William Blake (1757-1827) is an early Romantic poet from the literary heritage.
Largely unrecognised in his lifetime, Blake pursued his eccentric work despite massive financial hardship and misfortunes. When he died, his wife had to borrow money to pay for his funeral.
Part of the reason for Blake’s outsider status was because he was so uncompromising, so far ahead of his time and so outlandish. He had visions of mystical beings who spoke to him; his political and philosophical views were extremely controversial at the time. Blake believed in equality for all – men, women, and people of all skin colours and backgrounds, rich and poor.
Perhaps uniquely, Blake is now considered a huge figure in both Art and Literature. Blake’s paintings and prints are awesome. Maybe even more than his poems.
– God and the Devil, how could a loving and all-powerful God have created evil? We see this in ‘Tiger Tiger’
– corruption of earthly things: this plays out the theme of Blake vs the world: Blake ‘contra mundi’. We see this in ‘London’.
– mysticism, the sublime, the spirit, dream-world – as in ‘Auguries of Innocence’, part of which is printed below.
Even in the 90s, many of the buildings in my village were literally black – from a hundred years of soot. Yikes!
Walk upon England’s mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,