Top 15 Surprising Facts about William Blake

Oberon, Titania, and Puck with Fairies Dancing (1786). Illustration by William Blake. Sourced from Wikimedia

Top 15 Surprising Facts about William Blake

‘Tyger! Tyger! burning bright, in the forests of the night…’

A Poem by William Blake

William Blake is regarded as one of the greatest poets and printmakers in British history. This is despite his being unknown during his lifetime and becoming famous only after his death.

He was born in 1757 in Soho, London, United Kingdom. William had seven siblings, two of whom died in infancy.

Growing up, William was fascinated by the Bible and it remained to be of great influence in his life.

He championed imagination and its power. This made people around him think he had lost his mind.

As his art became famous, Blake was considered an influential figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age.

While he was a great and talented artist, Blake did not lack critics. Jonathan Jones was his greatest critic. He claimed Blake’s works to be the greatest to be ever produced in Britain.      

In 2002, Blake was ranked number 38 in the BBC’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.

Here are more than 15 Surprising facts about William Blake.  

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1. Blake realized his childhood dreams of becoming an artist

The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with Sun (1805). Illustration by William Blake. Image sourced from Wikimedia

William Blake was born to James Blake, who owned a hosiery shop, and Catherine Wright Blake. He went to school to learn reading and writing until the age of ten.

Blake had always wanted to be an artist from an early age. When he was 10, his parents realized his talent. They then enrolled him in Henry Pars’s Drawing School in London.

In 1779, William Blake enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools, but he hated life drawing. He preferred classical sculptures and Greek vase paintings instead.

This is when Blake started engraving copies of drawings of Greek antiquities purchased for him by his father. Blake preferred this practice to actual drawing.

Through these drawings, Blake got exposed to classical forms through the work of Raphael, Michelangelo, Maarten van Heemskerck, and Albrecht Dürer.

2. Blake got most of his schooling from his mother

After learning how to read and write, Blake left school at the age of ten. He was then educated at home by his mother Catherine Blake.

His family was considered well-off and he was gifted prints and bound books from his parents. The Bible was an early and profound influence on Blake and remained a source of inspiration throughout his life.

3. His early career involved lots of engraving

Oberon, Titania, and Puck with Fairies Dancing (1786) by William Blake. Sourced from Wikimedia

After his parents saw his talent in art, they sent him to Henry Pars’ drawing school at the age of ten. This is where Blake learned to copy from prints and plaster casts.

In 1772 when he turned 14, Blake got into an apprenticeship under the engraver James Basire.

Growing up, Blake did not consider himself a poet or a painter but a craftsman. He believed that all artists should consider themselves craftsmen.

At 21, he became a professional engraver. It was through engraving that he earned his living throughout his life.

His works started gaining increased interest in the mid-19th century. It became even more popular by the 20th century.

Because of his exceptional skills, Blake was revered for the profound, intellectual, creative, and mystical components of his art.

It was also his father’s death that allowed him to perfect his printing method. This allowed him to merge his visionary writings and images on a single printing plate.

4. Early in his career, Blake depended on benefactors

Blake’s early engravings were copies of designs of other artists. This changed later after he established his reputation and received commissions to engrave his designs.

But most of Blake’s livelihood since he did not receive lots of commissions. One of his return customers was the well-intentioned William Hayley.

Hayley was one of his clients who was more concerned with his well-being than his art. Blake was commissioned to depict Dante’s Divine Comedy in 1826.

While working under James Basire, Blake was sent to do drawings of graves and monuments at Westminster Abbey. This was where his love for gothic art was born.

In later years, a new generation of young Romantic artists began to notice Blake’s works.

5. William Blake heavily opposed the Church of England

Blake was a committed Christian who was hostile to the Church of England and all other forms of organized religion.

Interestingly, the Bible was one of Blake’s long-time inspirations. Furthermore, he was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions.

He met and made friends with John Flaxman, Thomas Stothard, and George Cumberland. Stothard and Cumberland at the Royal Academy.

They shared extreme beliefs and joined the Society for Constitutional Information.

6. William Blake saw ‘things’

someone covered in white sheets. Photo by Carlos Nunez on Unsplash

Blake said he experienced visions throughout his life. This, he said, started when he was young.

When he was four years old Blake screamed when he saw God “put his head to the window”. This incident made him smash his head on the wall.

Then when he was 10, he saw “a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars.”

