Little fact explorers, let me tell you about William Blake.
He was an English painter, poet, and printmaker.
Though he was largely recognized during his life, Blake is now believed to be a seminal figure in the history of poetry and also visual art of the Romantic Age.
Throughout his life, Blake produced a diverse and symbolically rich collection of works😲.
So, in this article, let us go through some really fascinating facts about the life and works of this fascinating poet.
Interesting William Blake Facts
William Blake was born at 28 Broad Street, in Soho
Hey there, little fact lovers, did you know that William Blake was born at 28 Broad Street in Soho, London?
He was born on November 28, 1757. He was the third of the seven children of his parents.
His father, James, was a hosier.
Later, William attended school only enough to learn writing and reading. Also, he left school at ten and was educated at home by his mom Catherine👩.
Blake has had religious visions since he was a child.
Blake realized his childhood dream: It was to become an artist
From a very early age, William wished to be an artist.
When he was 10, his parents realized his talent and enrolled him In Henry Pars’ Drawing School in London.
In 1779, Blake enrolled in the Royal Academy of Schools. However, he didn’t like life drawing.
He actually liked Greek vase paintings and classical sculptures instead.
This was the time when William began engraving copies of drawings of Greek antiquities bought for him by his dad. William liked this practice to actual drawing 🖼️
Through these drawings, William got exposed to classical forms through the work of Michelangelo, Raphael, Heemskerck, and Durer.
The early in his career, William depended a lot on benefactors
The early engravings of William Blake were copies of the designs of other artists👨🎨.
This changed after some time, when he established his reputation and even received commissions to engrave his ideas!
However, most of William’s livelihood since he didn’t get a lot of commissions. One of his return clients was William Hayley.
Hayley was one of his customers who was really worried about Blake’s well-being.
In 1826, Blake was commissioned to depict the Divine Comedy of Dante.
While working under James Basire, Blake had to do drawings of monuments and graves at Westminster Abbey and started loving gothic art.
Early career of Blake: It included lots of engraving
Henry Pars’ drawing school was the place where Blake learned to copy from plaster casts and prints.
When Blake turned 14, he started thinking of himself not a painter🧑🎨 or a poet but a craftsman.
He even believed that all artists must think of themselves as a craftsman⚒️!
At 21, Blake became a professional engraver, and his works started gaining increased interest in the middle of the 19th century!
Later, by the 20th century, it became even more popular.
Due to his exceptional skills, William Blake was revered for the profound, creative, intellectual, and even mystical elements of his art!
William got a lot of schooling from his mother
After learning how to write and read, William left school and was taught by his mom.
His family was thought to be well-off, and hence, William was gifted prints and bound books📚 from his parents!
The Bible had an early and really profound influence on William and also remained a source of inspiration throughout his life.
William Blake ‘saw’ things
According to Blake, he experienced visions throughout his life. He even said that this started when he was very young.
When he was just four, Blake screamed when he saw that God ‘put his head to the window.’ 🪟
This incident even made him smash his head on the wall.
Later, when he was ten, he saw “a tree with angles, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars.”
After his brother Robert died, with whom William was quite close, William saw his “released spirit ascend heavenward through the matter-of-fact ceiling, clapping its hands for joy.”
William Blake strongly opposed the Church of England
I am really surprised to learn this unique fact about William Blake! Want to know?
Though Blake was a committed Christian, he still was quite hostile to the Church of England ⛪as well as all other forms of organized religion.
Another interesting thing was that, in addition to the Bible, Blake was strongly influenced by the ambitions and ideals of the American and French revolutions! Really impressive, isn’t it?
He met and became good friends with Thomas Stothard, John Flaxman, and George Cumberland.
They shared extreme beliefs and even joined the Society for Constitutional Information.
Blake was regarded as really odd
Blake used to paint representations of the great dead walking with living individuals from the world of fantasy.
In his youth, William said that he even saw visions of kings👑.
Due to this habit, William Blake was regarded as a really odd and unworldly person.
As he used to saw visions, people called him a madman.
Despite his ‘illness,’ Blake excelled as an English Romantic poet and artist.
People who are close to him described him as ‘far from unstable.’
Still, he was well respected for his creativity and expressiveness, along with the mystical and philosophical undercurrents within his work.
William Blake was happily married
William Blake married Catherine Sophia Boucher 👰♀️, in St Mary’s Church, Battersea, on August 18, 1782.
The couple stayed together until Blake’s death.
William taught Catherine to write and read, and subsequently, she helped color his printed works.
Many claimed that their marriage saw its share of stormy days. This actually occurred when William attempted to bring concubines to their home!
However, there was actually no proof that this ever took place.
Moreover, there are no records of the couple having kids.
However, it is believed that Blake’s wife, Catherine, had a stillbirth, a daughter! So unfortunate, right?
William Blake was also quite famous for his etching
If you are a fan of Blake’s poems, like me, then you will love this fact!
Blake was the inventor of relief etching and illuminated printing!
He did this to be able to print images and texts together! Really interesting!!
This was in 1788 when Blake was just 31.
For most of his popular works, Blake used illuminated printing, including some of his famous works.
Those are Songs of Innocence and Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Book of Thel, and Jerusalem.
Most of Blake’s books, paintings🖌️, poems, and pamphlets were also done using this interesting technique!
William Blake’s cultural influence
The generation after Blake’s death neglected his works and was almost forgotten.
