William Blake

Born in London, 28 November 1757, died 12 August 1827. Counted among the leading early romanticists. Already talented as a young boy, he started an apprenticeship as an engraver and afterwards studied at the Royal Academy, where he exhibited his first pictures.

Today Blake is most famous for his poetry; his most important works include Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. He also finished two epics: Milton and Jerusalem. However, in his own times he was primarily known as an engraver and painter. He illustrated not only his own works but also those of other writers, e.g. Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy (in an edition published in 1825) or Blake’s contemporary Mary Wollstonecraft’s Original Stories from Real Life.

He was also in touch with a few prominent radicals of his time, e.g. Joseph Johnson and Thomas Paine. Blake is said to have been inspired by the American and French Revolutions and to have been a great admirer of those countries (Ferber xiii). He also wrote a long poem called The French Revolution in which he describes the problems of French monarchy.

William Blake’s most important technical invention was the art of relief etching, which he called “illuminated painting” and which he used for his famous illustrations.

He died on 12 August 1827.

Sources

Eaves, Morris: The Cambridge Companion to William Blake. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Ferber, Michael: The Poetry of William Blake. London: Penguin, 1992.

Encyclopaedia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/68793/William-Blake