1.1William Blake, the man First of all, if one wishes to understand William Blake’s work, one has to imagine how William Blake - the man was like. He was born on November 28th, 1757, at 28 Broad Street, Carnaby Market, Golden Square, London. William was a solitary and imaginative boy. His imagination was first influenced by his town and his father’s house which was in contrast to the other houses on the street. His imagination escaped into the past and it knew no limits. William wasn’t like other children, he was peculiar, strange. He had what he claimed to be visions. His first vision was that of a tree filled with angel, an image that seemed natural to him. But at the time, having visions wasn’t something to boast of, so he wisely kept them to himself. William became a devourer of books and he also developed some drawing skills, which his …show more content…
Many authors compare him to other great artist such as Dante Rosetti or Michelangelo. Kathleen Raine in her work compares Blake to William Shakespeare, Dante Alghieri and Albrecht Dürer in the terms that they all share the same quality, they have great imaginative minds. 2.1 Blake in literature and art Blake had his share of contribution to the high culture, and by high culture we refer to the field of art, as well as to low culture. Blake’s literary work definitely had an impact so he started inspiring other writers, biographers, literary critics and poets such as Algernon Charles Swinburne, William Butler Yeats or Allen Ginsberg. They felt a connection to his literary work. One of the poets also inspired by Blake was Iain Sinclair. He was a British writer and filmmaker. In his work he exploits the Blakean character of the Children of Albion since he focuses on the characteristics of Slayd, Hand and Kotope featured in Blake’s poem – Jerusalem which are somehow connected to the images of the Kreys, Jack the Ripper and Ratcliffe