His works again resurfaced by the time Alexander Gilchrist started writing 🖊️his biography. It was in the 1860s.
In the 20th century, Blake’s work was appreciated a lot, and his influence increased.
Scholars even tried to enhance William’s standing in artistic and literary circles.
Some of them were, G. E. Bentley Jr, Northrop Frye, Geoffrey Keynes, S. Foster Damon, and David V. Erdman.
William Blake’s works influenced many notable singers, poets, and even writers
In the 1950s, William had a great influence on the beat poems and even was cited by seminal figures like Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan🎸, and Van Morrison, beat poet Allen Ginsberg, and English writer Aldous Huxley.
The most famous poem of William Blake is The Tyger
William Blake’s actual profession was painting and engraving in watercolors back in the 18th century.
However, today, he is more famous for his wonderful poems! Really interesting, right?
William loved poetry since he was a teen.
One of his most well-known poems is The Tyger. Actually, it was a part of his poetry collection, Songs of Experience.
Another one is Milton: A Poem in Two Books.
In that poem is the lyric usually called “Jerusalem,” which has become a kind of alternative national anthem in Britain.
The Legacy of William Blake
William Blake is often cited as an inspiration in comic literature. A few examples are Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Angel Passage, and From Hell.
Also, Blake’s work is also featured in some notable American movies🎥, such as Red Dragon, Manhunter, etc.
In the year 2002, the movie The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys featured Blake’s words prominently.
The movie actually featured his famous work, The Tyger🐅!
Also, the first six seasons of The Mentalist featured the antagonist Red John.
John actually runs the Blake Association, and its members use the famous phrase Tyger Tyger to signal their membership.
Recent Exhibitions that focus on Blake’s work
From December 2014 to March 2015, The Ashmolean Museum’s exhibition called William Blake: Apprentice and Master was open!
The exhibit mainly examined Blake’s formation as an artist. It also showcased his influence on young artist-printmakers who were encouraged by him during his last years!
Also, in the summer of 2014, The National Gallery of Victoria’s exhibition of William Blake displayed the works of Blake collected by the Gallery.
The collection included some spectacular single prints, watercolors, and illustrated books by William Blake.
Later in 2019, Tate Britain in London also had a notable exhibition on Blake! Really impressive, right?
The Blake Poetry prize
Little friends, have you heard this wonderful secret about William Blake? No? Let me explain.
The Blake Poetry Prize 🥇gets its name from William Blake. This prize was established in 1949 in Australia!
In fact, it is an open poetry prize that challenges artists to take part in conversations related to spirituality and religion!
Blake was placed 38 in the poll of the 100 Greatest Britons
Today, William Blake is regarded as one of the finest poets and artists in the history of Britain.
He even was placed 38 in Britain’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons in the year 2002.
Blake’s Poem and his amazing style
William Blake is a classic artist. He wrote romantic poetry with the use of symbolism, imagery, revolutionary spirit, and beautiful metaphors.
Also, he used plain language and spontaneous expressions of feelings and thoughts!
Blake’s poem ‘Jerusalem’ can be considered his crowning effort! There are about 100 illuminated plates in this fascinating, epic poem!
In this, Blake expands on his mythology in order to investigate man’s fall and also salvation!
As the poem progresses, man’s two identities are harmonized, and finally, man is reunited with the divinity that resides within him!
William Blake is seen as a pioneer of the Free Love Movement
Blake’s works also chastised the rules of marriage and also external demands for marital fidelity!
In that, he saw it as reducing love to a chore instead of genuine devotion.
Thus, Blake was even believed to be a pioneer of the Free Love Movement.
The movement ended government intrusion in areas of sexuality, such as marriage💒, adultery, and even birth control!
When he was just 26, Blake even published Poetical Sketches.
It was the only volume of Blake’s poetry that he wrote and also published in a traditional printed format.
Blake and his relationship with Enlightenment philosophy
William Blake had quite a complex relationship with Enlightenment philosophy.
His thought regarding imagination as the most vital element of human existence was quite contrary to the Enlightenment ideals of empiricism and rationalism.
Because of his visionary religious beliefs, Blake even opposed the Newtonian view of the universe🌎!
Blake and his last years
William Blake spent his last years with his wife Catherine at Fountain Court off the Strand.
On the day of his death, Blake worked continuously on Dante’s works, with his wife in tears by his bedside.
Seeing her crying, Blake said, “Stay, Kate! Keep just as you are – I will draw ✍️your portrait – for you have ever been an angel to me.”
After completing the portrait of his wife, Blake laid down his tools and started to sing verses and hymns.
At six that evening, which was August 12, 1827, Blake died. His body was buried⚰️ five days after his death.
The Book of Job: The most famous engravings of Blake
I am really surprised to learn this fascinating fact about Blake!
Though his lifelong works could not take him out of poverty, still Blake’s engravings rank among the greatest engravings in England! Amazed, right?
His works in the Book of Job are considered to be his greatest masterpieces in the history of engraving!!
They were a rare critical and commercial success for Blake!!
Summing up
So little knowledge lovers, now you know quite a lot about William Blake! 😲!
Actually…we can continue more about this amazing poet and painter…but too much at a time is not good for appetite! 😲!!
So, see you soon with another topic!!!
I’m a former teacher (and mother of Two Childs) with a background in child development. Here to help you with play-based learning activities for kids. ( Check my Next startup Cledemy.Com)
