William Blake Biography

Artist, Poet (17571827)

William Blake was a 19th century writer and artist who is regarded as a seminal
figure of the Romantic Age. His writings have influenced countless writers and
artists through the ages, and he has been deemed both a major poet and an
original thinker.
IN THESE GROUPS
QUOTES
I am under the direction of messengers from Heaven daily and nightly.
William Blake

Synopsis
Born in 1757 in London, England, William Blake began writing at an early age and claimed
to have had his first vision, of a tree full of angels, at age 10. He studied engraving and grew
to love Gothic art, which he incorporated into his own unique works. A misunderstood poet,
artist and visionary throughout much of his life, Blake found admirers late in life and has
been vastly influential since his death in 1827.

Early Years
William Blake was born on November 28, 1757, in the Soho district of London, England. He
only briefly attended school, being chiefly educated at home by his mother. The Bible had an
early, profound influence on Blake, and it would remain a lifetime source of inspiration,
coloring his life and works with intense spirituality.
At an early age, Blake began experiencing visions, and his friend and journalist Henry Crabb
Robinson wrote that Blake saw God's head appear in a window when Blake was 4 years old.
He also allegedly saw the prophet Ezekiel under a tree and had a vision of "a tree filled with
angels." Blake's visions would have a lasting effect on the art and writings that he produced.

The Young Artist

Blake's artistic ability became evident in his youth, and by age 10, he was enrolled at Henry
Pars's drawing school, where he sketched the human figure by copying from plaster casts of
ancient statues. At age 14, he apprenticed with an engraver. Blake's master was the engraver
to the London Society of Antiquaries, and Blake was sent to Westminster Abbey to make
drawings of tombs and monuments, where his lifelong love of gothic art was seeded.
Also around this time, Blake began collecting prints of artists who had fallen out of vogue at
the time, including Durer, Raphael and Michelangelo. In the catalog for an exhibition of his
own work in 1809, nearly 40 years later, in fact, Blake would lambast artists "who endeavour
to raise up a style against Rafael, Mich. Angelo, and the Antique." He also rejected 18th

century literary trends, preferring the Elizabethans (Shakespeare, Jonson and Spenser) and
ancient ballads instead.

The Maturing Artist

In 1779, at age 21, Blake completed his seven-year apprenticeship and became a journeyman
copy engraver, working on projects for book and print publishers. Also preparing himself for
a career as a painter, that same year, he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Art's Schools
of Design, where he began exhibiting his own works in 1780. Blake's artistic energies
branched out at this point, and he privately published his Poetical Sketches (1783), a
collection of poems that he had written over the previous 14 years.
In August 1782, Blake married Catherine Sophia Boucher, who was illiterate. Blake taught
her how to read, write, draw and color (his designs and prints). He also helped her to
experience visions, as he did. Catherine believed explicitly in her husband's visions and his
genius, and supported him in everything he did, right up to his death 45 years later.
One of the most traumatic events of William Blake's life occurred in 1787, when his beloved
brother, Robert, died from tuberculosis at age 24. At the moment of Robert's death, Blake
allegedly saw his spirit ascend through the ceiling, joyously; the moment, which entered into
Blake's psyche, greatly influenced his later poetry. The following year, Robert appeared to
Blake in a vision and presented him with a new method of printing his works, which Blake
called "illuminated printing." Once incorporated, this method allowed Blake to control every
aspect of the production of his art.
While Blake was an established engraver, soon he began receiving commissions to paint
watercolors, and he painted scenes from the works of Milton, Dante, Shakespear