William Blake was a British poet, painter, engraver, and visionary mystic. For Blake, the imagination reigned supreme, but he was not recognized as a major figure during his lifetime. Blake's works include: "Songs of Innocence" (1789), "Songs of Experience" (1794), "The Book of Thel" (1789), "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" (1790), "The Book of Urizen" (1794), "America" (1793), "Milton" (1804-1808) and "Jerusalem" (1804-1820). Read more about the life and works of William Blake.
1. Blake Records
by G. E. Bentley. Yale University Press. From the publisher: "Poet, painter, engraver, and mystic, William Blake (1757-1827) is unequalled for the imaginary force and visionary power of his works... Distinguished Blake expert, G. E. Bentley, Jr., editor of the first edition of Blake Records and Blake Records Supplement, brings together new and updated material on Blake's life, career, family, friends, and patrons.
2. William Blake and the Impossible History of the 1790s
by Saree Makdisi. University of Chicago Press. From the publisher: "Modern scholars often find it difficult to account for the profound eccentricities in the work of William Blake, dismissing them as either ahistorical or simply meaningless. But with this pioneering study, Saree Makdisi develops a reliable and comprehensive framework for understanding these peculiarities."3. William Blake: Chambers of the Imagination
by Robin Hamlyn, and Michael Phillips. Abrams. From the publisher: "Novelist and biographer Peter Ackroyd examines Blake the man, while Marilyn Butler sets Blake in the context of the political and social upheavals of his time. Other essays focus on how Blake's radical political views and innovative printmaking techniques combined in his wholly visionary art."4. The Cambridge Companion to William Blake
by Morris Eaves (Editor). Cambridge University Press. From the publisher: "A poet, painter, and engraver, William Blake died in 1827 in obscurity. Yet he has become one of the most anthologized writers in English and one of the most collected British artists. His urge to create masterpieces of revelation has left complex (and sometimes bizarre) works of written and visual art."5. William Blake: A Biography
by Basil De Selincourt. The Book Tree. From the publisher: "William Blake was a great painter, poet, and mystic who rejected science and reason and preferred using the powers of imagination in his quest for truth. He lived in England from 1757 to 1827 and, as many believed, lived before his time. He was considered a forerunner to Freud and Carl Jung because of his psychological and visionary views."6. Ideology and Utopia in the Poetry of William Blake
by Nicholas M. Williams. Cambridge University Press. From the publisher: "Williams argues that if we are truly to understand ideology as it relates to Blake, we must understand the practical situation in which the ideological Blake found himself. His study is a revealing commentary on the work of one of our most challenging poets."7. Blake, Politics, and History
by Jaqueline DiSalvo, George A. Rosso, Christopher Z. Hobson, and William Cain (Editor). Taylor & Francis, Inc. From the publisher: "This anthology of original essays charts new territory in mapping the work of William Blake, combining traditional and current historicist methods with a plurality of other approaches... The volume's international scope and the fact that it contains more work by women than previous collections makes it unique."8. Witness against the Beast
by E.P. Thompson. Cambridge University Press. From the publisher: "Written with a vivid passion, and bearing the marks of Thompson’s lifelong struggle against authoritarian and anti-humanitarian politics both at the level of the individual and of the state, Witness Against the Beast: William Blake and the Moral Law is a profound enquiry into the structure of Blake’s thought and the character of his sensibility."