3 Famous Poems
• 4 Early Life
• 5 Literary Career
• 7 Writing Career and Relationships
• 8 Later Life
• 10 Influence from other Poets
• William Blake was born in Soho, London, England, in November 1757.
• He was apprenticed to a printmaker for seven years.
• Blake married Catherine Sophia Boucher.
• In 1785, Blake co-opened a print shop.
• William Blake died in August of 1827.

Interesting Facts

• Blake was charged with assault and sedition.
• He saw visions at Westminster Abbey.
• He was called “an unfortunate lunatic” after an exhibition of his prints.
• Blake remained unrecognized during his lifetime.
• He believed his brother instructed him, from the afterlife, in the method of “illuminated printing.”

Famous Poems

• ‘The Tyger’ was published in 1794 in ‘ Songs of Experience.’  It is widely anthologized alongside  ‘The Lamb.’  The poem questions the cruel elements of God’s creation, the tiger being the main example. Throughout, the child tries to reconcile the tiger with the kinder, softer elements to be found in the world.
• ‘The Lamb’ is the companion piece to Blake’s ‘ The Tyger.’ It uses the lamb as an image of God’s goodness and his overarching will. A child is addressing the title animal throughout the poem. They speak to the creature and take note of its soft wool and the simple noises it makes.
• ‘A Poison Tree’ was also published in 1794 in William Blake’s ‘ Songs of Experience.’  Blake’s speaker considers what anger is and two different ways of confronting it. One might move past it by speaking about its cause. Alternatively, the anger takes root through the image of a tree that, unfortunately, bears poisoned apples.
• ‘The Sick Rose’  should be read with an eye on the way that the extended metaphor at the heart of the poem works. The speaker compares the rose, a symbol of nature, beauty, and fragility, to a woman’s innocence or chastity. The value of a relationship with a woman was defined by whether or not that woman has had sex. When the rose is ‘sick, ‘ it has lost its purity or its virginity. 
• ‘London’ was published in ‘ Songs of Experience’ in 1794. It describes the difficulties of London life while the speaker moves through the city. He travels to the River Thames and takes note of the solemn and resigned faces of his fellow Londoners. There is genuine pain in the hearts of men, women, and children.

Explore more William Blake poems .

William Blake was born in Soho, London, England, in November 1757. He was the third of seven children (two of whom died in infancy) born to his parents, James and Catherine, who were part of the Church of England. His father, James, was a hosier by trade, which allowed Blake an upbringing of sufficient means. The family resided at 28 Broad Street in London.

Blake only attended school for a few years, managing to learn to read and write, before he left at the age of ten. He was educated by his mother for the rest of his childhood. It was during this same period of time that Blake claimed to have had his first vision (a tree full of angels), an experience that would become a reoccurring theme in his life.

As he aged, he began to study engraving and developed a love for  Gothic  art. These elements would prove influential in his later paintings and drawings. He was enrolled by his parents in drawing classes at Pars’s drawing school in the Strand. In this institution, he was able to freely read any  subject  he chose as well as explore his poetry. Blake’s poetry work from this period showed the influence of poets such as  Edmund Spenser  as well as elements of scripture and the Psalms.

In 1772, Blake began an apprenticeship with an engraver known as James Basire. He remained in these circumstances for the duration of the term, a total of seven years. At one point, the young artist was sent to Westminster Abbey. He would later tell of experiencing a number of visions there. These included: Christ and his Apostles, as well as chanting and religious processions. After completing his apprenticeship, Blake was still at the ripe age of 21. He moved on to the Royal Academy.

Literary Career

Blake’s ‘ Poetical Sketches’  was published in 1783. This was a collection he had been working on for over 14 years. Following his father’s death, Blake inherited a sum of money, which he put towards starting a new enterprise. Blake took the money and co-opened a print shop with his friend James Parker and began working with the publisher Joseph Johnson, who was seen as a radical.

The association between himself and Johnson allowed Blake to build and cultivate a prominent circle of people in the literary and political spheres. He most notably met with Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, Joseph Priestly, and Thomas Paine. Many of these associates were considered some of the most radical thinkers of his day. Soon after, in the same year, Blake began the manuscript,  An Island on the Moon , a work that was never completed.

In the late 1790s, Blake published a number of his “prophetic” books. These works were illuminated in his characteristic  style  and contained poetic and narrative texts. Some of these volumes include ‘ Visions of the Daughters of Albion,’ ‘The First Book of Urizen,’  and the continental prophecies : ‘America a Prophecy,’ ‘Europe a Prophecy,’  and ‘ The Song of Los.’ 

