William Blake context

Last updated: 15/11/2023
Contributor: Teachit Author
William Blake context - biography
Main Subject
Key stage
Category
Poetry: Anthology poetry
Resource type
Worksheet
Author
William Blake

This useful biographical context resource is ideal for students undertaking study for A-level English Literature, particularly those reading ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’ by William Blake.

Helpfully sectioned into major thematic concerns and biographical details of William Blake’s life, this content enables students to develop a deeper understanding of Blake’s views about England, the Church, London, Industrialisation and 18th century society as a whole.

There are also useful comparisons to other contemporary authors, such as Mary Wollstonecraft, James Basire and a variety of Romantic poets.

This contextual information allows students to consider how Blake’s work was shaped by his values and attitudes to issues such as religion and Christianity, the French Revolution and his examination of the two contrary states of the human soul throughout ‘Songs of Innocence and Experience’.

The resource goes into some detail regarding WIlliam Blake’s interest in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, who inspired the Swedenborgianism religious organisation, highlighting Blake’s somewhat unorthodox beliefs at this point in the 18th century.

Browse additional resources in the KS5 William Blake section.

A sample extract from the resource:

Work

  • During his apprenticeship to Basire, Blake worked in Westminster Abbey, engraving the tombs and effigies.  He was influenced by its gothic style, faded brightness and colour.
  • At the Royal Academy, Blake rebelled against what he regarded as the unfinished style of fashionable painters such as Rubens.  He disliked the school’s first president, Joshua Reynolds, especially his pursuit of ‘general truth’ and ‘general beauty’.  Blake continued to prefer the bold, unfashionable lines of artists such as Raphael, rather than the ‘blurred’ and ‘muddy’ oil-paintings that were fashionable at the time.

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