William Blake: The very best poems from one of the most important figures of the Romantic Age

Description

'To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour' William Blake William Blake was a poet and artist. Born in Soho in the eighteenth century, the son of a shopkeeper, he is now acclaimed as a radical left-field artist. Most recently, the Tate held an exhibition of his work: 'Magnificent ... reveal's Blake's vision at its most vivid and strange' GUARDIAN Blake's written work was equally vivid. A major poet of the Romantic age, the full range of his poetry includes the joyful and sorrowful, the childlike and complex - and illustrates his original and prophetic vision. Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic opinions, he is now revered for the depth of his poetry and art, and the philosophical undercurrents intrinsic to all his creative work. 'If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt, they'd immediately go out' 'The imagination is not a state; it is the human existence itself'

William Blake was born in 1757, the son of a Soho shopkeeper. He showed an early interest in art, engraving copies of drawings given to him by his father. At 21 he became a professional engraver, and later a studied at the Royal Academy. As well as painting, Blake illustrated collections of his own poetry. He is best known for 'Songs of Innocence and Experience', 'The Tyger' and the artworks 'The Ancient of Days' and 'Newton'. In 2021, The Tate held a sell-out exhibition of his work.