Concetti Chiave
- William Blake received minimal formal education but gained significant art-related skills through an apprenticeship with an engraver.
- Blake's artistic career involved decorating books, with help from his wife, whom he taught to read and write, and his younger brother.
- Throughout his life, Blake experienced visions of religious figures, which influenced his work and led others to consider him a madman.
- He developed a unique printing process, allegedly learned from his brother's spirit, combining hand coloring with printed pages.
- Blake's major poetic works, "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience," explore themes of innocence and the harsh realities of adult life.
Blake's early life and education
William Blake was born in London. His father was a merchant.
He received very little schooling and education, but not for what concerns art: apprenticed to an engraver, he learnt lots of things about miniatures and drawing.
Due to this experience, he started decorating the books of other writers.
He married the daughter of a poor merchant, woman that he always loved much, but so uneducated that he had himself to teach her how to read and write.
The she started helping him with his work, together with his younger brother.
When he died, Blake said that he had seen his spirit flying to Heaven.
Visions and spiritual experiences
Blake always had visions: when he was a child he used to see God and the angels looking at him, and, as an adult, to see the Archangel Gabriel, the virgin Mary and the most important dead men of the past conversing to him.
For this reason he was considered as a madman, but he knew that was just the appearance of his thought, of his “inner light”.
He also introduced a particular process of printing, that he said to have learnt from the spirit of his brother. According to this process pages were printed and then colored by hand.
By this process he created lots of wonderful, strange pages full of flowers and leaves: every work thus became a work of art.
He always lived a lonely life in London.
His last years were however serene. He also believed the real man had to follow imagination and always considered death as a change from a room to another.
Philosophy and literary works
His most important works are two collections of poems called “Songs of innocence” and “Songs of experience”.
The two collections, which pages were decorated by Blake himself, are complementary.
In the first one, h seems to remind men’s condition in the Garden of Even, or the spirit of an innocent child.
Whereas in the second one, he talks about adult life: selfish and unfair.
These two aspects are both present in men’s souls: the lamb, representative character of the first collection of poems, symbolized God’s love for us, and the tiger, representative character of the second one, gives a clear message of strength and doubt towards God and life.
Domande da interrogazione
- What was unique about William Blake's approach to book decoration and printing?
- How did Blake's personal life and relationships influence his work?
- What themes are explored in Blake's "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience"?
Blake introduced a unique printing process, which he claimed to have learned from the spirit of his brother. This process involved printing pages and then coloring them by hand, resulting in pages full of flowers and leaves, making each work a piece of art.
Blake's wife, whom he taught to read and write, assisted him in his work, along with his younger brother. His personal relationships, particularly with his wife and brother, played a significant role in his artistic endeavors and spiritual experiences.
"Songs of Innocence" reflects themes of innocence and the idyllic state of the Garden of Eden, while "Songs of Experience" explores the harsh realities of adult life, such as selfishness and injustice. These collections highlight the duality of human nature, represented by the lamb and the tiger.
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