William Blake is commonly known as a poet. A few people know him as a painter. Blake, a well-known poet today, was not as famous and well known in his life. He was an imaginative and expressive person altogether, as it is evident from his expression of thoughts through poetry and painting. He was a true artist in the real sense of the word. In his time he was regarded as insane. But today, due to his extravagant work, William has been called “far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced” by a modern critic.
Biography:
William was born on 28th of November, 1757 in London, Great Britain. He was the third child of Catherine nee Wright and James Blake, a hosier and haberdasher, belonging to a middle class family. They at that time were residing at Broad Street in Golden Square, Soho. He was thought to be different from rest of the children from his early childhood due to his different approach of looking towards things.
At the age of ten, he started reporting as seeing the visions of god and angles, and having regular conversations with his deceased brother. The first incident was seeing the images of thirteen angles on a tree while gone for walking with his father. This can be regarded as a result of his interest in reading Bible from an early age. In very early years he started showing interest in engraving too. Due to such incidents it became apparent that his inner realm of mind was strongly at work. His parents decided to send him to drawing classes instead of sending him to attend regular school. Within two years he also showed his inclination towards poetry.
Apprenticeship
At the age of fourteen, William was sent for apprenticeship with James Basire who was the official engraver to The Society of Antiquaries, as the art school turned to be very costly. There he learnt almost every thing about the trade and he was often sent for drawing and engraving jobs. His remarkable work is still exhibited in churches like Westminster Abbey. This work at the churches exposed him to the Gothic style which continued showing up throughout the works he did in the rest of his life. He remained engaged in that job for seven years.
Royal Academy
In 17 78 Blake joined Royal Academy. But soon he left it too as he had a classical bent of mind and in art he was influenced by Michael Angelo and Raphael, and preferred to adopt their style. He highly detested the modern style of Rubens, a prolific seventeenth century painter. He also felt the ways of expression at the Royal Academy too restricted. Blake strongly rebelled against the ideas of Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was the president and a neoclassicist. Reynolds took art much as an academic activity rather than an imaginative activity which provoked Blake against him.
Marriage
Blake got married in on 18th August, 17 82 to Catherine Sophia Boucher, an illiterate woman. They begot no children from their marriage, even though it is regarded as a happy marriage. Later he taught his wife to read and write. She then assisted him in printing his illuminated poetry for which he is more famous today.
Residing at Felpham
In 1800, he moved to Felpham, West Sussex taking residence in a cottage. He was commissioned to illustrate works by William Hayley. There he wrote a poem “Milton: a poem”. It includes his one of the most famous works today with one of his poems starting as: “And did those feet in ancient time”. Around 18 03, he came in clash with the authorities having a brawl with a soldier and uttering ill words for the king.
Death
William’s advanced years were spent mostly in poverty. He was a true artist. Even on the day of his death, he worked on illustrations of Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’. He died at 6:00 in the evening with his wife sitting by his bedside on 12 August, 19 27. He was buried after 5 days of his death on his marriage anniversary
Works:
William and Catherine was a devoted couple, and due to the great help of his wife he was able to print his first collection of poetry: ’Poetical Sketches’ in 17 83. In these, his style was based upon the classical. Along with this he also took up the work of engraving and paintings, based upon the ideas projected in his own poetry. He started with experimenting sketching human anatomy and pieces of text from his poetical works on the same plate. His paintings project a metaphorical style portraying mystical images. The mediums he used for illustrations was water colour and engraving.
In 1800 he wrote his famous ‘Milton: a poem’. Influenced by Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’, he started illustrations in 18 05. His illustrations of that time include also ‘Virgil’ and ‘Paradise Lost’. Blake’s longest illuminated work includes ‘Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion’.
In his advanced years he started selling his work to Thomas Butts. The works which was sold most was his Bible illustrations. Thomas Butts purchased his works more or less as a friend rather than as an admirer of art.
In 18 26, the commission for Dante’s ‘Inferno’ came to Blake through Linnell. The aim was to produce a number of series of illustrations. These illustrations were only seven in number as Blake died before the completion of the work. It is one of the most praised works he did in his life.
Blake’s illustrative work took the medium of water colours to new dimensions. He did his job with extra ordinary mastery.
Style of Poetry
His poetry has been classified as being influenced by Romantic Movement. He has also been regarded as pre-romantic too as his work largely appeared in 18th century. Blake was greatly influenced by American and French Revolutions.
His poetical style can be regarded as original, mystical, prophetic and simple in language. William wished his work to be widely read and understood without compromising on his themes. His style is innovative along with its directness and freshness. “Songs of Innocence” still is the most popular of all of his literary works. His poetry can be easily understood:
When the voices of children are heard on the green
And laughing is heard on the hill,
My heart is at rest within my breast
And everything else is still.
Then come home, my children, the Sun is gone down
And the dews of night arise,
Come, come, leave off play, and let us away
Till the morning appears in the skies.
These lines are the first verses of the “Nurse’s Song” from “Songs of Innocence”. A reader can not find any complicated ideas or complex rhetoric devices in his poetry. Simple themes are put forth as simply.
Literary Influences:
William Blake was highly influenced by Bible from the very early years. Later he developed interest in more complex study of literature such as John Milton’s Paradise Lost which is a detailed literary work. It too has a biblical topic. More over his influences include Dante’s “Divina Commedia” again a master piece of the world of literature. Another of his influences is Emanuel Swedenborg, who was also regarded as having divine influences.
Acknowledgements
During his life Blake’s poetry was not famous amongst common people. And many of his paintings were also regarded as ‘hideous’. A few people also called him ‘insane’ as he was also friend of ‘mad Shelley’. But yet, he was mentioned in ‘A Biographical Dictionary of the Living Authors of Great Britain and Ireland’, published in 1816. S.T Coleridge considered him as ‘man of genius’ and William Wordsworth made several copies of ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience” himself.
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