After the death of his brother Robert, with whom he was very close died, Blake saw his “released spirit ascend heavenward through the matter-of-fact ceiling, ‘clapping its hands for joy,’”.

In his youthful years, Blake said he saw visions of kings. Moreover, he painted representations of the great dead talking with living beings from the world of fantasy.

He was regarded as extremely odd and unworldly, even at a time when personal experience and great ideas were widely respected.

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7. Because he saw visions, he was called a madman

Blake was called a madman because he said he saw visions. Others believed he suffered from mental illness.

Despite his ‘illness’, William excelled as an English Romantic artist and poet. People close to him described him as ‘far from unstable’.

Most of his equals highly regarded him for his quirky views. He was well respected for expressiveness and creativity as well as the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work.

Critics categorized his paintings and poetry as part of the Romantic Movement and as “Pre-Romantic”. Blake is believed to have been an early proponent of both ‘Romanticism and Nationalism’.

8. Another great talent Blake was famous for was relief etching

William Blake invented relief etching and illuminated printing. He did this to be able to print texts and images together. This was in 1788 when Blake was 31.

Blake used illuminated printing for most of his popular works, including Songs of Innocence and Experience; The Book of Thel; The Marriage of Heaven and Hell; and Jerusalem.

Most of his poems, books, paintings, and pamphlets were also done using this technique.  

9. William Blake was happily married

A happy couple at sunset. Photo by Igor Rodrigues on Unsplash

Blake was married to Catherine Sophia Boucher on August 18, 1782, in St Mary’s Church, Battersea. The two stayed together until his death.

He taught Catherine to read and write and subsequently, she helped color his printed poems.

There were claims that their marriage saw its share of stormy days. This happened when Blake attempted to bring concubines to their home. There was no proof that this ever happened.

Furthermore, there are no records of the couple having children. It is believed that Catherine had a stillbirth, a daughter.  

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10. Blake’s Most Famous Poem is the Tyger

Although Blake’s profession was engraving and painting in watercolors back in the 18^th century, today he is more famous for his poems. He loved poetry since he was a teen.  

One of his most famous poems is The Tyger which was part of his poetry collection Songs of Experience. Another one is Milton: A Poem in Two Books.

In that poem is the lyric commonly called “Jerusalem” which has become a kind of alternative national anthem in Britain.

11. Recent Exhibitions That Focus on His Work

The Ashmolean Museum’s exhibition William Blake: Apprentice and Master was open from December 2014 until March 2015.

The exhibit examined William Blake’s formation as an artist as well as his influence on young artist-printmakers who were influenced by him during his last years.

The National Gallery of Victoria’s exhibition of William Blake in the summer of 2014 showcased the Gallery’s collection of works by William Blake which includes spectacular watercolors, single prints, and illustrated books.

In 2019, Tate Britain in London had a major exhibition on Blake. 

13. Blake’s Cultural Influence 

Alberto Cabello from Vitoria Gasteiz, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The generation after his death neglected his work and was almost forgotten by the time Alexander Gilchrist began writing his biography in the 1860s.

In the 20th century, William’s work was appreciated and his influence increased. Scholars involved in enhancing William’s standing in literary and artistic circles included Northrop Frye, G.E. Bentley Jr, S. Foster Damon, Geoffrey Keynes, and David V. Erdman.

In the 1950s, William had an enormous influence on the beat poets and was cited by seminal figures such as songwriters Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, and Van Morrison, English writer Aldous Huxley, and beat poet Allen Ginsberg.

14. The Legacy of William Blake

William is often cited as an inspiration in comic literature like in V for Vendetta, Watchmen, From Hell, and Angel Passage. His work is also featured in American films like Red Dragon, and Red Dragon, Manhunter. 

In 2002, the film The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys features William’s words prominently. The film features his work the Tyger.

The first six seasons of The Mentalist feature the antagonist Red John who runs the Blake Association and its members use the phrase Tyger Tyger to signal their membership.

15. The Blake Poetry Prize

The Blake Poetry Prize takes its name from William Blake. It was established in Australia in 1949. It is an open poetry prize that challenges artists to engage in conversations relating to religion and spirituality.

Although his career as an engraver could never take him out of poverty, today Blake’s engravings are ranked among the greatest triumphs of line engravings in England.

His 22 engraved Illustrations for the Book of Job are said to be his greatest masterpieces in the medium of engraving. These were also rare commercial and critical successes for him.

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