William Blake was born in London in 1757 and, except for three years spent in the coastal village of Felpham, he remained in the city for his entire life. This strong connection to one place contrasts sharply with the expansive imaginative worlds he created in his work.
Blake trained as an engraver, and that skill influenced everything he did. He didn't merely write his poems — he printed them himself, etching text and images onto copper plates in a method he called "illuminated printing." The outcome was books that were also artworks, with visuals and words woven together. He sold very few copies during his lifetime, and those he did sell he often hand-coloured. In a very real sense, he was a one-man publishing operation.
“His work can be divided into two main categories.”
The shorter lyric poems — the ones most readers encounter first — appear deceptively simple. *Songs of Innocence* (1789) and *Songs of Experience* (1794) use straightforward language reminiscent of children's hymns to tackle serious questions about suffering, exploitation, and how institutions can stifle the human spirit. Poems like "London" or "The Chimney Sweeper" are quick reads that leave a strong impact. The other category is his prophetic books: lengthy, complex, mythological epics filled with characters Blake created himself — Urizen, Los, Orc — representing concepts like reason, imagination, and rebellion. These works are genuinely challenging and are read far less often.
Blake was also a political radical. He supported both the American and French Revolutions, and his anger towards the Church of England, child labour, war, and what he called "mind-forged manacles" permeates all his writing. He held deep spiritual beliefs, but his spirituality was not aligned with organized religion — he claimed to have seen visions since childhood, including angels in a tree and the prophet Ezekiel sitting in a field.
