William Blake
(1757-1827)
Life and works
William Blake was born in London in 1757 into a lower-class family and had a strict religious education.
He was sent to a drawing school and became an engraver (he learned to engrave from his
father) HIS OWN BOOKS WERE HAND-PRINTED AND COLOURED BY BLAKE
HIMSELF; in 1778 he enrolled at the new Royal Academy of Arts.
It was only in his late 20s that Blake started writing poetry. His poems were all engraved.
In 1794 he published “Songs of Innocence and of Experience”, a collection of poems, that didn't
bring him fame.
Blake chose to accept poverty rather than give up on his artistic vision.
He died in 1827.
He is a PRE-ROMANTIC POET because he represents a break with the past, he considers reason less important
than imagination, which is the abitily to see behind the surface.
A revolutionary artist
Blake's personality and poetry mark the beginning of the Romantic Age.
Politically he was in favour of the French and American revolutions. Blake saw th culture he lived in
as an instrument to oppress the poor who were born with no power. Many of Blake's poems are
criticism of the suffering of the poor and the oppressed.
He openly attacked the Church of England and the monarchy.
Blake's style
Blake's poetry is difficult because of his use of complex symbols. He believed that the physical
world could be read as the book of God.
His language and syntax are simple. He often adopts a naïve style, using a plain vocabulary,
he creates a musicality in his verse with the use of repetitions alliteration, assonance, refrains and regulars
stress patterns.
He believed that the sound of a word has the same importance of the meaning it conveyed.
Imagination for Blake
Blake did not believe in man's rationality. He believed in the power of faith and intuition and
considered them as the only source of true knowledge.
He thought that imagination allowed man to see beyond physical reality.
The child
Blake is the first to write about children in his poems. He not only describes children, he is also
interested in their world and their states of mind. He represents them in a language that reflects their
simplicity and imagination.
He is also the first to denounce the exploitation of children.
Songs of Innocence and of Experience
(1794)
