William Blake
William Blake was an English poet and artist who lived from 1757 to 1827. Blake is considered to be one of the first poets and artists of the Romantic Age. Though highly religious (he was deeply influenced by the ideology of Emanuel Swedenborg), Blake opposed organized religions as a whole which put him at odds with the Church of England.
Blake was wholeheartedly against the Enlightenment movement that was happening in the scientific community during his lifetime. He himself wrote “Art is the Tree of Life. Science is the Tree of Death.” From an early age, Blake claimed to have seen a number of visions which were often religions in nature and were the main reason that Blake pursued more religious subjects. As such, he believed that God had close and personal relationships with his creations. Blake vehemently opposed Isaac Newton and his ideas.
Interestingly, William Blake is also considered one of the first people to be associated with the free-love movement of the early 19th century. This movement was somewhat different in nature than the 1960s movement. Free love in the 19th century thought of marriage as slavery and believed that the state should not involve itself in who was allowed to love who (such as homosexuality, adultery, prostitution, etc.).
Blake met Catherine Boucher, the daughter a market gardener, in 1782 just after the ending of a failed relationship. They married later that year. He taught Catherine how to read, write, engrave, and print and for many years, they worked as a team to further his career. Just before he died, Blake had been working furiously on his illustrations of Dante’s ‘Inferno.’ On his last day of life, he put aside his illustrations and drew a portrait of his wife and is reported to have said “Stay Kate! Keep just as you are – I will draw your portrait – for you have ever been an angel to me.”
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