Never heard of William Blake? Heard of him and wondered what all the fuss is about? After all, why should we take notice of this obscure and long dead English poet, painter and engraver, who was at best ignored, and at worst derided in his own lifetime? Here are a few reasons why Blake has been an inspiration for many other artists, writers and composers, from Dante Gabriel Rossetti to Benjamin Britten, from Bob Dylan to Aldous Huxley, from Jim Morrison to David Almond...
Throughout his life, Blake championed the imagination, and its power. Though he was frequently dismissed as mad, he remained determined that the ability to think for yourself was what made you free. He lived in world very much like ours; a society that saw itself as modern, freeing itself of old superstitions, but one that was also a time of political unrest, revolution and war.
Blake's views were frequently unorthodox, running against popular opinion, something that got him in trouble once or twice. Perhaps now, even more than in Blake's time, we could do with some free-thinking dissenters. People who speak out. No one now thinks twice about how it is that women have the right to vote; but it was thanks to the suffragettes who were also dismissed as mad in their time. We rightly see slavery as terrible monster of the past, but it was down to the actions of a few forward-thinking people that began to change people's minds. And this is Blake's ultimate message: 'I must create a system, or be enslaved by another man's...' Rather than sleep-walking our way towards meek acceptance of the things that are wrong with the world, Blake calls out from the grave to urge us to question and think for ourselves.
1. The Tyger
Mention William Blake, and The Tyger is probably what most people think of first. 'Tyger! Tyger! burning bright, In the forests of the night...' So begins this short but deceptively simple poem that has a variety of interpretations. Much of what makes Blake great can be found here: his concept of 'contraries', his championing of the creative force of the imagination, his powerful vocabulary, and fearsome biblical imagery.
2. Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience
Having read The Tyger, venture a little further in the pair of small books from where his most famous poem comes. One again showing Blake's fascination with opposites, The 'Songs' are Blake's most accessible works, many of them famous in their own right, such as The Sick Rose, and The Lamb. It's good that these are easier poems to read, because things are going to get a whole lot weirder before we're done.
3. Jerusalem
Blake's other most famous lines are the poem now known as Jerusalem, made famous since it was set to music as a hymn by Hubert Parry almost a hundred years after Blake's death. You've heard it sung before rugby matches, or at the Last Night of the Proms, and many other places. In fact, these words of Blake's were first found in the introduction to his epic work inspired by the earlier English poet John Milton. This is Blake at his very best: 'nor shall my sword in sleep in my hand, till we have built Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land'. And speaking of Blake's greatest works, this is where it gets tough...
4. The Epic Poems
Some of Blake is easy to read, much of it is not. During his life he composed a series of epic books, the longest and greatest of which is Jerusalem; an Emanation of the Giant Albion. Not to be confused with the short poem above, this work is vast in scale and at first sight, impenetrable. To understand Blake's work, you need to know something about the man behind the poetry. He created a vast mythology, mixing Biblical elements with prophetic figures of his own, and stirred in experiences from his own life too. The result is often hard to interpret; in his lifetime he wrote more words than either Geoffrey Chaucer or his hero John Milton; and yet for most people this vast body of writing has gone undiscovered. Which is a shame because...
5. Revolutionary printing techniques
Blake could be called the first graphic novelist – he married pictures and words together in a single process on one printing plate, developing new techniques to do so. He taught himself to write backwards, so he could work straight onto the copper plate. And, to open up the very strangest side of Blake, he claimed that one of his revolutionary techniques was dictated to him by his dead brother in a vision.
6. Blake and his brother
Blake was devoted to his younger brother, Robert. He taught him to draw and the brothers shared the same interests. When Robert became fatally ill, aged only 19, Blake tended to him around the clock. At the last moment, Blake reported that he saw Robert's departing spirit 'ascend heavenward through the matter-of-fact ceiling, clapping its hands for joy'. William never forgot his brother and said he 'beheld him in visions' - including the one in which Robert explained the new method of engraving. But visions of his brother weren't the only ones to come knocking at Blake's door - or window…
7. Blake and his visions
Blake saw things that only he could see, but whose reality he took for granted. As a child of four, he claimed to have seen God staring in through the upstairs window of the family house. Wandering in the open countryside of Peckham Rye a few years later, he had one of his most famous visions: a 'tree full of angels, with bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars'. Other moments were scarier: once he described the visitation of a huge, ghostly flea with a green and gold head - and drew it 'from life'. Maybe it was this visionary and prophetic side of his character that gave him the insight and courage to march out of step with his times…
8. Radical Blake
William often worried that his radical views would lead to trouble. He was against Britain's foreign wars of the time, highly critical of conventional religion and anti-monarchy. In 1803 he had a row with a soldier who had 'trespassed' in his garden - and frog-marched him forcefully back to the local pub. The soldier pressed charges and Blake was put on trial for sedition for having supposedly muttered 'damn the King'. Though eventually cleared, it was a rude reminder to him of the dangers he ran in speaking his mind.
9. Radical Blake ii
But even domestically he was a radical, with unorthodox views on marriage, sex and love. He criticised enforced marriage and chastity, and defended the rights of women to self-fulfillment. Blake took this respect for women onto the street, once furiously attacking a man who was assaulting his wife in public. He was a loyal husband to Catherine, his wife of 45 years. Together they would sunbathe nude in their garden in Lambeth - recreating the story of Adam and Eve, to the great surprise of visitors.
10. His last day
Utterly devoted to Catherine, the prospect of parting at death must have been terrible. And yet Blake's visionary belief in the afterlife was so strong that he faced his last day without fear. The last shilling he spent was on a pencil so that he could keep drawing. As his strength failed, he then turned to his wife and said: 'Stay Kate! I will draw your portrait, as you have ever been an angel to me'. He then started to sing hymns, and died not long after. Catherine continued to sell his prints and to converse with him daily. On the day of her own death, it is reported she was cheerful, and called out to Blake 'as if he were in the next room' that she was coming to join him.