In 1819, Blake began a series of sketches that were referred to as “visionary heads.” These works depicted historical and imaginary figures Blake claimed came and sat for him. By the mid-1800s, he had completed more than 100 individual works. They included King Solomon, the magician Merlin, Owen Glendower, and William Wallace.

The mid-1800s also saw Blake create engravings for an illustrated edition of the Book of Job and Dante’s ‘ Inferno. ‘

To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour. William Blake Quote

In 1782, Blake married Catherine Boucher. He taught the young woman how to read, write, and draw. She remained his steadfast supporter throughout his life. They moved to Felpham together in 1803, a place that would become prominent within his work.

Writing Career and Relationships

In the later years of the 18th century, Blake suffered great trauma when his brother, Robert, died from tuberculosis at only 24. The poet claimed to have seen his brother’s spirit rise from his body and pass through the ceiling. This experience was deeply influential, especially after Robert reappeared to Blake and instructed him in a new method of printing his works. A process that would come to be called “illuminated printing.” For some of his works, Blake would use copper plates to print, then watercolors to finish the piece. This way of working would be utilized in his best-known collection ‘ Songs of Innocence and Experience. ‘

In the early 1800s, Blake moved to work alongside William Hayley. Their relationship did not last long— souring around the same time Blake ran into legal trouble. In an incident involving a soldier on his property, Blake was charged with assault and sedition. He was forced to take on a lawyer and was luckily acquitted in 1804.

Soon after his troubles, Blake and Catherine moved back to London. It was here he began to write and illustrate ‘ Jerusalem .’  This work would take a number of years to complete, spanning from 1804 to 1820 and beyond, as later edited versions were released.

It was also during this period that Blake began showing his work at exhibitions. The pieces were met with either silence or negative criticism. At one point, he was even referred to as “an unfortunate lunatic.” The reviews hit Blake hard, impacting his mental health and keeping him from showing any further illustrative works.

During his later years, William Blake was struck with poverty, never gaining any wealth from his works. However, in 1818, Blake was still involving himself within literary circles, befriending a group of young writers called “the Ancients.” One of these was John Linnell, who became close to Blake and not only offered him work but aided him in financial matters. It was Linnell who later offered Blake the chance to produce illustrations for Dante’s ‘ Divine Comedy .’ Blake was initially commissioned to complete this task in 1825 but could only work on them until his death in 1827.

Blake’s death came after repeating occurrences of an undiagnosed illness. He died in August of 1827, leaving behind a number of unfinished collections. These included illustrations for John Bunyan ’s ‘ Pilgrim’s Progresses,’ and Dante’s ‘ Inferno,’ as well as an illustrated manuscript of the Book of Genesis.

Influence from other Poets

William Blake was notably influenced by writers such as Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare , and John Milton . Since his death, he has inspired countless other poets throughout the centuries.

William Blake is known for his poetry, which combined excellent illustration and well-executed verse . He is considered by modern critics as arguably the greatest artist to come out of Britain. He created famous works such as; ‘ Songs of Innocence and Experience ,’ ‘ The Tyger ,’ and ‘ The Lamb .’

William Blake can most certainly be considered a romantic poet, alongside other pioneers such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge . Blake’s work had all the characteristics of Romanticism , with lyrical , song-like verses and a focus on beauty, nature, and human emotion.

William Blake was not only unique in his style but in his presentation of poetry. He chose to write in a lyrical , song-like manner, whereas others would write in a more traditional story form. Alongside this, he would illustrate his poems, creating prints to supplement them. This separated him from poets that would focus purely on the written word.

William Blake was consistently against the way society was run during his time period. He took the stance that society was more punishing in adulthood than it needed to be due to the rise of institutions and corruption that came with that. He also saw childhood and innocence as something that was quickly lost.

William Blake used a wide array of imagery and symbolism to portray the romantic ideas of his poems. He focused on the human experience, emotion, nature, and beauty. These are all typical features of Romantic poetry .

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William Blake: A Biography

William blake 1757-1827.

Although not highly regarded either as a painter or poet by his contemporaries William Blake has the distinction of finding his place in the top ten of both English writers and English painters.

The reason he was disregarded is because he was very much ahead of his time in his views and his poetic style, and also because he was regarded as being somewhat mad, due to behaviour that would be thought of as only slightly eccentric today– for example, his naturistic habit of walking about his garden naked and sunbathing there. He illustrated his poems and the poems of others like Chaucer, Dante and Milton but his exhibitions of these illustrations were sneered at, and one reviewer wrote that they were  ‘nonsense, unintelligibleness and egregious vanity,’ and another called Blake ‘an unfortunate lunatic.’

