William Blake

(1757 – 1827)

William Blake was born in London in 1757 and he died there in 1827. His origins were humble and he remained poor all his life. Trained as an engraver he practised this craft until he died.
A political freethinker, he supported the French revolution and remained a radical throughout his life. He witnessed the evil effects of industrial development on man’s soul and it was probably this that convinced him that the artist should have a new role.

Interest in social problems

Blake was actually concerned with the political and social problems of his time:
He supported the abolition of slavery and shared other intellectuals’ enthusiasm for the egalitarian principles which came to the fore during the French revolution.
He believed in revolution as purifying violence necessary for the redemption of man. Later, disillusioned, he focused his attention on the evil consequences of the industrial revolution: the injustices caused by a materialistic attitude and the commercial exploitation of human beings. In his poems he sympathised with the victims of industrial society such as children and prostitutes, as well as the victims of oppression by institution such as orphans and soldiers.

LONDON

I wander thro’ each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man,
In every infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban
The mind-forged manacles I hear.

How the chimney-sweeper’s cry
Every blackening church appals;
And the hapless soldier’s sigh .
Runs in blood down palace walls.

But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
How the youthful harlot’s curse
Blasts the new-born infant’s tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage hearse.