Great Britain
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William Blake
Soho (London), Great Britain
Archival Overview
Visionary English Romantic poet, printmaker, and mystic who saw angels in London trees, creating illuminated books of singular poetic genius—Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and 'The Tyger'.
Biographical Record
William Blake (1757–1827) lived in near-total obscurity and poverty in London, unrecognized by the Georgian establishment who considered him an eccentric madman. From childhood, Blake experienced luminous mystical visions—seeing the Prophet Ezekiel seated beneath a tree, or angels adorning boughs with sparkling wings.
Trained as an engraver, Blake invented 'illuminated printing', etching his poems and vivid visionary illustrations directly onto copper plates with acid, which he and his devoted wife Catherine hand-colored. In Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794), he contrasted the pristine purity of childhood with the 'mind-forg'd manacles' of industrialized London. His poems—above all 'The Tyger' ('Tyger Tyger, burning bright') and the hymn 'Jerusalem'—stand today as supreme beacons of the Romantic imagination.
Key Life Milestones
Illuminated Printing of Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Created his illuminated masterpiece showing the two contrary states of the human soul, featuring 'The Tyger'.
Composition of the Epic Jerusalem and the Prophetic Books
Engraved and illuminated his monumental epic Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
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Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialCharing Cross (London), Great Britain