Authors & Poets Codexery

William Blake

Last updated

The English poet, painter, and printmaker William Blake lived from 28 November 1757 until 12 August 1827.[1]

Life and work

His father James was a hosier, and William attended school only long enough to learn reading and writing, leaving at age 10.[2] Blake started engraving copies of drawings of Greek antiquities purchased for him by his father.[3] Born at 28 Broad Street in Soho, London, on 28 November 1757, William Blake was the third child among seven.[4] A seven-year apprenticeship with engraver James Basire began for Blake on 4 August 1772.[5]

After coming back to London in 1804, Blake started composing and illustrating Jerusalem (1804–20), his most ambitious project.[6]

What the cited sources add

The poets.org account states that from early childhood Blake spoke of having visions, at four seeing God "put his head to the window".[7] Blake believed that in a dream his brother Robert taught him the printing method used in Songs of Innocence.[7] A 2019 Observer article reports that Catherine Blake mixed and applied his paint colours, according to curators at Tate Britain.[8] Blake's 1863 biographer Alexander Gilchrist wrote that the poet and his wife did everything in making the book except manufacturing the paper.[8]

The poets.org account notes that Blake was a nonconformist who associated with leading radical thinkers including Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft.[7] According to the poets.org source, in 1800 Blake moved to Felpham under the patronage of William Hayley.[7]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "William Blake" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Frye, Northrop and Denham, Robert D. Collected Works of Northrop Frye. 2006, pp 11–12.; Thomas, Edward. A Literary Pilgrim in England. 1917, p. 3.; Yeats, W. B. The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats. 2007, p. 85.; Wilson, Mona. The Life of William Blake. The Nonesuch Press, 1927. p. 167. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "William Blake" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bentley, Gerald Eades, and Bentley Jr., G. (1995), William Blake: The Critical Heritage, pp. 34–5.; Yeats, "William Blake, Collected Poems", Routledge, 2002, p. xviii; Raine, "World of Art: William Blake", Thames & Hudson, 1970; Bentley (2001), The Stranger From Paradise: A Biography of William Blake.; Wilson, "The Life of William Blake", Granada Publishing Limited, 1978, p. 2 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "William Blake" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bentley (2001), The Stranger From Paradise: A Biography of William Blake.; Wilson, "The Life of William Blake", Granada Publishing Limited, 1978, p. 3 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "William Blake" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "William Blake", poets.org, 3 April 1999; Bentley, Gerald Eades, and Bentley Jr., G. (1995), William Blake: The Critical Heritage, pp. 34–5. (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "William Blake" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Bentley, Gerald Eades, and Bentley Jr., G. (1995), William Blake: The Critical Heritage, pp. 34–5. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "William Blake" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Blunt, Anthony, The Art of William Blake, p 77 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. "William Blake", poets.org, 3 April 1999. facts only, no text reused. poets.org
  8. Thorpe, "How William Blake's wife brought colour to his works of genius", The Observer, 7 September 2019. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article William Blake (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

And did those feet in ancient time, Raphael

Also in the Codexery

William Blake · Literary Giants

More in Authors & Poets

Walter ScottVictor HugoVasily ZhukovskyThomas MooreThomas MedwinSamuel Taylor ColeridgeRobert SoutheyRobert BurnsNovalisNaim FrashëriMihai EminescuJuliusz Słowacki

Test yourself

Three questions drawn from this entry’s sources. Pick an answer to check it.

1. In which place was William Blake born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is Soho, London, England.

2. In what year was William Blake born?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1757.

3. In what year did William Blake die?

Correct.

Not quite. The answer is 1827.

Answers checked against the source article

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

Spotted an error? Know more?

Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced

Comments

Loading…
Open in the interactive codex →