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William Blake was born on 28 November 1757 at at 28 Broad Street (now Broadwick St.) in Soho, London[1] and was baptized on 11 December 1757 at St. James, Westminster, Middlesex, England, the son of James Blake and Catherine.[2][3]
His mother is reported to have been Catherine (Wright) the widow of Thomas Armitage [4][1]
William was the 2nd of four children, son of a moderately successful hosier (Gilchrist, Alexander, 1863, p.5 (37/658 pdf. version).
Apart from reading and writing he was self-educated, spending half of his time dreaming, which would be in the countryside as he grew older, even only 9 or 10 yrs, and at about that age had his "first vision" (op.cit. p.6/7).
From about the age of 10, William studied at the drawing academy of Henry Pars, in the Strand, where engraving was preferred to drawing. According to Essick, this appears to have been his first contact with any formal education.,[5] At age 12 he began to write original verse, some, later printed in the 'Poetical Sketches' (DNB, Vol.1-22, p.642): One of them titled "Song" written before he was 14 relates to nature (Gilchrist, p.11). At age 14 he was apprenticed to the commercial engraver, James Basire, in the Strand,[6] who said his mind was simple not cunning like 2 other apprentices[7]. The preferred choice was a Mr Ryland, more famous than Basire, but on meeting him William had a prophetic vision that Ryland, who was engraver to the King, would be hanged, which came true 12 years later (Gilchrist, p.13) [an example of clairvoyant precognition]! So he stayed with Basire, who sent him out to do drawings for engravings in places like Westminster Abbey, where he had a vision of "Christ and the Apostles" sometime about 1773/4 and would start doing some of the engravings himself (op.cit., p.18). He would also write the poetical essays in his teens, published in 1783 as Poetical Sketches by W.B. (op.cit., and Ch.4, see also above).
At the age of twenty-two William entered the Royal Academy Schools as an engraver.[8]. Gilchrist (Ch.5) has his age as 21 yrs, and his teacher a Swiss born Mr Moser. He was still living at 28 Broad Street but had to earn a living by doing engraver's journey work for book and magazine sellers (op.cit., p.33).
William married after 18 Aug 1782 (banns) at St Mary's Church, Battersea, Wandsworth, England to Catherine Butcher/Bucher, an impoverished grocer's daughter who could neither read nor write.[8][9][10]
Another source reports her name as Catherine Sophia Butcher.[11]. Gilchrist (pp.38/39) has her maiden name correctly as Boucher, not as in the register, following the courting 'pains', with her father William and mother Mary also there. She was their 8th child, and had the same forename as William's mother. At the time of their marriage William was aged 25 yrs and Catherine 21 yrs (op.cit., p.42).
Blake taught Catherine, who was 5 years younger, to read and write and to use the printing press. Despite having no children, their marriage was very successful. She was "one of the best wives that ever fell to the lot of a man of genius" (DNB, Vol.1-22, p.643), and they started married life at 23 Green Street, Leicester Fields, London, later to become Leicester Square, his father not having been pleased about the marriage (Gilchrist, p.44).
In 1784, the year in which his father died and was buried on 4 July in Bunhill Fields (Gilchrist, p.56), William opened a printseller's shop at 27 Broad Street in a partnership with a fellow engraver, Parker, next to elder brother James (b. 10 July,1753), also a visionary, who continued to live with their mother and run his father's hosiery business in Broad Street (op.cit.). His youngest brother Robert (b. 19th June, 1762) had been living with him and Catherine, since they had their first shop, and was well taught by William, but died in 1787 and was also buried in Bunhills Fields, on 11 February, having been well tended by William, whose visionary eyes saw Robert's spirit ascend heavenward (Gilchrist, p.60). In the same year Parker left so William moved to 28 Poland Street, near Oxford Street, with his wife Catherine as his only pupil (op.cit.).
Down to his last half-a-crown, Robert, in a vision, directed William as to the technical way to produce a facsimile of his poetry and design, with Catherine getting the simple necessary materials for 1s. 10d. Working together they would first produce Songs of Innocence, the author and printer W. Blake 1789 (Gilchrist, pp.70-77). This would be followed by more publications of his works, including perhaps the most notable, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell[12] in 1790 or was it 1793[13], until 1791, when for the first and last time he obtained the services of Johnson, of St. Paul's Churchyard to publish his writings (op.cit., p.92). During the same period, his mother Catherine died aged 70 years in September 1792 and was buried in Bunhill Fields on 9 September (Gilchrist, p.97).
In 1793 Blake left Poland Street to No. 13 of the Hercules buildings in Lambeth on the other side of the river Thames, where he would be for 7 years (op.cit., p.101), continuing his work. This included the publication of his works including The Gates of Paradise, America, Songs of Experience, Europe, Urizen, and The Song of Los. Whereas from 1795 to 1799 inclusive he was largely engaged in paid work for publishers (op.cit., pp.137-144).
Another chapter in his life opened in 1799 when he was invited through various contacts to help William Hayley, a country gentleman, poet, "Hermit of Eartham", who lived in the Sussex Downs at Felpham, near the coast, to do some engravings for his publications. Hayley also had a cottage by the sea but William had to rent another at 20 Pounds a year for the 4 years he and Catherine resided there (op.cit., Chs.XVI, XVII & XVIII, pp. 145 -191). He would describe his life, every day, as a mixture of sound understanding with visionary events throughout his waking hours. He also writes about books and pictures of his, made "before this mortal life" (op.cit., pp.150/151). By the seashore he would have visionary conversations with Moses and the Prophets, Homer, Dante Alighieri and John Milton" (op.cit., p.162).
