William Blake was born on November 28, 1757, in Soho, London, to James Blake, a hosier, and Catherine Wright Armitage. Blake grew up in a modest, working-class family. From a young age, he displayed artistic talent and a vivid imagination. He was largely self-educated, having attended school only briefly, and by the age of 10, he was sent to drawing school. At 14, Blake became an apprentice to James Basire, an engraver, which had a significant influence on his later work.
Blake began his career as an engraver and remained in this profession throughout his life. However, it was his combination of poetry, printmaking, and painting that would distinguish him. He started out by creating engravings of Gothic churches and tombs in London, which deepened his interest in medieval art and religious themes.
In his later years, Blake remained relatively unknown, living in relative poverty despite his prolific output. He was often misunderstood by his contemporaries, many of whom found his mystical and symbolic works too eccentric. However, he was supported by a small group of younger artists and admirers known as “The Ancients,” who saw him as a visionary.
Blake died on August 12, 1827, in London, leaving behind a legacy that would only be fully recognized long after his death. Today, he is considered one of the most important figures in English literature and art. His works, particularly his visionary poetry and illustrations, have influenced generations of artists, poets, and writers.
Though underappreciated during his lifetime, Blake’s radical ideas and original artistic methods have gained him recognition as one of the most influential figures in the Romantic movement. His exploration of the human soul, the nature of divinity, and the critique of societal norms has had a lasting impact.
In 1783, he published his first collection of poems, Poetical Sketches, which was met with little public attention. Blake developed a highly personal style of illustrated poetry, integrating his text with intricate illustrations through a process known as “illuminated printing.” His best-known early works, Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), exemplify this technique. These works contain some of his most famous poems, like “The Tyger” and “The Lamb,” exploring themes of innocence, corruption, and the complexities of human existence.
Blake was deeply spiritual and claimed to have had mystical visions throughout his life, beginning in childhood. He believed that he saw God, angels, and prophets, and these visions became the foundation for his artistic and poetic works. Blake’s work is filled with symbolic, mythological figures, and he often presented themes of duality, particularly in the contrast between innocence and experience, the divine and human nature, and good versus evil.
His spiritual philosophy also led him to critique organized religion, particularly the Church of England, which he saw as corrupt and oppressive. Blake advocated for a personal and direct relationship with the divine, free from institutional dogma.
Blake’s most significant work includes both his poetry and his visual art. Key texts include:
Blake’s visual art is often equally celebrated, including his watercolor paintings, engravings, and illustrations for books like The Book of Job and Paradise Lost. His distinctive style, which often combined biblical scenes with his own visionary imagery, is characterized by strong lines, dynamic figures, and vivid, often surreal compositions.
Never seek to tell thy love, Love that never told can be; For the gentle wind does move Silently, invisibly. I told my love, I told my love, I told her all my heart; Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears, Ah! she did depart! Soon as she was gone from me, A traveler came by, Silently, … Read more
But in the Wine-presses the human grapes sing not nor dance: They howl and writhe in shoals of torment, in fierce flames consuming, In chains of iron and in dungeons circled with ceaseless fires, In pits and dens and shades of death, in shapes of torment and woe: The plates and screws and racks and … Read more
Golden Apollo, that thro’ heaven wide Scatter’st the rays of light, and truth’s beams, In lucent words my darkling verses dight, And wash my earthy mind in thy clear streams, That wisdom may descend in fairy dreams, All while the jocund hours in thy train Scatter their fancies at thy poet’s feet; And when thou … Read more
Prepare, prepare the iron helm of war, Bring forth the lots, cast in the spacious orb; Th’ Angel of Fate turns them with mighty hands, And casts them out upon the darken’d earth! Prepare, prepare! Prepare your hearts for Death’s cold hand! prepare Your souls for flight, your bodies for the earth; Prepare your arms … Read more
“Nought loves another as itself, Nor venerates another so, Nor is it possible to thought A greater than itself to know. “And, father, how can I love you Or any of my brothers more? I love you like the little bird That picks up crumbs around the door.” The Priest sat by and heard the … Read more
AFRICA I will sing you a song of Los. the Eternal Prophet: He sung it to four harps at the tables of Eternity. In heart-formed Africa. Urizen faded! Ariston shudderd! And thus the Song began Adam stood in the garden of Eden: And Noah on the mountains of Ararat; They saw Urizen give his Laws … Read more
The little boy lost in the lonely fen, Led by the wandering light, Began to cry, but God, ever nigh, Appeared like his father, in white. He kissed the child, and by the hand led, And to his mother brought, Who in sorrow pale, through the lonely dale, The little boy weeping sought.
I wandered through each chartered street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow, A mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every man, In every infant’s cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forged manacles I hear: How the chimney-sweeper’s cry Every blackening … Read more
And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England’s mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England’s 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 … Read more
A flower was offered to me, Such a flower as May never bore; But I said “I’ve a pretty rose tree,” And I passed the sweet flower o’er. Then I went to my pretty rose tree, To tend her by day and by night; But my rose turned away with jealousy, And her thorns were … Read more
Cruelty has a human heart, And Jealousy a human face; Terror the human form divine, And Secresy the human dress. The human dress is forged iron, The human form a fiery forge, The human face a furnace sealed, The human heart its hungry gorge.
Silent, silent night, Quench the holy light Of thy torches bright; For possessed of Day Thousand spirits stray That sweet joys betray. Why should joys be sweet Used with deceit, Nor with sorrows meet? But an honest joy Does itself destroy For a harlot coy.
Love and harmony combine, And round our souls entwine While thy branches mix with mine, And our roots together join. Joys upon our branches sit, Chirping loud and singing sweet; Like gentle streams beneath our feet Innocence and virtue meet. Thou the golden fruit dost bear, I am clad in flowers fair; Thy sweet boughs … Read more
MY Spectre around me night and day Like a wild beast guards my way; My Emanation far within Weeps incessantly for my sin. ‘A fathomless and boundless deep, There we wander, there we weep; On the hungry craving wind My Spectre follows thee behind. ‘He scents thy footsteps in the snow Wheresoever thou dost go, … Read more
Once a dream did weave a shade O’er my angel-guarded bed, That an emmet lost its way Where on grass methought I lay. Troubled, wildered, and forlorn, Dark, benighted, travel-worn, Over many a tangle spray, All heart-broke, I heard her say: “Oh my children! do they cry, Do they hear their father sigh? Now they … Read more
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. A robin redbreast in a cage Puts all Heaven in a rage. A dove house fill’d with doves and pigeons Shudders Hell thro’ all its regions. … Read more
I love to rise in a summer morn, When the birds sing on every tree; The distant huntsman winds his horn, And the skylark sings with me: O! what sweet company. But to go to school in a summer morn, — O! it drives all joy away; Under a cruel eye outworn, The little ones … Read more
I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow. And I watered it in fears, Night and morning with my tears; And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles. And it grew both … Read more
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 … Read more
Sweet dreams form a shade,O’er my lovely infants head.Sweet dreams of pleasant streams,By happy silent moony beams Sweet sleep with soft down.Weave thy brows an infant crown.Sweet sleep Angel mild,Hover o’er my happy child. Sweet smiles in the night,Hover over my delight.Sweet smiles Mothers smiles,All the livelong night beguiles. Sweet moans, dovelike sighs,Chase not slumber … Read more