English poet & painter (1757-1827)
I was walking among the fires of Hell, delighted with the enjoyments of Genius; which to Angels look like torment and insanity.
WILLIAM BLAKE
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Auguries of Innocence
The iron hand crush'd the Tyrant's head
And became a Tyrant in his stead.
WILLIAM BLAKE
The Grey Monk
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Proverbs of Hell
He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
WILLIAM BLAKE
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
When nations grow old, the Arts grow cold,
And Commerce settles on every tree.
WILLIAM BLAKE
On Art and Artists
In my Brain are studies & chambers fill'd with books & pictures of old, which I wrote & painted in ages of Eternity before my mortal life.
WILLIAM BLAKE
The Letters of William Blake
Children of the future Age
Reading this indignant page,
Know that in a former time
Love! sweet Love! was thought a crime.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"A Little Girl Lost", Songs of Experience
Without contraries there is no progression. Attraction and repulsion, reason and energy, love and hate are necessary to human existence.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"The Argument", The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Like a fiend in a cloud,
With howling woe,
After night I do crowd,
And with night will go;
I turn my back to the east,
From whence comforts have increased;
For light doth seize my brain
With frantic pain.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"Mad Song", Poetical Sketches
Father, O father! what do we here
In this land of unbelief and fear?
The Land of Dreams is better far,
Above the light of the morning star.
WILLIAM BLAKE
The Land of Dreams
Those who restrain desire do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.
WILLIAM BLAKE
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
For every thing exists & not one sigh nor smile nor tear,
One hair nor particle of dust, not one can pass away.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Jerusalem
The glory of Christianity is to conquer by forgiveness.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Jerusalem
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic mills?
WILLIAM BLAKE
Milton
When I tell any Truth it is not for the sake of Convincing those who do not know it but for the sake of defending those who Do.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Public Address, Blake's Notebook
The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"A Memorable Fancy"
Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy,
And in the withered fields where the farmer ploughs for bread in vain.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Vala
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the wingèd life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity's sunrise.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"He Who Binds"
There can be no Good Will. Will is always Evil; it is persecution to others or selfishness.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Annotations to Swedenborg