William Blake was born in London in 1757 into a lower-class family. He didn’t receive any formal education; at ten he was sent to a drawing school and then apprenticed to the engraver James Basire, the official engraver to the Society of Antiquaries. The intense study of Gothic art and architecture appealed to Blake’s aesthetic sensibility. In 1789 he published Songs of Innocence.  He engraved, instead of printing, his poems, adding a pictures that translated the poetic theme in visual terms. In 1794 he published  Songs of Innocence and of Experience in a combined volume. The sale of his works was not a success and Blake was forced to illustrate the works of authors, such as Milton’s Paradise Lost and Dante’s Divina Commedia .  He was obliged to look for patrons  till his death in 1827.

The Songs of Innocence (1789) express the innocent hopes generated by the French Revolution while the Songs of Experience (1794) are considered as expressing the disillusionment caused by the reign of Terror under Robespierre. Though contrasting with one another, the two parts of the collection are meant to be complementary.
The so-called “ Prophetic Books” ( The Marriage of Heaven and Hell- The French Revolution- America ) expressed his belief in the poet as a prophet and his sympathy for revolutionary movements.
His mythological poems, like “The Book of Urizen” and “Milton”, are often obscure and full of allegories.