Where do genius end and madness begin? Where does vision decay into delusion? In an age of revolution and enlightenment, one man walked the thin line between these forces. His name was William Blake, poet, painter, and one of Britain’s most influential figures.

In Blake’s time, millennia of religious doctrines were buckling under the weight of new scientific advancements. The contemplative life was replaced with the roar of industrial machines and revolutionary canons. Kings, tyrannies, and colonies collapsed, and new nations rose in their stead, only to fall and be reborn once more.

Amongst all this, William Blake, a man considered mad in his own time, was touched by something. Whether that something was God, or an inner madness makes little difference, for it led him to create some of the most breathtaking literature and art ever seen. Let’s investigate the unstable mind of a legendary artist, only now getting the recognition he deserves.

William Blake’s life is difficult to explain because recounting the facts of his life reveals very little about the man himself. He experienced life inwardly, far more than most of us do, and his art reflects this. So, I will recount his life events briefly, as I believe he would have wanted it.

He was born to modest means in 1757 and supported himself as an engraver and drawing instructor. He had few friends, and was an uncompromising man, quarrelling with both his fellow apprentices as an engraver and notably with Joshua Reynolds at the Royal Academy, where he studied for a time.

He married a woman named Catherine Boucher. It was his rejection from another woman that brought them together, but he did genuinely seem to love her, and they were together until Blake’s death in 1837. However, the most profound thing to understand about William Blake is his visions. From around the age of four, Blake was in near-constant communion with abstract entities, angelic beings, and God, in both his waking and dreaming hours. These visions dominated Blake’s life and led many to call him a madman. In another time they would have called him a prophet. I ask you to abstain from judging either way and focus instead on his work.

The Poet and the Painter

Blake’s art is often challenging to intemperate because it draws heavily from his vast mythology, which itself is fiendishly complex and far beyond the scope of a single article or even a single academic career. Nevertheless, in the broadest possible strokes, Blake’s mythic universe is dominated by one figure — Albion — who is named after ancient Britain. He is the perfect man, the eternal man and creates what are called the Four Zoas — Urthona, Luvah, Urizen and Tharmas. These can be simply understood as Imagination, Emotion, Reason and Body, but this does not fully do justice to Blake’s rich work. These figures recur frequently throughout Blake’s work and are often partnered with his ‘four levels of vision’. These levels of vision are themselves complex but should be understood as an increasing departure away from the lowest level of vision — rational empiricism or ‘single vision’. At the next level, the two-fold vision is more imaginative, allowing for greater subjectivity and emotional depth. Threefold vision is a peaceful vision, where contradiction falls away and the differences between things like dreaming and being awake no longer matter. Finally, fourfold vision is more of a state, a kind of oneness with the self, God and the universe. It is the ultimate state of man.

The above is a vast simplification of one of the most complex series of writings in the English language, so I encourage anyone interested in Blake to read his works for themselves, but his rejection of a scientific, mechanical world often sees him labelled as a pre-Romantic, a prelude to artists like Eugène Delacroix and Francisco Goya. This rejection of rational empiricism, a cornerstone of the Enlightenment is perhaps the one recurring theme throughout Blake’s work.

Unlike the later Romantics, his paintings are far harsher and more challenging. He possesses a unique ability to let us glimpse the world he inhabits and it can be both chilling and enlightening. One of his most famous works The Ancient of Days, 1794, is emblematic of this. While at the outset, it may appear to be a blending of religion and science, depicting God measuring out His creation with scientific instruments, that’s not the commonly accepted interpretation. It is thought to be Urizen — the embodiment of reason — who has taken on the image of God; thus reason has supplanted God.

For Blake, this was a travesty. Urizen was closely associated with single vision, the lowest of all the visions of man, limiting him to this world alone and damning him to live without imagination. Urizen is blind to the light of imagination behind him. He measures an empty void, increasing his knowledge, but learning nothing. Newton, 1795 follows a similar format. The titan of science is shown much like Urizen, this time taking measurements at the bottom of the sea, so fixated on his work he doesn’t realise where he is. Blake’s vitriol here against Newton is perhaps unfounded, given the scientist’s own deep religious commitments, but Newton is nevertheless symbolic of the world’s slow shift to rationalism and individualism.

Some of Blake’s art came from a decidedly different place and is fully grounded in this world. Counter to the prevailing thought of the time, Blake was an ardent abolitionist, painting some disturbing and confronting works on the subject. His 1796 work, A Negro Hung Alive by the Ribs to a Gallows was an illustration for J. G. Stedman’s Narrative, of a Five Years’ Expedition, against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam. The illustration is plain and unadorned, drawing our eyes back to the man’s suffering. A lone ship sails away in the distance, leaving the man alone with the bones of those that came before him. It provokes an emotional response in us against the abomination of slavery while highlighting the lack of emotion in the scene. The near-blank expression on the man’s face, the ship sailing away, all point us towards a world without emotion or compassion, where Urizen dominates.

Ghost of a Flea, 1819–20,is drawn directly from Blake’s visions. It is a wonderous and surreal composition, the muscular flea, seemingly startled at his reflection. He walks absentmindedly across a stage, while the stars behind him could be interpreted as part of the stage or an endless infinity. An objective interpretation here is impossible, but the flea could be meant to symbolise an aspect of the self, perhaps Jung’s shadow, that dark part of us we all suppress. The flea’s surprise seemingly supports this view. Jung’s shadow, when repressed, is likely to burst forth uncontrollably. The figure could be as shocked at his visage as we are. His dark inner shadow has finally overtaken him and he can no longer play the part of the tamed rational man.

Finally, works of literature and the Bible also inspired Blake, though he rejected the Anglican Church (Church of England) and common theology of his day. He painted numerous biblical scenes, including; God blessing the seventh day, 1805and perhaps his other most famous painting; The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun, 1803–1805. This disturbing painting was part of a series Blake did on the Dragon from the Book of Revelation, the Christian interpretation of the end times. The Dragon is Satan, and the woman at his feet seems powerless against him, though in a follow-up work The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun, 1805–10, she is shown as more active, resisting the great beast. The Dragon, in both instances, is shown to be a powerful, dominating and darkly beautiful creature. He is an abomination, but one we are nevertheless drawn to. Blake here is perhaps hinting at the power evil can have over us, drawing us in and making us almost envy the strength of the beast. Blake, like many artists before and since, seems to have been aware of how alluring evil in art can be.

Like many of his contemporaries, Blake was also inspired by Milton and much of his literary works owe a great debt to the epic poet, but Blake had an affinity for Dante’s Divine Comedy, especially Inferno, too. The Lovers’ Whirlwind, 1824–27,depicts the buffeting winds of passion that torment those condemned for the sin of lust. It is perhaps Dante we see collapsed on the rocks, after hearing the tale of Paulo and Francesca, some of the most tragic characters in all of Inferno.

A Renegade Mind

Blake truly was a unique individual. There had never been anyone like him and there’s been no one like him since. He was maligned in his own time and died penniless and a laughingstock. But his work endured, both literary and visual and he is known throughout the world today. His name flows freely alongside other British greats like Shakespeare, Byron, Wordsworth, Milton, Martin, Collier and Turner. And while his art is now recognised for its genius, his unique mind and soul are still not fully understood. We will never know William Blake, but by continuing to view and discuss his work maybe we too can one day unlock his vision. Maybe, just for the briefest of moments, we can see the world as he saw it, in all its terrifying glory.

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