William Blake (Blake William)

(1757-1827)
Born November 28, 1757 in London. Son merchant knits. In ten years, entered the school of drawing G. Parsa. Approximately fifteen years old, was taken into an apprenticeship to an engraver, in 1779, entered the school at the Royal Academy, where she first exhibited his painting (1780). In 1784 he married Catherine Boucher. In 1783, Blake's friends paid for the publication of the outline Poetry (Poetical Sketches). Shortly thereafter, he engaged in trade in engravings and prints, together with Dzh.Parkerom, fellow apprentices; partnership lasted until 1787. In that year he lost the most beloved of his brothers - Robert. In 1791, Blake started to produce famous now 'illuminated books' - printed in color with engraved brass plates or painted watercolor on monochrome printed circuits. Books were painted on the buyer's taste and brought Blake a modest income, before the end of his life he regularly produced new copies.
Up until the thirtieth Blake of his works were known in a relatively narrow range. He became more famous after it took to illustrate popular in the mid-18. philosophical poem E. Young Night Reflections (Night Thoughts). Blake quickly complied with 537 watercolors, they should have been engraved and printed on large sheets of both framing the text of the poem. In 1797 was printed Part 1 with 43 prints, edition had no success and was stopped. Fortunately, Blake found a benefactor, T. Bats, an official in the administration of the chief recruiter, who always bought his paintings over the next thirty years.

In 1818, Blake met with a young painter John Linnell, they became friends, and Linnell suggested Blake comply - with its financial aid - engravings, illustrations to the Book of Job. They were published in 1826. After this work, again with the support Linnell, Blake started to produce 100 illustrations for Dante's Divine Comedy and finished 7 prints. Recent years have they lived the happiest period of his life. Blake died in London on August 12, 1827.

Blake, the poet took a seat in the first rank of English writers. His works can be divided into two groups: the lyrical and philosophical (or mystical). He knew the poetry of Elizabethan and subsequent time, and in his earliest poems, included in the Poetical sketches (1783), visible elements of imitation.

In 1789, Blake published Songs of Innocence (Songs of Innocence), the first serious work, intended for the publication of his innovative method of 'illuminated printing' - when the text and decorative engraved pattern as a whole. Childlike simplicity of many poems in all sincerity, they contain a harbinger of 'romantic revival' which was started by William Wordsworth in 1798. In 1794 Songs of Innocence was published along with the Songs of Experience (Songs of Experience).

Downhome simplicity pushed the symbolism and hidden meaning, however, and when they conquer the direct reading of lyrical power and identity. Many of the songs were first recorded experiment in Notepad Blake (known as the Rossetti Manuscript), together with other lyrical poems, sometimes beautiful, but not used in any publication. Since then, the thrust of the lyric poetry of Blake as if dried or replaced more than a strong desire for symbolic epic and satire. Already in 1787 the poet used the symbols and allegories in an unpublished poem Tiriel (Tiriel), written by a white verse, it portrayed the decline of the former British shrines - the law and the Arts. Symbols and allegories are also present in the 1 st book of the French Revolution (The French Revolution, 1791), an epic poem depicting the events in France.

After the 1790 Blake printed the series 'illuminated books', it included: Marriage of Heaven and Hell (The Marriage of Heaven and Hell), a poem in white poetry and prose, where the satire on Swedenborg E. intertwined with metaphysical and religious arguments. Here, . in the famous proverbs of hell (Proverbs of Hell), . Blake also showed his gift paradoxalist; Book Tel Aviv (The Book of Thel), . exquisite allegory of the descent of the soul from eternal death to life, Visions daughters of Albion (Visions of the Daughters of Albion), . where Blake defends free love, . although it recognizes its unattainable ideal; America, . prophecy (America, . a Prophecy), . in which the American Revolution symbolizes the eternal change of oppression and rebellion; Yurayzena first book (The First Book of Urizen), . universal myth of the creation of the material world and the human race, . doomed to sin; Europe (Europe), . Blake points where, . that Europe was wrongly attributed to 'feminine' laws and ideals; Book Loza (The Book of Los), . Book Ahani (The Book of Ahania), . Song Loza (The Song of Los), . where continuing theme of universal myth,
. These symbolic works, written white freestyle verse, hard to read because of the complexity of the intentional content. Few years Blake wrote, . reworked and rewrote the poem Vala, . Dream or the nine nights (Vala, . a Dream of Nine Nights), . then called Four Zoasa (The Four Zoas), . but not finished it and did not collect the scattered pages in any meaningful sequence,
. In the poem there are excellent pieces, . linking it with the last two 'illuminated books' - Milton (Milton), . in which the problem of evil in the world correlated with their own spiritual struggles of Blake, . and Jerusalem (Jerusalem), . final epic, . where the person realizes his mistake and finally overcomes them, . connecting with God,
. The last major poem by Blake - a series of fragments, known as the Everlasting Gospel (The Everlasting Gospel).

Creativity Blake as an artist can be divided according to the phases of his prevailing interest. First (1790-1795) - splash of splendor, manifested in 11 large color prints, the best of which - the God that doest Adam (God Creating Adam). Starting from 1790 Blake has created an extensive series of illustrations for books of the Old and New Testaments in watercolor and tempera. Blake was convinced that the painting of his fellow competitors will relinquish his life in a painted in tempera 'paintings cabinet size', but most of them are cracked and darkened, but something died. In 1810-1817 Blake produced several excellent series of watercolor illustrations to Milton and Shakespeare. After 1817 he was engaged mainly in painting and engraving illustrations to the Book of Job, and then to Dante.