William Blake

William Blake (1757–1827) was born and raised in London, England and is known largely as a prolific poet whose writings had great influence on the Romantic era of art and literature. In many ways, Blake may seem a standard male poet of his time, contributing to early Romanticism. What is lesser known, however, is that Blake’s work was not limited to poetry, but spanned painting and printing as well.

When he was just fourteen, Blake left school and studied as an apprentice in 18th century intaglio copy engraving, learning to carve copper plates for printing, not just of words, but of artwork as well. In 1779, after his engraving apprenticeship, Blake enrolled at the Royal Academy of Art’s Schools of Design where he sought to study as a painter. While a student at the Academy, Blake both displayed his paintings at multiple exhibitions and simultaneously worked on building his poetic repertoire, privately publishing a small collection of poems in 1783.

In 1788, Blake not only set up his own print shop, but is now attributed with inventing a new kind of engraving called relief etching, which differed in method from the intaglio style he was taught and was more efficient. Blake began publishing what are now known as his “Illuminated Books,” works in which he created everything on the page. With his years of engraving experience and skills in watercolor painting, Blake embellished his poetry by not only illustrating many of his pieces individually, but hand-engraving his poems and art, printing and painting them himself. In this way, Blake’s writing may actually be considered multi-media storytelling and an art-filled jumpstart to the Romantic Era.

Blake’s watercolor illustrations were used outside of his own writing as well, featured in a wide variety of works, including an 1808 edition of John Milton’s well-known Paradise Lost, and even an edition of Dante’s Divine Comedy, which Blake worked on until his passing in 1827.

While Blake is frequently recognized in literary canon, it is vital to consider not only inclusion of his poetry, but of his poetry in its original state, which provides a specific window into the collision of art and writing the late 18th and early 19th century.

Works for inclusion (with visuals):

There is No Natural Religion (1788) — touches upon controversial religious philosophy and is one of his earliest “illuminated books” http://www.blakearchive.org/copy/nnr.a?descId=nnr.a.illbk.01

Songs of Innocence and Experience (1795) —one of Blake’s longer “illuminated books” featuring many pages full of color interacting with his words http://www.blakearchive.org/copy/songsie.r

Bentley, G.E. “William Blake.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 12 Nov. 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/William-Blake.

Marshall, Peter H. William Blake: Visionary Anarchist. Freedom Press, 1994.

The William Blake Archive, www.blakearchive.org/exhibit/biography.