Strikingly Original

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Recommended: William Blake life and work

William Blake, “The earliest and greatest figures of Romanticism,” (Blake 269) was born on November 28, 1757 in London. Blake’s father was a hosier, and Blake was the second of five children. Blake’s education was very little. He attended Henry Pars’ drawing school and was an apprentice for seven years to an engraver. William Blake was an English poet, artist, and philosophers. He combined writing and art together through “illuminated printing” creating original pieces.
William Blake despite very little education went on to create very beautiful pieces. His only grammar school education was Henry Pars’ drawing school he attended at the age of ten. He taught himself to read and write. Blake was an apprentice for seven years under James Basire. Because of Blake’s querulous actions with the other apprentices, he was sent to draw the monuments in Westminster Abbey. After his apprenticeship, Blake attended the Royal Academy as an engraving student. While there he did not like many of the professors, because he felt as if his talent was being wasted. Blake did meet and become friends with John Flaxman, Thomas Stothard, and Henry Fuseli all of who were young artists. With no formal training in writing, Blake published his first collection of poems called Poetical Sketches, poems which contained “a freshness, a purity of vision, and a lyric intensity unequal to English poetry” (Blake 269). Shortly before Blake published his first collection, he married Catherine Boucher, “an illiterate daughter of a market gardener” (Keynes 245). Catherine Boucher was the perfect wife for Blake even though she was childless.

William Blake’s poetry is known for its unique form called “illuminated printing.” This is where the poems are eng...

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...invention of “illuminated printing.” Blake says that his brother revealed the method to him in a vision (Blake 269). William Blake used the process of Illuminated printing with most of his produced works. Blake’s writings used various forms and styles and he developed philosophical, religious, and intellectual ideas in a different way making him, “strikingly original” despite his little education.

Works Cited

"Blake, William." The New Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th ed. Vol. 2. Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002. 269-71. Print.
Keynes, Geoffrey. "Blake, William." Collier's Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York, NY: P. F. Collier, 1996. 245-47. Print.
Shilstone, Frederick W. "Blake, William." The World Book Encyclopedia. 2004 ed. Print.
"William Blake." : The Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2013. .

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