WILLIAM BLAKE: A 19th CENTURIAN ROMANTIC POET

ABSTRACT

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. He was an artist at the age of ten and a poet at twelve. He was a visionary. His poetry glows with spiritual intensity and is simple and sublime. He was an uncompromising rebel against all kinds of tyranny of the institutions. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language". His visual artistry led one contemporary art critic to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced". It has also been said that “the school of poetry which is usually registered as Words Worthian was actually founded at midnight by Blake and fortified at sunrise by Wordsworth .”In 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. Although he lived in London his entire life (except for three years spent in Felpham), he produced a diverse and symbolically rich oeuvre, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God" or "human existence itself".

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