William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age.
William Blake’s poetry and art moved away from the periphery following Alexander Gilchrist’s publication of a two-part biography and compilation of Blake’s works in 1863, more than three decades after Blake’s death. Thereafter, his work received positive critical attention, particularly in the first half of the 20th century and continuing to the present day.
Poet, painter, engraver, and visionary William Blake worked to bring about a change both in the social order and in the minds of men. Though in his lifetime his work was largely neglected or dismissed, he is now considered one of the leading lights of English poetry, and his work has only grown in popularity. In his Life of William Blake (1863) Alexander Gilchrist warned his readers that Blake ...
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Blake frequently spoke out against injustice in his own lifetime: slavery, racism, poverty, and the corruption of those in power. In this post we’ve chosen what we consider to be ten of the best William Blake poems, along with links to each of them.
William Blake was born in London on , to James, a hosier, and Catherine Blake. Two of his six siblings died in infancy. From early childhood, Blake spoke of having visions—at four he saw God “put his head to the window”; around age nine, while walking through the countryside, he saw a tree filled with angels. Although his parents tried to discourage him from “lying ...