It seems he returned from the beauty of the countryside on the coast of Sussex to the urbanity of the 1st floor of 17 South Molton Street, between Oxford Street and Brook Street, London, near where he had been born, soon after 25 March 1804, wanting most of all to be independent again (op.cit., p. 205). He would be there for almost 17 years, his landlord for most of this time a Parisian Staymaker Marc Martin. The first, Jerusalem: the Emanation of the Giant Albion, 1804, Printed by W, Blake, South Molton Street, of 100 pages, he said was dictated to him (op.cit., p. 206).
From here on to the end of his life, it continues to be presented in great detail in Gilchrist's amazing book, largely compiled from correspondence records, in the 533? pages of the original, expanded to 658 in the pdf version. It has a 7 page Index and the pdf version is searchable.
Taylor, 2017, p.58 devotes half a paragraph to William Blake's state of consciousness as a poet, who "writes of being able to see "heaven in a wild flower" and "eternity in an hour"". Taylor terms it 'Natural Wakefulness', implying an absence of conscious spirituality in it's determination. According to Richard Maurice Burke's Chapter 11 of his 1901 "Cosmic Consiousness"[14], which has an extensive discussion on Blake's personality, this points to his having attained Cosmic Consciousness. It is not surprising therefore that he was one of those notable poets who "found inspiration in Böhme's writings"[15].
William Blake called his own state of consciousness "Imaginative Vision", which he would describe as "phenomena seen by his imagination; realities none the less for that, but transacted within the realm of mind" (Gilchrist, p.338). Following the later ground-breaking work of Dr Richard Maurice Bucke, the term 'mind' might more appropriately be replaced by 'consciousness', as above.
However, when his brother died in February 1787, we read that "At the last solemn moment, the visionary eyes beheld the released spirit ascend heavenward through the matter-of-fact ceiling", whereas Jesus taught that "the kingdom of God is within you" (Luke: 17:20-21)[16]. The common perception is that it is 'out there' and where 'good' people's souls or spirits go when they leave their bodies. Furthermore, when one of the most enlightened beings, Ramana Maharshi(1879-1950) was asked on his death bed whether he would return, he answered with:- “I am not going away. Where could I go? I am here.”
On the day of William's death, he composed and uttered songs to his Maker so sweetly to the ear of his Catherine that when she stood to hear him he, looking upon her most affectionately, said: "My beloved, they are not mine—no, they are not mine!" He told her they would not be parted; he should always be about her to take care of her.
On his deathbed, Blake drew a picture of Catherine as his last work, stating "you have ever been an angel to me."[10].
Robert N. Essick, his biographer in the Oxford National Dictionary of National Biography states that William Blake died at 3 Fountain Court on the 12th August 1827. He quotes a contemporary reference, written 3 days after his death, stating that he dieddied on Sunday Night at 6 O'clock in a most glorious manner[...][17].
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| Bunhill Fields Burial Ground 1873 |
Willioam was buried at Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, used by nonconformists. The burial register entry for records his burial on 17 August 1827, from Fountain Court Strand [18][19][20]
Originally, he was buried in an unmarked grave. On the century of his death a stone was placed over his grave. This commemorated both William and his wife Catherine Sophia whose grave was 70 metres away so was rather ambiguously worded. The stone reads
NEAR BY LIE THE REMAINS OF THE POET PAINTER
WILLIAM BLAKE 1757-1827 AND OF HIS WIFE
CATHERINE SOPHIA 1762-1831
The stone was moved in 1965 so is in fact now not over his original grave.[21]
Two other christening records are of note. A christening record was for a William Blake, son of James Blake and Catherine (Unknown), on 21 November 1802 at St. Just in Roseland, Cornwall, England.[22] Also a christening for a William Blake, son of James Blake, christened on 5 May 1758 at Crosscanoby, Cumberland, England.[23]
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Blake started seeing visions when he was a young boy — God in the window, angels in trees. He apprenticed to an engraver, and spent his life as a little-known printmaker and poet.
In 1809, Blake opened an exhibition of his art on the first floor of his brother's hosiery shop. He called the show "Poetical and Historical Inventions." He left the show up for a year, but not many people attended, and not a single piece of art was sold. There was only one review of the show, by an art critic named Robert Hunt, who described Blake as an "unfortunate lunatic" in his review.
Blake died in poverty in 1827, at the age of 69. In the 30 years after publishing Songs of Innocence and of Experience, fewer than 20 copies had sold. Three years after his death, he was mentioned in a popular six-volume encyclopedia of British artists. The real breakthrough came when Alexander Gilchrist, a young admirer of Blake, set out to write his biography. Gilchrist died before it was finished, but his wife, Anne, took over the task. In 1863, Life of William Blake was published — it was subtitled Pictor Ignotus, or "unknown artist," because Blake was so obscure. Besides telling Blake's life story and claiming that he was not, in fact, insane, Gilchrist quoted many of Blake's poems, and included his illustrations. The Life of William Blake was hugely popular, and for the first time, Blake was considered a major English poet.
William Blake said, "The imagination is not a state: it is the human existence itself."