Regarding his views, he was vehemently opposed to organised religion and the way it constrained natural human activity, such as sex. In one of his poems, The Garden of Love , he specifically accuses the church of that. During a walk in the garden of love he sees ‘priests in black gowns were walking their rounds/And binding with briars my joys and desires.’

Blake began training as an illustrator and engraver and worked at that as his day job. And in the meantime, he wrote his poems.

The most important thing about Blake as a poet is his rejection of the highly sophisticated verse structures of the 18 th century: he looked back to the more immediate, accessible poetry of Shakespeare, Jonson and the Jacobeans. He used monosyllabic words and packed more meaning and feeling into them that any of the poets of his time did, writing their expansive, sophisticated poems full of figures of speech. For example, two of Blake’s most famous collections: Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience contain some of the finest and most profound of English poems, all done in the most simple language.

William Blake portrait

Songs of Innocence reveals a world of childhood innocence, written in nursery rhyme rhythms but containing shadows of the world of experience to come – so The Lamb , often taught to children to recite as a nursery rhyme has its counterpart in the Songs of Experience in The Tyger (Tyger tiger burning bright/In the forests of the night…) The Tyger is also expressed as a nursery rhyme and learnt by children but it is at the opposite end of experience.

The poems in The Songs of Experience pack a huge punch. Take a look at The Sick Rose . It has only thirty-three words, only five of which have two syllables. And yet the poem goes deep into the world of relationships and social attitudes:

‘O Rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm That flies in the night, In the howling storm, Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy, And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy.’

The idea of love destroying someone’s life is at the centre of the poem. The love is forced to be dark and secret because social attitudes, conditioned by the Church, are opposed to sexual love. The language is highly sexual – crimson joy, bed of crimson joy, worm etc – and what should be something joyful becomes a disease instead.

Decades before Charles Dickens ’ great  novels that depicted the suffering of the poor Blake was writing poems about the terrible phenomena of chimneysweeps, beggars and the injustice of social inequality. In wandering through the streets of London he sees these horrors:

‘How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry Every black’ning Church appals And the hapless Soldier’s sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls.’

William Blake’s most famous poem Jerusalem (“And did those feet in ancient times”), is still regularly sung as an anthem at gatherings of numerous societies, and at the end of the world’s top music festival, the Proms in London , by a well known singer. Read our collection of the very best William Blake quotes .

Read more about England’s top writers >> Read biographies of the 30 greatest writers ever >>

Interested in William Blake? If so you can get some additional free information by visiting our friends over at PoemAnalysis to read their analysis of William Blake’s poetic works .

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The Stranger from Paradise: A Biography of William Blake (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art) Paperback – April 10, 2003

• Print length 632 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Paul Mellon Centre BA
• Publication date April 10, 2003
• Dimensions 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
• ISBN-10 0300100302
• ISBN-13 978-0300100303
• See all details

Editorial Reviews

About the author, product details.

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Paul Mellon Centre BA; New edition (April 10, 2003)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 632 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300100302
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300100303
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.26 pounds
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1.25 x 9.25 inches
• #216,282 in History (Books)

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Poems & Poets

William Blake 101

Tracing the full scope of his visionary poetry, from the pastoral to the prophetic..

BY The Editors

Best known in his time as a painter and engraver, William Blake is now known as a major visionary poet whose expansive style influenced 20th-century writers and musicians as varied as T.S. Eliot , Allen Ginsberg , and Bob Dylan . Blake’s body of work is large and sometimes extremely dense, often fusing complicated writing with awe-inspiring illustrations. Though many readers may be familiar with his lyric poems from Songs of Innocence and of Experience , such as “ The Tyger ,” Blake was an active political poet who later produced ambitious, radical works. His “Prophetic books”—including The Book of Thel , Visions of the Daughters of Albion , The Book of Urizen , and Milton —depict a vast mythology of figures and fantastical entities in response to the sociopolitical climate of his day. From his small, popular lyrics to his sprawling, obscure epics, Blake’s works remained rich and subversive. This brief sampling of poems, presented in rough chronological order, shows Blake’s varied work and introduces the multiple voices he captured in his long, sometimes baffling, career.

