by William Blake

William Blake was born in 1757 in London, a place that would leave its mark on all his work. His father, a tradesman who sold hosiery, handed down to Blake a heritage of religious and political dissent. Disdainful of the restrictions of school, Blake was self-educated, until he began drawing lessons at the age of 10. After a seven-year apprenticeship as an engraver, Blake supported himself by engraving while he attended the Royal Academy. His study here, however, was short-lived because his iconoclasm conflicted with the academy’s orthodoxy. In 1782 Blake married Catherine Boucher, forming an artistic partnership with her that would last a lifetime; two years later he opened his own printing business. Blake’s distinctive style, the product of his visionary imagination and his varied artistic influences, was set with Songs of Innocence, the first...