All Hail, William Blake!

Jilly, at the Poetry Hut, led me to this article about William Blake.

Primarily, the article is promoting the admirable work of the on-line William Blake Archive. This on-line resource has been collecting all available versions of Blake's Illuminated works, and is making them available through the internet. I've found this to be a valuable resource, and have linked to it in my occasional meditations on the "Proverbs of Hell."

The article also discusses the possibility that Blake was clinically insane. Many people have thought so, because he spoke openly of having prophetic visions. One of the people quoted in the linked article opines that Blake was schizophrenic.

Well, if he was, he was fairly high-functioning. The last biography of Blake I read suggested he was resolutely non-conformist and iconoclastic to the end, but perfectly capable of discerning the difference between mundane reality and his visions.

I admire Blake's early works — Marriage of Heaven & Hell, Songs of Innocence and Experience — more than his later prophetic works. It's been over a decade since I tried to read his epic poem Milton. Just the memory gives me a headache.

As the article notes, he resolutely forged his path in terms of religion, politics, and poetics. I suppose this is one reason I admire him so much. Considering the crushing poverty he lived under for most of his life, it must have taken great strength of character to believe in himself, and his visions.

Every day, I ask myself whether I have that strength of character. Every day, I wonder whether it's too late to define and seize my destiny.