Blake

Born in 1757, the son of a London hosier, Blake was one of England's most fascinating and original sons. Poet, painter, engraver and visionary, his was a radical spirit fired by genius. Yet his life has remained an enigma, with much of his poetry unknown to the general reader and his art only properly studies by scholars and art historians.

Now, Peter Ackroyd discloses the true nature of Blake's life and art. He traces his progression from early childhood in a Dissenting household, through his apprenticeship as an engraver and his studies at the newly formed Royal Academy Schools, to his full maturity when he produced the masterpieces upon which is reputation rests - works such as "Jerusalem", "Milton" and "Songs of Innocence and of Experience", works that were as neglected during his lifetime as they are celebrated today.

But we also see Blake in the context of his period; we see him caught up in the Gordon Riots, excited by the French Revolution, being tried for sedition during the Napoleonic wars, attracted to various forms of spiritual radicalism and sexual magic. He was a man whose faith in the eternal world of the spirit was fiercely mocked and attacked by those who were attracted to the prevailing belief in scientific rationalism. Yet he remained true to his own vision of the world, a vision that is wonderfully confirmed in all of his work.

This is the first biography to reveal the true affinities between Blake's art of his poetry; in the magnificent biographical narrative we see Blake as a Cockney visionary and a London tradesman, as a prophet and an artisan. In the course of Blake's history, Peter Ackroyd brilliantly recreates eighteenth-century London in a manner of which only he is capable. 'Blake' is the work of a major writer at the height of his powers.