Selected Poems: Blake

Writer and religious rebel, William Blake ((1757-1827) sowed the seeds for Romanticism in his innovative poems concerning faith and the visions that inspired him throughout his life. Whether describing his own spirituality, the innocence of youth or the corruption caused by mankind, his writings depict a world in which spirits dominate and the mind is the gateway to Heaven. This collection of his greatest works spans his entire poetic life from the early, exquisite lyrics of Poetic Sketches to his Songs of Innocence and Experience - a compelling exploration of good and evil. Together, they illuminate a self-made realm that has fascinated artists and poets as diverse as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Yeats and Ginsberg.

British poet, painter, visionary mystic, and engraver, who illustrated and printed his own books, Blake proclaimed the supremacy of the imagination over the rationalism and materialism of the 18th-century. Misunderstanding shadowed his career as a writer and artist and it was left to later generations to recognize his importance.G. E. Bentley, Jr. has taught at the universities of Chicago and Toronto and is an authority on William Blake and his circle of friends. His most recent books include a 2-volume edition of Blake's Writings, The Stranger from Paradise: A Biography of William Blake (2001), and Blake Records (2004).