William Blake

The original angsty Goth artist—poet, painter, and Romantic-era bad boy

William Blake (1757-1827) was a Romantic archetype who snubbed the Royal Academy to do his own prints, illustrations, poetry, watercolors, and paintings in very much his own style.

Blake's works were widely panned by critics of his day, but he is now considered by most to be merely waaaay ahead of his time (as were his views on free love).

His paintings (and poetry) are filled with melodrama, muscular figures, and sweeping lines, often commenting on spirituality (which he embraced—while hating organized religion).

Modern angsty Goth teens really dug Blake's stuff.

He's also the guy who wrote:

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 

In the forests of the night; 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry? 

In what distant deeps or skies. 

Burnt the fire of thine eyes? 

On what wings dare he aspire? 

What the hand, dare seize the fire? 

And what shoulder, & what art, 

Could twist the sinews of thy heart? 

And when thy heart began to beat, 

What dread hand? & what dread feet? 

What the hammer? what the chain, 

In what furnace was thy brain? 

What the anvil? what dread grasp, 

Dare its deadly terrors clasp! 

When the stars threw down their spears 

And water'd heaven with their tears: 

Did he smile his work to see? 

Did he who made the Lamb make thee? 

Tyger Tyger burning bright, 

In the forests of the night: 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Judge his artwork for yourself at:

• Tate Britain, London 
• Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester

Selected works by William Blake in England

Where to find works by William Blake in England