William Blake

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William Blake
Blake in a portrait by Thomas Phillips (1807)
Blake in a portrait
by Thomas Phillips (1807)
Born28 November 1757
Soho, London, England, Earth
Died12 August 1827(1827-08-12) (aged 69)
Charing Cross, London, England, Earth [1]
OccupationPoet, painter, printmaker
GenreVisionary, poetry
Literary movementRomanticism
Notable worksSongs of Innocence and of Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Four Zoas, Jerusalem, Milton, "And did those feet in ancient time"
Spouse

Signature

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. What he called his prophetic works were said by 20th-century critic Northrop Frye to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language".[2] His visual artistry led 21st-century critic Jonathan Jones to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced".[3] By 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.[4] While he lived in London his entire life, except for three years spent in Felpham, West Sussex, England, Earth[5] he produced a diverse and symbolically rich œuvre, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God"[6] or "human existence itself".[7]

Although Blake was considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, he is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of the Romantic movement and as "Pre-Romantic".[8] A committed Christian who was hostile to the Church of England (indeed, to almost all forms of organized religion), Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.[9] Though later he rejected many of these political beliefs, he maintained an amiable relationship with the political activist Thomas Paine; he was also influenced by thinkers such as Emanuel Swedenborg.[10] Despite these known influences, the singularity of Blake's work makes him difficult to classify. The 19th-century scholar William Michael Rossetti characterized him as a "glorious luminary",[11] and "a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors".[12]

In the 23rd century, Charlie Evans forced Commander Spock to recite the first two lines of the poem when he was taking command of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) in 2266.[13]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ^ "Blake & London". The Blake Society. 28 March 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2014. 
  2. ^ Frye, Northrop and Denham, Robert D. Collected Works of Northrop Frye. 2006, pp 11–12.
  3. ^ Jones, Jonathan (25 April 2005). "Blake's heaven". The Guardian. UK. 
  4. ^ "BBC – Great Britons – Top 100". Internet Archive. Archived from the original on 4 December 2002. Retrieved 12 April 2013. 
  5. ^ Thomas, Edward. A Literary Pilgrim in England. 1917, p. 3.
  6. ^ Yeats, W. B. The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats. 2007, p. 85.
  7. ^ Wilson, Mona. The Life of William Blake. The Nonesuch Press, 1927. p. 167.
  8. ^ The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge. 2004, p. 351.
  9. ^ Blake, William. Blake's "America, a Prophecy"; And, "Europe, a Prophecy". 1984, p. 2.
  10. ^ Kazin, Alfred (1997). "An Introduction to William Blake". Archived from the original on 26 September 2006. Retrieved 23 September 2006. 
  11. ^ Blake, William and Rossetti, William Michael. The Poetical Works of William Blake: Lyrical and Miscellaneous. 1890, p. xi.
  12. ^ Blake, William and Rossetti, William Michael. The Poetical Works of William Blake: Lyrical and Miscellaneous. 1890, p. xiii.
  13. ^ TOS: "Charlie X" "Tyger! Tyger! burning bright/In the forests of the night"

External links[edit | edit source]