William Blake (1757 -1827) was 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 so-called prophetic works were said by 20th century critic Northrop Frye to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". William Blake was born on 28 November 1757 at 28 Broad Street (now Broadwick St.) in Soho, London. He was the third of seven children, two of whom died in infancy. Blake's father, James, was a hosier. He attended school only long enough to learn reading and writing, leaving at the age of ten, and was otherwise educated at home by his mother Catherine Blake. Even though the Blakes were English Dissenters, William was baptised on 11 December at St James's Church, Piccadilly, London. The Bible was an early and profound influence on Blake, and remained a source of inspiration throughout his life. In this book: Songs of Innocence, and Songs of Experience INTRODUCTION THE SHEPHERD THE ECHOING GREEN THE LAMB THE LITTLE BLACK BOY THE BLOSSOM THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER THE LITTLE BOY LOST THE LITTLE BOY FOUND LAUGHING SONG A CRADLE SONG THE DIVINE IMAGE HOLY THURSDAY NIGHT SPRING NURSE'S SONG INFANT JOY A DREAM ON ANOTHER'S SORROW SONGS OF EXPERIENCE INTRODUCTION EARTH'S ANSWER THE CLOD AND THE PEBBLE HOLY THURSDAY THE LITTLE GIRL LOST THE LITTLE GIRL FOUND THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPER NURSE'S SONG THE SICK ROSE THE FLY THE ANGEL THE TIGER MY PRETTY ROSE TREE AH, SUNFLOWER THE LILY THE GARDEN OF LOVE THE LITTLE VAGABOND LONDON THE HUMAN ABSTRACT INFANT SORROW A POISON TREE A LITTLE BOY LOST A LITTLE GIRL LOST A DIVINE IMAGE A CRADLE SONG THE SCHOOLBOY TO TIRZAH THE VOICE OF THE ANCIENT BARD The book of Thel Poetical sketches To Spring To Summer To Autumn To Winter To the Evening Star To Morning Fair Eleanor There is no natural religion All Religions are One To Nobodaddy Proverbs of Hell Of the gates To the Accuser Who Is The God of This World Visions of the Daughters of Albion The Land of Dreams Satiric verses and epigrams from Blake's Notebook The marriage of Heaven and Hell The Argument THE VOICE OF THE DEVIL A MEMORABLE FANCY PROVERBS OF HELL A MEMORABLE FANCY A MEMORABLE FANCY A MEMORABLE FANCY A MEMORABLE FANCY A SONG OF LIBERTY CHORUS An Island in the Moon America a Prophecy The Book of Urizen The Book of Ahania The Book of Los The Song of Los Songs and Ballads A Cradle Song To my Mirtle Eternity To Nobodaddy Soft Snow Merlins prophecy Day The Fairy The Kid Morning The Birds Dedication to Blake's Illustrations to Blair's Grave, printed To the Queen From Blake's Notebook A Separate Manuscript With Blake's Illustrations to Gray's Poems To Mrs Ann Flaxman The Pickering Manuscript The Golden Net The Mental Traveller The Land of Dreams Mary The Crystal Cabinet The Grey Monk Auguries of Innocence Long John Brown & Little Mary Bell William Bond Mr Blake's Nursery Rhyme

A selection of Blake's poetry made by William Butler Yeats in 1905, which helped to restore the reputation and awareness of Blake, who had been undervalued and forgotten up until then.

In his illuminated books,William Blake combined his handwritten text with his exuberant imagery on pages the like of which had not been seen since the great decorated books of the Middle Ages. To read such books as Jerusalem, America and Songs of Innocence and of Experience in cold letterpress bears no comparison to seeing and reading them as Blake conceived them, infused with his sublime and exhilarating colours. At times tiny figures and forms dance among the lines of the text, flames appear to burn up the page, and dense passages of Biblical-sounding text are brought to a jarring halt by startling images of death, destruction and liberation. This edition, produced together with The William Blake Trust, contains all the pages of Blakes twenty or so illuminated books reproduced in true size, an appendix with all Blakes text set in type and an introduction by the noted Blake scholar, David Bindman. They can at last become part of the lives of all lovers of art and poetry.

An introduction to the William Blake Collection in the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, California.

The writings of William Blake were not understood by his contemporaries or the Victorians, and it was only in 1910, with the publication of Joseph Wicksteed's Blake's Vision of the Book of Job, that the long process of comprehending Blake's works seriously began. Part 1 of the present work consists of twelve chapters that are primarily intended to lead the reader who has little or no acquaintance with Blake's more difficult works through all his books. These consist of Poetical Sketches, Songs of Innocence and of Experience, three early prose tractates, the eleven shorter prophetic books (including The Marriage of Heaven and Hell), the lyrics of the Pickering Manuscript, The Four Zoas, Milton, Jerusalem, The Gates of Paradise, The Ghost of Abel and Illustrations of The Book of Job. The reader who wishes to explore a work more fully can proceed to Part II, where a headnote outlines the main scholarly views of its structure and meaning. There are two indexes providing ready access to explanations of terms and proper names.