Literary History

The Two Sides of Blake

Many artists of the Romantic period were masters of several different art forms. One of them, William Blake, was both a poet and a skilled engraver and painter.

Blake was born in 1757 in London to a family with unconventional religious beliefs. He learned the art of engraving at a young age, studying the Italian and German Renaissance artists. Blake rejected traditional methods of art. For example, he believed that the artist should draw only on his or her imagination to create art, not on the work of previous masters or on natural landscapes.

Nevertheless, Blake was influenced by medieval and religious art. His in-depth knowledge of the Bible served as inspiration for many of his works. In the etching The Ancient of Days, which appeared as a frontispiece to Europe a Prophecy, for example, Blake represents God with the character Urizen, who is depicted creating the universe with the tools of an architect.

Blake also illustrated his own poetry. His book Songs of Innocence and of Experience, for example, features richly colored illustrations suited for children’s literature yet portrays complex and sophisticated themes related to human existence.

Blake received many commissions from publishers and patrons throughout his life. He was commissioned by London bookseller Richard Edwards to illustrate Edward Young’s Night Thoughts; civil servant Thomas Butts for a series of designs from the Bible and Milton’s Paradise Lost; London publisher Robert Hartley Cromek to prepare designs and engravings for The Grave by Robert Blair; and John Linnell to illustrate The Book of Job and Dante’s Divine Comedy, which Blake was still working on at the time of his death.

Blake produced what were known as illuminated books, or books that were “illuminated” with elaborate letters, ornamental borders, and gilded illustrations. In these books, Blake insisted upon placing the artist and the poet over the publisher or the cost of producing such works. While it is unclear exactly how Blake produced illuminated books, he composed the poems, drew the designs, created the engravings, and bound the books with his wife, Catherine, in his own home so as to avoid possible government persecution for producing seditious works.

Bibliography

Songs of Innocence and Experience: Two Complete Books. New York: Dover Publications, 1986. A color reproduction of William Blake’s hand-written, hand-colored illustrated poems, including the famous “The Tiger,” “A Poison Tree,” and “The Voice of the Ancient Bard.”

William Blake: Selected Poems. New York: Penguin Classics, 2006. A selection of many of Blake’s famous poems, including “Jerusalem” and “The Gates of Paradise.”

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. New York: Dover Publications, 1994. A full-color facsimile of one of Blake’s most famous works on religion and mortality, along with twenty-seven full-color plates of the accompanying illustrations and seventy aphorisms of “Proverbs of Hell.”

Blake’s “America: A Prophecy” and “Europe: A Prophecy.” New York: Dover Publications, 1984. Contains Blake’s prophetic poems and full-color facsimiles of his original, hand-colored engravings.

Web links

Works in the William Blake Archive
http://www.blakearchive.org/blake/indexworks.htm
View electronic versions of Blake’s engravings, prints, drawings, paintings, and book illustrations.

William Blake and the Illuminated Book
http://www3.iath.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0234.html
Blake was unique in that he published illuminated books, or books with elaborate letters, ornamental borders, and gilded illustrations. Learn more about this painstaking, expensive process that combined the visual and literary into a unique art form.

Selected Poetry of William Blake
http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poet/24.html
This is an index of links to the texts of more than forty of Blake’s poems.

Special Exhibitions: William Blake
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/se_event.asp?OccurrenceId={6B4DE85F-20C3-11D4-9373-00902786BF44}
The online version of the 2001 “William Blake” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. View the images from this first major Blake exhibit in the United States in all media—drawings, paintings, and prints.