History Creator / WilliamBlake

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->''"I found them blind: I taught them to see''
->''And now they know neither themselves nor me''
->''’Tis excellent to turn a thorn to a pin''
->''A fool to a bolt, a knave to a glass of gin."''
-->--The Notebook of William Blake (c.1808-1811 p.33)


William Blake (28 November 1757 - 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker.

His work is notable for being at once highly religious and very critical of the established churches and traditions.

By most accounts, he suffered frequent visions which often served as inspiration for his work. It's also been suggested that he had what is known as a bicameral mind, wherein information is exchanged between the subconscious and conscious mind in the form of visions of gods and spirits, supposedly more common in ancient peoples, rather than the more linear thought processes most peoples' brains have evolved. This could have been the result of a mental illness or brain defect of some kind.

* PunnyName: With his "eternals", usually with some indication to their [[{{MeaningfulName}} symbolic role]] within the story. Urizen = Horizon/Your Reason; Luvah = Lover; etc.

* ReligionIsWrong: Played with in a highly idiosyncratic manner: the ''Book of Urizen'' has Urizen create "The Net of Religion" to [[BeliefMakesYouStupid entrap man's minds]], while ''The Four Zoas'' ends with the words "The dark Religions are departed & sweet Science reigns". However, Blake is best understood as an opponent of ''organized'' religious orthodoxy; he was critical of how religious institutions stifled free thought and natural human desires, disliked the growing scientific materialism of the time, and had his own idiosyncratic interpretation of Christian doctrine. His work thus reflects this trope probably just as it does [[ReligionIsRight its opposite]].

* FourElementEnsemble:
** The Zoas: Luvah = Fire; Urizen = Air; Tharmas = Water; Urthona = Earth.
** Also Urizen's sons in ''The Book of Urizen'': Thiriel = Air; Utha = Water; Grodna = Earth; Fuzon = Fire.

** The preface to ''Milton'' includes the short poem "And did those feet in ancient time", adapted into the hymn "Jerusalem" ([[NamesTheSame not to be confused with Blake's epic poem]] ''Jerusalem'', as seen below) by Sir Hubert Parry in 1916. This hymn is now considered one of England's greatest candidates to a national anthem, and is a staple at the Last Night of the Proms. Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer opens their album ''Brain Salad Surgery'' with a CoverVersion.

%%* UltimateEvil: The Covering Cherub.

By most accounts, he suffered frequent bouts of hallucinatory madness which often served as inspiration for his work. He may have been schizophrenic. It's also been suggested that he had what is known as a bicameral mind, wherein information is exchanged between the subconscious and conscious mind in the form of visions of gods and spirits, supposedly more common in ancient peoples, rather than the more linear thought processes most peoples' brains have evolved. This could have been the result of a mental illness or brain defect of some kind.

* {{Romanticism}}: One of the Big Six of the English school, along with Creator/WilliamWordsworth, Creator/SamuelTaylorColeridge, Creator/LordByron, Creator/JohnKeats and Creator/PercyByssheShelley

* ChaoticGood: [[invoked]] Discussed the idea centuries before it was named - essentially, he argues that LawfulGood is an oxymoron by nature, since following rules obviates the individual of moral authority. ''The Marriage of Heaven and Hell'' reaches its climax with the following: "I tell you, no virtue can exist without breaking these ten commandments; Jesus was all virtue, and acted from impulse, not from rules."