William Blake (1757-1827) was an English poet, artist, and printmaker. Although largely unrecognized during his lifetime, he is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. He is held in high regard by critics for his expressiveness and creativity and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. He produced a diverse and symbolically rich body of works that embraced the imagination as "the body of God" or "human existence itself." Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the Church of England, he was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions, as well as by such thinkers as Emanuel Swedenborg.
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Songs of Innocence and of Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul are two books of poetry by the English poet and painter, William Blake. Although Songs of Innocence was first published by itself in 1789, it is believed that Songs of... SEE MORE