William Blake Summary

Blake, William(1757–1827) William Blake was an English poet, painter, and engraver. He was born in London, the second of five children in the family of a retail hosier. His social status preclu... Read more

Biography EssayIn his Life of William Blake (1863) Alexander Gilchrist warned his readers that Blake "neither wrote nor drew for the many, hardly for work'yday men at all, rather for children and ange... Read more

William Blake was an English writer, poet, and illustrator of the Romantic period. Romantic authors and artists emphasized the content of their works over the form, valued imagination and emotion, and... Read more

William Blake, poet, painter, illustrator, and printer, is one of the most compelling and idiosyncratic figures in the history of British culture. His works, little known until their rediscovery some ... Read more

The following excerpt appeared as the introduction to Malkin's book, A Father's Memoirs of his Child (1806) and is the earliest published essay on Blake. Malkin's enthusiastic dis... Read more

Bloom is one of the most prominent contemporary American critics and literary theorists. In The Anxiety of Influence (1973), he formulated a controversial theory of literary creation called revisionis... Read more

In the following essay, Miner comments on the literary influences on "The Tyger" and the poem's relationship, thematically and symbolically, to Blake's later works. ... Read more

Youngquist is an American educator and the author of Madness and Blake's Myth. In the following psychoanalytic interpretation of Milton, he asserts that the poem is about "the ordeal of ... Read more

A nineteenth-century English poet, dramatist, and critic, Swinburne was renowned during his lifetime for his skill and technical mastery as a lyric poet and is currently regarded as a preeminent symbo... Read more

An American educator, poet, and critic, Damon wrote several books on Blake's poetry, including William Blake: His Philosophy and Symbols, a scholarly study that is considered one of the major w... Read more

In the following excerpt Margoliouth presents a stylistic and thematic overview of Blake's lyric poetry. If William had died in 1787 as well as [his brother] Robert and if, some time in the ... Read more

William Blake believed that opposites were a necessity to living. Most all of his works were based on opposites and how they worked and formed a livable society. Although his writing was not v... Read more

William Blake lived during a time of intense social change; the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution. These massive changes in society provided Blake with one of ... Read more

The time period typically associated with the Romantic Poets and writers was one of the most turbulent to hit Europe ever. With the French Revolution sweeping the fields of Alsace, Lorraine and be... Read more

To truly understand William Blake, there must be at least moderate explanation of the time in which he wrote. Blake was a literary figure at the turn of the 18th century, a very early Romantic, but ... Read more

I wandered through each chartered street, Near where the chartered Thames does flow, A mark in every face I meet, Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every man, In every infant's cry... Read more

In the poems "My Pretty Rose Tree", "Ah, Sunflower" and "The Lily" by William Blake, Blake tries to capture a glimpse of beauty in the world around him. Each flower symbolizes the beauty of Blake's di... Read more

William Blake was a poet who changed society and helped it to become what it is today. He was one of the leaders in the Romantic Movement, strongly against the industrial revolution. His poetry demons... Read more