“ Introduction to the Songs of Innocence ” Blake worked as an engraver’s apprentice in London for many years before publishing his first book, a collection of 19 poems titled Songs of Innocence (1789). The poems were especially musical and engraved on large plate sheets, with the poems often in conversation with the watercolor artworks on the plates themselves. The first poem in this collection, labeled “Introduction,” focuses on a piper figure being called on by a weeping angel to write for the pleasure of others. These themes of vocation, religion, and the power of art figured later in Blake’s themes on a much grander scale but here are presented as a somewhat straightforward introduction to his work.

“ The Lamb ” Also from Songs of Innocence (1789), “The Lamb” is one of Blake’s most Christian lyrics. Written in the voice of a child, “The Lamb” features rhymed couplets and repetition, a style that may remind readers of a nursery rhyme. The lamb is depicted in a rural setting, but its existence is also framed in terms of manufacturing; the speaker refers to the lamb’s wool as “clothing” and asks “who made thee,” as if the lamb itself were manufactured by God. The speaker sees a harmony in creation, between himself, the lamb, and their shared creator, who “became a little child” on Earth, as the speaker once was, and who “calls himself a Lamb” in the Bible. Despite being a meditative poem enjoyed on its own terms, “The Lamb” is most notable for its connection to “The Tyger,” Blake’s more famous poem.

“ The Tyger ” Perhaps Blake’s best-known work, this poem was included in Songs of Experience (1794) as a companion piece to his earlier poem “ The Lamb .” The poem’s repetitive, lyrical sounds and innovative syntax help frame its serious questions about religion and the nature of creation. “Did he who make the Lamb make thee?” Blake asks the Tyger, questioning how a moral God could create both the innocent and vulnerable lamb and the violent tiger of “deadly terrors.” After posing many questions, Blake chooses to leave the question unanswered, creating a powerful, ambiguous space for readers to explore their own answers.

“ London ” Unlike “The Tyger,” “London” is one of the few poems collected in Songs of Experience that has no companion piece in Songs of Innocence . Much like its subject, this poem itself is solitary: its narrator wanders through crowded London streets absorbing the misery of many kinds of workers. Many aspects of Blake’s later skepticism are included here, such as his critiques of institutions of power for their corruption and neglect of human rights and his vivid descriptions of bleak living conditions in a violent, chaotic, polluted capital city. This poem has remained widely read, and the phrase “mind-forg’d manacles”—a debated term possibly referring to the oppressive nature of narrow or unimaginative thinking—is one of Blake’s most quoted phrases.

From The Marriage of Heaven and Hell : “ The Argument ” This opening poem to his sprawling prose epic represents a decisive shift for Blake. With the disappearance of rhymed, metrical quatrains, Blake’s poetic voice becomes less restrained here, and his references grow more obscure. The tone of “The Argument” is apocalyptic, further adapting the street language of overpopulated, industrial London. In addition, Blake begins to introduce figures from his personal mythology, such as Rintrah, a symbol of cosmic wrath. As a whole, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell can be a harrowing read because it possesses what T.S. Eliot called Blake’s “peculiar honesty, which, in a world too frightened to be honest, is peculiarly terrifying.”

" The Book of Thel " Continuing his move away from realism, Blake tells the story of a shepherdess searching for her purpose in The Book of Thel (1789-1793). After speaking to multiple pastoral figures, the shepherdess confronts a worm who offers to give her entrance to his “house.” In line with Blake’s increasingly bizarre aesthetic, the final section of the poem takes a decidedly psychedelic turn, featuring the protagonist confronting “couches of the dead,” standing at her own grave, and hearing a voice, perhaps her own, speaking about sexual desire and death. Containing many of Blake’s prior themes, this poem offers a glimpse into the poet’s later tendencies toward surrealism and sudden revelation.

“ I Saw a Chapel ” Never published in Blake’s lifetime, this political poem, composed around 1800, was found among his notebooks. One of Blake’s more obvious critiques of the Church of England, this poem is commonly read as a commentary on how political corruption influences organized religion. A spiritual writer throughout his life, Blake wanted to expose religious corruption and refocus modern worship on its pure origins. Like much of his religious work, this poem contains subtle sexual imagery and violence, themes Blake explored on a larger scale with the “Prophetic books.”

