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
Excess of sorrow laughs, excess of joy weeps.
I have mental joys and mental health,Mental friends and mental wealth,I've a wife that I love and that loves me;I've all but riches bodily.
Sleep, sleep, beauty bright,Dreaming in the joys of night;Sleep, sleep; in thy sleepLittle sorrows sit and weep.
Sleep, sleep, beauty bright, Dreaming in the joys of night; Sleep, sleep; in thy sleep Little sorrows sit and weep.
But to go to school in a summer morn, Oh, it drives all joy away! Under a cruel eye outworn, The little ones spend the day in sighing and dismay
And I made a rural pen, / And I stained the water clear, / And I wrote my happy songs / Every child may joy to hear.
Praises reap not! Joys laugh not! Sorrows weep not!
Where others see but the dawn coming over the hill, I see the soul of God shouting for joy.
How can a bird that is born for joy Sit in a cage and sing?
Man was made for joy and woe Then when this we rightly know Through the world we safely go. Joy and woe are woven fine A clothing for the soul to bind.
The Angel that presided o'er my birth Said, 'Little creature, formed of joy and mirth, Go love without the help of any thing on earth'...
Joy and woe are woven fine.
I have mental joys and mental health, Mental friends and mental wealth, I've a wife that I love and that loves me; I've all but riches bodily.
And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds and binding with briars my joys and desires. (from 'The Garden of Love')