Biography
William Blake was born on November 28, 1757 on Broad Street, London England. Blake was born into a middle class family, the third out of his 7 brothers and sisters. William’s family never had a lot of money, he never got the chance to attend school and was educated at home. In his early years, William and his family were known to be religious, and were believed to belong to the Moravian Church.
As a child Blake had visions often, including seeing God and different angels. As he got older he claimed to his family that he had conversations with his deceased brother Robert on the regular. It wasn’t long before it was clear to Blake’s parents that his imagination was abnormal, making it one of his key motivators throughout his life. With his parents being highly supportive after noting their son had something special, Blake’s imagination was probably one of the main reasons why he turned out to be such a great poet. He was supported by some and encouraged by many leading to his development as an artist.
As a teen, William found work in his fathers shop until his talent for drawing became evident. At age 14, William Blake apprenticed to engraver James Basire. Here he was significantly influenced by gothic art and architecture. At 21 he finished his apprenticeship where he than set out to make his living as an engraver. On August 18, 1782, Blake married a young woman named Catherine Sophia Boucher. Throughout the years, William and Catherine had a happy marriage with no children. William taught Catherine how to read and write as she was believed to have little to no education. The couple stayed loyal to each other over the years even working together on many of Blake’s publications. Together they published his first collection - Poetical Sketches in 1783. Following this piece came: Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794). Although Blake wrote many poems over the years, his most famous piece was ‘The Tyger’ which was a...