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
I see the Fourfold Man; the Humanity in deadly sleep, / And its fallen Emanation, the Spectre and its cruel Shadow. / I see the Past, Present, and Future existing all at once / Before me.
Cruelty has a Human Heart, And jealousy a Human Face; Terror the Human Form Divine, And secrecy the Human Dress. The Human Dress is forged Iron, The Human Form a Fiery Forge, The Human Face a Furnace seal d, The Human Heart its hungry gorge.
Cruelty has a human heart, And jealousy a human face Terror, the human form divine, And secrecy, the human dress
For Mercy has a human heart; Pity, a human face; Love, the human form divine; and Peace, the human dress.
To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal EyesOf Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought: into EternityEver expanding in the Bosom of God, the Human Imagination.
God appears, and God is Light,To those poor souls who dwell in Night,But does a human form displayTo those who dwell in realms of day.
Humility is only doubt, / And does the sun and moon blot out.
Then every man of every clime,That prays in his distress,Prays to the human form divine,Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.
The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.
Each man is haunted until his humanity awakens.
Thou art a man God is no more Thy own humanity Learn to adore
The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,The humble sheep a threat'ning horn:While the Lily white shall in love delight,Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
A robin redbreast in a cage Puts all heaven in a rage.
When a man has married a wife, he finds out whether / Her knees and elbows are only glued together.