Introduction, Notes and
Bibliography by Dr Bruce Woodcock, Senior Lecturer in English,
University of Hull.
William Blake was an engraver, painter and visionary mystic as well
as one of the most revolutionary of the Romantic poets. His writing
attracted the astonished admiration of authors as diverse as Wordsworth,Ruskin,
W.B.Yeats, and more recently beat poet Allen Ginsberg and the 'flower
power' generation. He is one of England's most original artists whose
works aim to liberate imaginative energies and subvert 'the mind-forged
manacles' of restriction. This volume contains many of his writings,
including: Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience, The Marriage of
Heaven and Hell, and a generous selection from the Prohetic Books including
Milton and Jerusalem.