WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)
LIFE:
Born into a family of humble origin in 1757. Trained as an engraver, he practised this craft until he died. He was a poet,
painter and engraver and illustrated his own poetical works.
Was deeply aware of the great political and social issues of his age. He criticized the evil consequences of the Industrial
Revolution. He supported the abolition of slavery. He supported the French Revolution and remained a radical
throughout his life. He justified even the period of Terror as a necessary evil for the progress of humanity.
He had a strong sense of religion: the most important literary influence in his life was the Bible. He illustrated many
works that had to do with religion the Bible,Dante’s Divine Comedy, Milton’s P aradise Lost
He claimed he had visions. Died in 1827
Blake the artist
• He attended a drawing school since he was 10.
• Studied the works of Raphael and Michelangelo and from the latter he learnt the technique of representing
exaggerated muscular bodies.
• Later he studied at the Royal Academy of Art.
• He didn’t conform to standards of realistic representation but emphasized the power of imagination in art
• Connected visual arts and writing, creating ‘illuminated printing’, a combination of picture and poetic text.
• Also made many illustrations for other authors’ works, such as Milton’s Paradise Lost or Dante’s Divine Comedy.
Blake the poet
• An individual poet, original for his personal vision and technique. He is regarded as early Romantic because he
rejected the Neoclassical style and themes.
• According to him, the poet becomes a sort of prophet who can see more deeply into reality. He stressed the
importance of imagination over reason. It is through imagination that man can know the world.
• Used symbols as part of a deliberate attempt to avoid any kind of realism. Infact it is the ‘real’ world that
prevents man from perceiving the greater Reality that lies behind him.
• He wrote two collections of poems: Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794).
• • Songs of Innocence deals with childhood as the symbol of innocence. The language is simple and musical.
The poems celebrate the presence of the divine in all creation.
• • Songs of Experience is more complex and pessimistic. It was written during the period of terror in the French
Revolution. The poems pair those of Songs of Innocence, questioning the themes of the first collection
• The world of innocence is full of joy and happiness, while the world of experience is full of cruelty and injustice.
• However, childhood and adulthood (innocence and experience) are not considered real opposites but they are
complementary, because they complete each other.
Blake the prophet
• Blake wrote also some prophetic books (The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is the most famous), in which he
created his own symbolic characters.
• In The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Satan and Hell represent liberty and energy, while Heaven is authoritarian.
• These books express Blake’s own personal Romantic and revolutionary beliefs. He attacked the repression of
human energy by conventions.
• They were published as printed sheets from engraved plates containing prose, poetry and illustrations. The
plates were then coloured by Blake himself.
Complementary opposites
Blake believed in the existence of a spiritual world but he thought that Christianity was responsible for the
fragmentation of consciousness and the dualism characterising man’s life.
In contrast to this dualistic view, he had a vision made up of complementary opposites. Good and Evil, in particular, are
opposite forces but they are also complementary: they are present in the same person or situation.
Both in his painting and in his poetry Blake points out that in every aspect of human life there is a dialectical opposition
of forces, that can never be reconciled but must co-exist in eternal balance =Good and evil, male and female, reason
and imagination, cruelty and kindness’.The possibility of progress is situated in the tension between contraries.
