William Blake 1757-1827

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Jim Morrison of the Rock group The Doors is said to not only have been an avid reader but also a poet himself. The name The Doors came from the book The Doors of Perception, an autobiographical book by Aldous Huxley, who took the name from a line in Blake's work Marriage of Heaven and Hell: If the doors of perception were cleansed / every thing would appear to man as it is: Infinite

William Blake, by all accounts, was eccentric. By some accounts, looney. His childhood was filled with visions of God, angels, and even the prophet Ezekiel. After his brother passed away in 1787, he claimed to see his spirit joyfully leave his body to heaven, only to later return to provide Blake with the method of "Illuminated Printing,' which can be seen in his prominent works.

With no formal education, Blake was an avid reader who could be seen reading the Bible, English poetry, and other works of mysticism and philosophy. He also studied languages of Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. He showed an aptitude for sketching and wanted to be a painter; however, his father could not afford the tuition, and instead, he became an engraver apprentice.

Despite his work, he found time to write poetry. His later work was printed in the illuminated style with hand-carved prints for each page. These handcrafted prints meant that his books were limited in distribution. Despite this, he was recognized for these works by his contemporaries, such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Lamb, and William Wordsworth. Though, he was not able to support himself by his poetry. His main income remained to be his engravings.

In the 1790s, Blake became involved with the social and professional circle of a prominent bookseller, Joseph Johnson, who was responsible for publishing the biggest thinkers of the time. Johnson frequently had dinner parties and other get-togethers for writers. At these gatherings, Blake became acquainted and friends with other writers of the time such as Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, Tom Paine, and Dr. Priestley.

Blake supported the progressive politics and revolutionary attitudes of this period, and his writing reflected this. These works were not as popular as they were sometimes abstract and difficult to read. Because of this, his poetry fell more to obscurity, though revived in the second half of the 19th century and then again with the Beat Poets of the 1950s. Finding a post-humous celebrity for his rebellious, idealistic, and unconventional nature within modern counterculture.

His work Songs of Innocence and Experience (reprinted via the link below) presents a lot of themes of the Romantic Era, including

Songs of Innocence and Experience

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