From Milton : “ And did those feet in ancient time ” Commonly considered Blake’s epic masterpiece, the prophetic book Milton (1804–1810) combines many of the artist’s previous themes, such as innocence, imagination, destruction, transcendence, and art. Though Blake’s longest poem ends with a permanent shift of human perception and a confrontation with literary predecessor John Milton , it begins with this small prefatory poem, which connects the “feet in ancient time” to the idyllic future of “England[’]s green & pleasant Land.” This poem continues to be popular today: a song version was sung at Kate Middleton and Prince William’s royal wedding and is the official anthem of the England rugby and cricket teams. Because Blake was virtually unknown in his lifetime, it makes sense that his poetry looks forward in time. This quality might explain why we, centuries later, continue to uncover new meaning and pleasure from his ambitious, otherworldly, and astounding body of work. 

The editorial staff of the Poetry Foundation. See the Poetry Foundation staff list and editorial team masthead .

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What are the best/most complete editions of William Blake's works to get?

I found these, but I'm not an expert and I'm not sure if between them they contain everything, or if there are better versions. The first looks to be everything he's written, and the second all of his illustrations. If not these, are there better ones out there? I would prefer something annotated, or that helps give context of some kind. (Not sure if the complete works below does that).

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0520256379/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tu00_p1_i1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0500282455/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tu00_p1_i0

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Blake’s profession was engraving , and his principal avocation was painting in watercolours. But even from boyhood he wrote poetry . In the early 1780s he attended the literary and artistic salons of the bluestocking Harriet Mathew, and there he read and sang his poems. According to Blake’s friend John Thomas Smith, “He was listened to by the company with profound silence, and allowed […] to possess original and extraordinary merit.” In 1783 Harriet Mathew’s husband, the Rev. Anthony Stephen Mathew, and Blake’s friend John Flaxman had some of these poems printed in a modest little volume of 70 pages titled Poetical Sketches , with the attribution on the title page reading simply, “By W.B.” It contained an “advertisement” by Reverend Mathew that stated, “Conscious of the irregularities and defects to be found in almost every page, his friends have still believed that they possessed a poetic originality which merited some respite from oblivion.” They gave the sheets of the book, uncut and unsewn, to Blake, in the expectation that he would sell them or at least give them away to potential patrons. Blake, however, showed little interest in the volume, and when he died he still had uncut and unstitched copies in his possession.

But some contemporaries and virtually all succeeding critics agreed that the poems did merit “respite from oblivion.” Some are merely boyish rodomontade, but some, such as “To Winter” and “Mad Song,” are exquisite . “ To the Muses,” lamenting the death of music, concludes,

How have you left the antient love That bards of old enjoy’d in you! The languid strings do scarcely move! The sound is forc’d, the notes are few!

Eighty-five years later, Algernon Charles Swinburne wrote that in these lines “The Eighteenth Century died to music.”

Blake never published his poetry in the ordinary way. Instead, using a technology revealed to him by his brother Robert in a vision, he drew his poems and their surrounding designs on copper in a liquid impervious to acid. He then etched them and, with the aid of his devoted wife, printed them, coloured them, stitched them in rough sugar-paper wrappers, and offered them for sale. He rarely printed more than a dozen copies at a time, reprinting them when his stock ran low, and no more than 30 copies of any of them survive; several are known only in unique copies, and some to which he refers no longer exist.

After experimenting with tiny plates to print his short tracts There Is No Natural Religion (1788) and All Religions Are One (1788?), Blake created the first of the poetical works for which he is chiefly remembered: Songs of Innocence , with 19 poems on 26 prints. The poems are written for children—in “ Infant Joy” only three words have as many as two syllables—and they represent the innocent and the vulnerable , from babies to beetles, protected and fostered by powers beyond their own. In “ The Chimney Sweeper,” for example,

[…]the Angel told Tom if he’d be a good boy, He’d have God for his father & never want joy. And so Tom awoke and we rose in the dark And got with our bags & our brushes to work. Tho’ the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm. So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm.

Sustained by the vision, “Tom was happy & warm” despite the cold.

In one of the best-known lyrics, called “ The Lamb,” a little boy gives to a lamb the same kind of catechism he himself had been given in church:

Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? … Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee, Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee: He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb … I a child, & thou a lamb, We are called by his name.

The syllogism is simple if not simplistic: the creator of child and lamb has the same qualities as his creation.

Most of Blake’s poetry embodies myths that he invented. Blake takes the inquiry about the nature of life a little further in The Book of Thel (1789), the first of his published myths. The melancholy shepherdess Thel asks, “Why fade these children of the spring? Born but to smile & fall.” She is answered by the Lilly of the Valley (representing water), the Cloud (air), and the Clod of Clay (earth), who tell her, “we live not for ourselves,” and say that they are nourished by “he that loves the lowly.” Thel enters the “land unknown” and hears a “voice of sorrow”:

“Why cannot the Ear be closed to its own destruction? Or the glistning Eye to the poison of a smile!”

