English poet & painter (1757-1827)
Cruelty has a human heart,
And Jealousy a human face;
Terror the human form divine,
And Secrecy the human dress.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"A Divine Image", Songs of Experience
Terror in the house does roar,
But Pity stands before the door.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"Terror in the House"
Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Proverbs of Hell
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life and bid thee feed
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly bright.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"The Lamb", Songs of Innocence
And I made a rural pen,
And I stained the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.
WILLIAM BLAKE
introduction, Songs of Innocence
Bit from the dolorous groan on high a shadow of smoke appeared,
And human bones rattling together in the smoke and stamping
The nether abyss, and gnashing in fierce despair, and panting in sobs,
Thick, short, incessant, bursting, sobbing, deep despairing, stamping,
Struggling to utter the voice of man, to take features of man,
To take the limbs of man.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Vala
The sword sung on the barren heath,
The sickle in the fruitful field;
The sword he sung a song of death,
But could not make the sickle yield.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"Love to Faults", Poems from Blake's Notebook
I have Conquer'd, and shall still Go on Conquering. Nothing can withstand the fury of my Course.
WILLIAM BLAKE
The Letters of William Blake
Are those who love like those who died, risen again from death,
Immortal in immortal torment never to be delivered?
WILLIAM BLAKE
Vala
Every Harlot was a Virgin once.
WILLIAM BLAKE
For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise
Never seek to tell thy love
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind does move
Silently, invisibly.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Poems from Blake's Notebook
If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Proverbs of Hell
But to the Eyes of the Man of Imagination, Nature is Imagination itself. As a man is, So he Sees. As the Eye is formed, such are its Powers.
WILLIAM BLAKE
letter to Rev. Dr. Trusler, August 23, 1799
He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave shall ne'er get out.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Auguries of Innocence
Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Proverbs of Hell
For Mercy has a human heart,
Pity, a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
And Peace, the human dress.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"The Divine Image", Songs of Innocence
Everything possible to be believ'd is an image of truth.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"Proverbs of Hell", The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true poet and of the Devils' party without knowing it.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"The Voice of the Devil", The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Eternity is before me like a dark lamp.
WILLIAM BLAKE
Vala
Sleep, sleep, beauty bright,
Dreaming o'er the joys of night.
Sleep, sleep: in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.
WILLIAM BLAKE
"A Cradle Song", Poems from Blake's Notebook