William Blake
William Blake
William Blakewas an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic works have been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". In...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPhilosopher
Date of Birth28 November 1757
The merchants are rich enough;Can they not help themselves?
When Sir Joshua Reynolds died / All Nature was degraded; / The King dropped a tear in the Queen's ear, / And all his pictures faded.
Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night.
Jesus & his apostles & disciples were all artists
Jesus & his apostles & disciples were all artists
Struggling in my father's hands, Striving against my swaddling bands, Bound and weary, I thought best To sulk upon my mother's breast.
For where'er the sun does shine, And where'er the rain does fall, Babe can never hunger there, Nor poverty the mind appall.
There is a place where Contrarieties are equally True...
There is a place where Contrarieties are equally True...
The little ones leaped, and shouted, and laugh'd And all the hills echoed
To me this world is all one continued vision of fancy or imagination, and I feel flattered when I am told so. What is it sets Homer, Virgil and Milton in so high a rank of art? Why is the Bible more entertaining and instructive than any other book? Is it not because they are addressed to the imagination, which is spiritual sensation, and but immediately to the understanding or reason?
For everything exists and not one sigh nor smile nor tear, one hair nor particle of dust, not one can pass away.
If Christianity was morality, Socrates would be the Saviour.
How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way, Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?