The poem concludes with the frightened Thel seeing her own grave there, shrieking, and fleeing back to her valley.

Blake’s next work in Illuminated Printing, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790?), has become one of his best known. It is a prose work in no familiar form; for instance, on the title page, no author, printer, or publisher is named. It is in part a parody of Emanuel Swedenborg , echoing the Swedish theologian’s “Memorable Relations” of things seen and heard in heaven with “Memorable Fancies” of things seen and heard in hell. The section titled “Proverbs of Hell” eulogizes energy with lines such as “Energy is Eternal Delight,” “Exuberance is Beauty,” and “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.” The work ends with “A Song of Liberty,” which celebrates the values of those who stormed the Bastille in 1789: “Let the Priests of the Raven of dawn, no longer […] curse the sons of joy […] For every thing that lives is Holy.”

America, A Prophecy (1793) and Europe, A Prophecy (1794) are even more daringly political, and they are boldly acknowledged on the title pages as “Printed by William Blake.” In the first, Albion’s Angel, representing the reactionary government of England , perceives Orc, the spirit of energy, as a “Blasphemous Demon, Antichrist, hater of Dignities,” but Orc’s vision is of an apocalypse that transforms the world:

Let the slave grinding at the mill, run out into the field, Let him look up into the heavens & laugh in the bright air; … For Empire is no more, and now the Lion & Wolf shall cease … For every thing that lives is holy

The mental revolution seems to be accomplished, but the design for the triumphant concluding page shows not rejoicing and triumph but barren trees, bowed mourners, thistles, and serpents. Blake’s designs often tell a complementary story, and the two visions must be combined in the reader’s mind to comprehend the meaning of the work.

The frontispiece to Europe is one of Blake’s best-known images: sometimes called The Ancient of Days , it represents a naked, bearded old man leaning out from the sun to define the universe with golden compasses. He seems a familiar image of God, but the usual notions about this deity are challenged by an image, on the facing title page, of what the God of reason has created: a coiling serpent with open mouth and forked tongue. It seems to represent how

Thought chang’d the infinite to a serpent; that which pitieth: To a devouring flame; and man fled from its face […] … Then was the serpent temple form’d, image of infinite Shut up in finite revolutions, and man became an Angel; Heaven a mighty circle turning; God a tyrant crown’d.

This God is opposed by Orc and by Los, the imagination, and at the end of the poem Los “call’d all his sons to the strife of blood.” The work’s last illustration, however, is not of the heroic sons of Los storming the barricades of tyrannical reason but of a naked man carrying a fainting woman and a terrified girl from the horrors of a burning city.

In the same year as Europe , Blake published Songs of Experience and combined it with his previous lyrics to form Songs of Innocence and of Experience Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul . The poems of Songs of Experience centre on threatened, unprotected souls in despair. In “ London” the speaker, shown in the design as blind, bearded, and “age-bent,” sees in “every face…marks of woe,” and observes that “In every voice…The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.” In “ The Tyger ,” which answers “The Lamb” of Innocence , the despairing speaker asks the “Tyger burning bright” about its creator: “Did he who made the Lamb make thee?” But in the design the “deadly terrors” of the text are depicted as a small, meek animal often coloured more like a stuffed toy than a jungle beast.

Blake’s most impressive writings are his enormous prophecies Vala or The Four Zoas (which Blake composed and revised from roughly 1796 to 1807 but never published), Milton , and Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion . In them, his myth expands, adding to Urizen (reason) and Los (imagination) the Zoas Tharmas and Luvah. (The word zoa is a Greek plural meaning “living creatures.”) Their primordial harmony is destroyed when each of them attempts to fix creation in a form corresponding to his own nature and genius. Blake describes his purpose, his “great task,” in Jerusalem :

To open the immortal Eyes Of man inwards into the worlds of thought; into Eternity Ever expanding in the Bosom of God, the Human Imagination.

Like the Zoa Los, Blake felt that he must “Create a System or be enslav’d by another Mans.”

Milton concerns Blake’s attempt, at Milton’s request, to correct the ideas of Paradise Lost . The poem originated in an event in Felpham, recorded in Blake’s letters, in which the spirit of Milton as a falling star entered Blake. It includes the lyric commonly called “Jerusalem” that has become a kind of alternative national anthem in Britain:

I will not cease from Mental Fight, Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand: Till we have built Jerusalem, In Englands green & pleasant Land.