Finally finished Peter Ackroyd’s Blake biography.
This is an excellent book, and presents a Blake who spent his life frustrated and unable to rise higher than a barely employed engraver. He began with high hopes, and wished to continue to study art in Italy as a young student, but could neither afford it or find a patron. He had to turn to engraving to make a living, and even though he was brilliant at it, his employers really just saw his work as an adjunct to the writing he was illustrating. They also thought he was nuts, seeing spirits and angels wherever he went, talking about visions, writing them down. Even his friends regarded him with a stand-offish pity. Yet none of his contemporaries are even slightly remembered today, and Blake is a prophetic genius. His battles with art and commerce sound very, very contemporary, as are his opinions on such matters. He spent most of his life in London (a very different London than today, and brought to life vividly by Ackroyd. Blake spent a lot of time on the edge of suburban spawl, and watched it engulf his surrounding—again very contemporary, especially for us on the California coast!)
He did, however, have as good as a death as they come, laying in bed and sweetly fading away, singing, talking to his dear wife, and looking forward to finally moving over to the spirit world in which he had often wandered in his visions. Better than going out in a drug induced stupor or blowing your head off, that’s for sure.
Ackroyd doesn’t spend much time on the poems, but there is enough explication to make you want to go reread his work, even the very difficult longer works. I've been a Blake fan since high school, and an Ackroyd admirer not long after that.
For those interested in reading all of Blake’s work, and seeing the original plates, there’s a excellent web site here, The Blake Archive.
Remember folks, if Blake was alive today, he would have had all that art and genius medicated out of him! Ask your doctor about it.
