Discovering the Artist and Poet William Blake

As a high school student many of you have not been exposed to many individuals who suffer from a mental illness unless it is found in your own family. Sometimes it takes moving to a major city to witness such individuals who suffer with such issues. You see them walking the streets sometimes screaming as they talk to themselves. Many of these sad souls suffer from a mental illness known as schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental illness that interferes with the ability to think clearly, see reality from fantasy, and make decisions. It also can make it difficult for some people to manage emotions and relate to others.
There is no one single cause of schizophrenia. Research shows it may be the result of many factors, including an imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain.

This disease became associated with anyone who was considered mentally mad. However, the mistake of labeling individuals with being mad or having schizophrenia can also be a large mistake, one that discounts genius. This was the cultural stage that the artist and poet William Blake was born on. He was considered a mad man and a great artist. He was a perfect example of being idiosyncratic. The word idiosyncratic is used to define someone that does things only their way, using a unique or different perspective. The work idiot is derived from it because of the nature of being out of the ordinary.

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a major figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic.

Although Blake was considered mad by contemporaries he is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of the Romantic movement and as "Pre-Romantic". A committed Christian who was hostile to the Church of England (indeed, to almost all forms of organised religion), Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions.

Some of his most famous visionary works are shown below:

Your assignment: View the wo videos below on William Blake and answer the assessment questions below.