William Blake
| William Blake | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | November 28, 1757 (London, England) |
| Died | August 12, 1827 (London, England) |
| Nationality | English |
| Education | Pars’ drawing school (age 10), apprenticed to engraver James Basire (age 14), Royal Academy of Arts (briefly as student/engraver) |
| Occupation | Poet, painter, printmaker/engraver |
| Known for | Visionary Romantic poetry and art, illuminated printing, mysticism, combining text and image in handmade books; largely ignored in his lifetime, now seen as a mad genius ahead of his time |
| Notable works | Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, The Tyger, The Lamb, Jerusalem, Milton, Visions of the Daughters of Albion, The Book of Urizen |
| Website | blakearchive.org |
"Everyone who described Blake's physical appearance remarked on his large head... The brain is an energetically expensive organ, which consumes large amounts of glucose." - Ray Peat[1]
William Blake (1757–1827): English poet, painter, printmaker. Invented illuminated printing to combine text and art. Visionary mystic from childhood, largely ignored in his lifetime as eccentric. He attacked rationalism, industry, organized religion; championed imagination, spiritual freedom. Now seen as early Romantic, major influence despite poverty and obscurity.[2]
Early Life[edit]
William Blake (1757-1827) was a British artist, poet and engraver. He was born in London on November 28, 1757, and grew up in a working-class family. From an early age, Blake reported having visions - seeing angels and other spiritual figures, which would inform his artistic and philosophical work throughout his life.[3]
Education and career[edit]
Blake received limited formal education but was apprenticed at age 14 to an engraver, where he learned the craft that would become central to his artistic method. In the 18th century, London was the cultural center of the world; European, Asian, and ancient cultures and ideas were discussed in books, magazines, and conversations. Being an engraver, a painter, a poet, and a political activist, Blake's circle of acquaintances was extraordinarily wide.
Blake devised his own innovative printing technique: writing text backwards on copper plates, surrounding it with drawings, then etching away the copper so the image could be inked and printed. This allowed him to self-publish his illuminated books, a necessity given his radical political views that made his work unpublishable through conventional channels.
He was associated with revolutionary thinkers including Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, and Thomas Paine, and was even credited with helping Paine escape to France.
Notable/Unique[edit]
This is where the story becomes particularly interesting for the bioenergetic community:
Ray Peat wrote his 1960 Master's thesis at the University of Oregon on William Blake, titled "William Blake and the mysticisms of sense and non-sense." Local titles: University of Oregon theses, General Studies, M.A., 1960. The thesis was approximately 130 pages.
Ray later wrote extensively about Blake, seeing him as a proto-bioenergetic thinker who anticipated many ideas central to the bioenergetic worldview:
"It means that other poets tied their writing to frameworks which have receded into the background, while Blake's words were chosen in a way that allowed them to travel across the centuries without loss. Even though such universality is a goal of science as well as of art, most of what passed for science in the 18th century is today of only historical interest."[1]
Key philosophical parallels Peat identified between Blake and bioenergetics include:
- Energy and vitalism: Blake's famous line "Energy is the only life, and is from the Body.... Energy is eternal delight" anticipates bioenergetic principles about cellular energy being foundational to health and consciousness.
- Anti-reductionism: Blake rejected Newton's mechanistic worldview and Cartesian dualism—the same targets that bioenergetic thinking opposes.
- Living cosmos: Blake saw the world as fundamentally alive and conscious, not as dead matter—aligning with the bioenergetic view that cellular energy production is the essence of life.
Opposition to dogmatism:[edit]
"Blake's work, I think, is of continued and increased interest because he discovered something of great importance, namely, how to avoid dogmatisms of all sorts. Many students who are assigned to write about a poem of Blake's are puzzled, and ask what it means. When they find out that they understand the words and the syntax, it turns out that the only problem was that they were taught that they had to 'interpret' poetry."
Peat admired Blake so deeply that Dr. Peat admired Blake so much, that he named his college after him. (Blake College, in Mexico)
Death[edit]
William Blake died on August 12, 1827, in London, reportedly in a state of singing hymns. He was 69 years old. His work remained largely obscure during his lifetime due to its radical political content.
Published works[edit]
Link to Paintings
Blake's major works include:
- Songs of Innocence (1789)
- Songs of Innocence and Experience (1794)
- The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (c. 1790–93)
- The Four Zoas (unfinished)
- Milton: A Poem (1804–1810)
- Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion (1804–1820)
- Various "Illuminated Books" combining poetry with visual art
The first complete collection of his work wasn't published until 1927, a century after his death, because his political views made publication dangerous during his lifetime.
