1. William Blake

2. Not Your Typical Romantic  He never travelled  He was relatively happily married  He and his wife lived in poverty  He was very interested in the Bible and much of his poetry dealt with complex views of Christianity

3. Blake the Artist  Blake is known for his art as much as his poetry.  He was sent to London’s finest drawing school at ten.  He was apprenticed to an engraver at fourteen.  He usually added drawings or engravings to his poetry himself.  He usually published and engraved his own poems.

4. Songs of Innocence and Experience  “The two contrary states of the human soul”  Published in one volume  Innocence is “a state of genuine love and naïve trust toward all humankind, accompanied by unquestioned belief in Christian doctrine.”  Experience “is a profound disillusionment with human nature... sees cruelty and hypocrisy only too clearly but is unable to imagine a way out.”